Rubbish. That’ll just stop you sending, your operators service centre isn’t used when receiving messages.

At least some (perhaps all?) of the UK operators will allow you to have SMS disabled on your account. I dread to think how much time you’d have to spend talking to customer services to get them to do it though. Perhaps tell them you’re being harassed and get your call escalated to someone who can help.

I loathe texting as well. Fiddly and time consuming. Started using e-txt a couple of years ago and buy £15-worth of text message credit at a time. Keeps me going for about 18 months. Txt pops up on phone, reply over pc keyboard, recipient sees it as from my mobile number.

Best of both worlds.

As for delivery receipts: that’s network dependent and a request for a receipt is flagged in the outgoing message. It’s at the request of the sender, not the receiver. I guess more modern Java-enabled phones might have some sort of mod that enabled you to set an automatic receipt notice but that is hardware dependent.

Tim adds: We’re all assuming a much greater level of technical knowledge than here actually is here. Howwould you “save” an SMS? How would you use a saved one to respond to another? What is the SMS service centre? How would one turn off predictive text?

To me a phone is something you talk to people on. Finis.

I’m afraid that I have no idea how to set a Nokia phone to respond to contact with “despite all indications to the contrary, actually a social luddite!”

Perhaps all you actually need to do is to turn predictive texting off – that way, it will only render what you actually type?

Tim adds: Even worse: doesn’t have a keyboard of any kind! And who wants email on a phone?

Tim adds: I have a Nokia at the moment and for the life of me I cannot work out how to write on it. OK, maybe that’s too strong. But it does require more learning effort to get it to display the message I want it to send rather than the message it thinks I want to send than I’m prepared to invest in it. More investment than any return I think I’ll get from it.

Eh? My SonyEricsson has, and my previous several Nokias all had delivery reports. I use it to check when someone lands from a long flight – I send them a welcome to wherever text, and then when hours later I get a receipt confirmation beep I know they turned their phone back on after arriving.

Tim adds: Well, I’m coming bak to London, need a new UK phone…and don’t actually like texting. Never really got the hang of it. So I’d rather not have the feature than people simply think I’m rude for not answering them….

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article417509.ece

I don’t know if what you want is available, although it would be technically possible (but perhaps not feasible).

There is no way to confirm receipt either.

Tim adds: Bugger.