Microsoft kickstarted its Wave 1 of carrier Windows Phone 7 March 2011 updates on Tuesday.

The software giant started distributing both the February and March 2011 Windows Phone updates to devices on Orange and T-Mobile USA. HTC HD7 owners on T-Mobile began reporting that they had received the February 2011 update before seeing March 2011 notifications shortly afterwards. Orange UK devices have also started to receive both sets of updates, just as WinRumors promised.

The full list of pushes in Wave 1:

• Orange UK devices
• T-Mobile HTC HD7
• Dell Venue Pro
• Three UK devices

O2 and Vodafone are both expected to be included in Wave 2 which begins on April 5. Windows Phone 7 owners in the U.S. may have to wait weeks until AT&T has completed its “NoDo” testing. A company spokesperson refused to confirm when the update will become available for its range of devices. “We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay of Windows Mobile 7. AT&T will make this update available once it has achieved technical acceptance in our labs. Unfortunately, we do not have a date for when an AT&T-approved update will be available.”

Despite AT&T’s testing delays, some Windows Phone 7 owners (WinRumors included) have been able to force the NoDo update onto their devices. The method involves a registry key change and some tinkering to make the phone appear as if it’s located in Europe. The method has been confirmed to work on a variety of devices, including AT&T’s popular Samsung Focus device. If you’re interested in seeing how NoDo runs on the Samsung Focus then check out our video overview here.

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, Director of the Windows Phone program, explained the Windows Phone “NoDo” update delays in a video on Friday. The explanation followed fierce criticism from Windows Phone 7 owners after Microsoft started distributing its much delayed “NoDo” update last week. The company has started pushing the copy and paste update to unbranded devices in Europe and is scheduling carrier devices for a number of update “Waves”. A few European carriers have confirmed that the update will be available in the next couple of weeks, some claiming that Microsoft is to blame for the delays.