Are TDD machines still used? [Telecom]

I've had a TDD on my shelf for a few years, which I used some time back while I was having difficulty in speaking. I tried to use it the other day while I was getting over some dental work.

I wanted to call my electric company, but couldn't find a TDD number on their web site: I checked the gas company and a few other firms I deal with, all with the same result. It seems on casual inspection that TDD's aren't served by businesses anymore.

The only place I could find a TDD number was at the Massachusetts government website. Every company had some way to contact them by email, although it was always via a web form, so I'll ask those who use TDD's if the service has been withered away by the Internet and email.

I know, of course, that there is a TDD Relay Service: I helped to design the center that Verizon uses. The problem is that I don't want to tie up a relay operator to wade through the usual voice mail hell, and in any case I wonder if these firms have decided that hearing-impaired customers aren't valued enough to maintain a TDD.

If you use a TDD, I'd like to see your opinion in the Digest.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

Reply to
Telecom Digest Temporary Moder
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Hi Bill,

I don't use a TDD, but most Canadian banks, telecom carriers and government agencies still have TDD numbers. Many of them are toll-free though I suspect most of these work only within the jurisdictions where they are located.

Ray

Reply to
ve3zxc

Why not just use the state relay service? In some states, it's 711. Others, you have to dial an eight hundred number.

Regards,

Fred

***** Moderator's Note *****

Fred,

As I said, I didn't want to force a relay operator to wade through the usual voice mail maze, and in any case, I think regulated public utilities should maintain a way for hearing & speech impaired customers to reach them.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

(Please put [Telecom] at the end of the subject line of your post, or I may never see it. Thanks!)

Reply to
Fred Atkinson

I checked a number of organizations' websites and found that:

1) The following transit agencies have TTY access: SEPTA, MetroNorth RR, NJ Transit, LIRR, NYC Subway. 2) Verizon have TTY access.

3) My electric company did not have access for customer service, though a search of their website found TTY access for specific units (e.g. near nuclear plants).

4) The water company did not have access for customer service. The PUC did have them.

5) My bank did not have access for general customer service. A search of their website found one buried in some fine print in a specific service.

6) In checking the website listings, many organizations had separate numbers for Spanish, and one had multiple language support.

7) The service was described as one of the following terms: a) hearing impaired b) TTY c) TT d) TDD e) Teleprinter

Now given how obsolete information has a tendency to languish on websites forever, it wouldn't surprise if some of those TTY numbers no longer worked or were not answered.

So this is indeed an interesting question. Some large organizations do not apparently have TTY access, at least as shown on their website. Perhaps their listing in the White Pages or on the monthly bill is different.

Many organizations, public and private, are pushing very hard for people to use their websites to get information, check their accounts, or otherwise deal with the company

I never thought about the voice mail ladder. Presumably TTY lines go direct to a human.

***** Moderator's Note *****

I'm surprised that there are still companies using "hearing impaired" as an identifier: it makes me feel like whoever answers is just going to yell really loudly (cue Garret Morris).

Well, whatever they call it, they should have a TDD line. You're right about large corporations wanting everyone to go through the website: they love websites because using one will usually frustrate customers to the point where they give up. Unfortunately, it's difficult to use a website if your power is off, as was mine.

I don't mind going through a few questions on my TDD: it's trivial to program a computer to ask if the caller wants sales or service, and it's (technically) much easier to get those answers from a TDD than from a human voice or even a Touch-Tone pad. However, if I can't talk on the phone, I want to be able to find out why my power is off without bothering the police or a relay operator.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

(Please put [Telecom] at the end of the subject line of your post, or I may never see it. Thanks!)

Reply to
hancock4

A deaf friend of mine basically refuses to use the relay service. He says that it is so badly abused by scammers that people hang up as soon as they get a call identifying it as being from the relay service.

He basically uses the internet for all transactions, or he gets his wife to call.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Our moderator says (in reference to relay system fraud):

Derrick says, "Well, I'm not an expert, but most of the scams were from Nigeria trying to disguise themselves. In response the relay system doesn't allow non US calls. You have to be in the US to use the service. It's a system of last resort, but it is free and a lot of people who don't have other means like I do rely on it. Often people hang up when they hear the relay, I just take my business elsewhere. What can you do?"

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Our moderator says (in reference to relay system fraud):

Derrick says, "Well, I'm not an expert, but most of the scams were from Nigeria trying to disguise themselves. In response the relay system doesn't allow non US calls. You have to be in the US to use the service. It's a system of last resort, but it is free and a lot of people who don't have other means like I do rely on it. Often people hang up when they hear the relay, I just take my business elsewhere. What can you do?"

--scott

Oh, let me add here that apparently the same relay service can be used with internet connections, or with a TDD. Derrick says, "I haven't used a TDD in almost 12 years. I don't know anyone who still owns one." He cites a page at

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and I gather the fraudulent users are coming from the internet, though of course the person receiving the call doesn't know where the call came from.

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

The most common version is just another variant on the ordering goods with a stolen credit-card scam.

The 'big difference' being that the store does _not_ have the caller's phone number to trace the perpetrator to. All the store 'sees' is the CID or ANI for the relay service.

"Relay" works for 'personal' calls -- well, ones that are 'impersonal' enough you don't mind having another person on th line, that is.

And for customer-support/service/etc. calls -- *if* the relay operator will put up with the typical auto-attendant hell that =that= involves.

For making purchases, however, a _lot_ of places won't do it. They've been burned too many times.

Reply to
Robert Bonomi

I just noticed a couple of days ago that at a major hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia, one of the pay phones in a bank of three had a screen, small keyboard and TDD capability explained on the front panel.

Reply to
Mike Spencer

The AT&T Public Phone 2000 which once appeared in a lot of public places, came equipped with the ability to make "computer calls" up to 1200 baud. However, this facility was very quickly disabled soon after they became available, due to some legal issues.

However, if you selected services for the deaf, you could use the TDD service in ascii mode, and it WOULD actually communicate with a Bell 212 modem. You had no cursor control and could not shut off the local echo, but I used it more than once to fix computer crises from the airport.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

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