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A guide to buying a textphone, 2001 (view report contents)

What are textphones?

If you cannot hear or cannot speak through an ordinary phone, a textphone may be for you. You type what you want to say. Your message and the reply appears on a small screen on your textphone and on that of the person you are calling.

Where can you use them?

Acoustic textphones work wherever there is a phone to connect them to, including payphones. They don’t work well with mobile phones.

Direct textphones use analogue phone signals. This won’t be a problem at home but may be in offices with a digital phone system. Check if it has an analogue extension socket (these are used by fax and answering machines). Otherwise you will need to get a separate line installed.

You plug a direct textphone straight into your telephone socket.

With an acoustic textphone you put the handset onto the couplers

You can then start typing your conversation

Codes

Different textphones use different codes to send signals. In practice this shouldn’t be a problem - all textphones can use the two codes mainly used in the UK - often referred to as Baudot and CCITT. You have to remember to switch between them. A newer code, called V.18, can talk to any textphone, but so far only the Minicom 8000s and the Textlink have this. If you want to call a textphone which uses a code your textphone doesn’t have, you will soon be able to make calls through BT TextDirect which converts signals automatically.

Costs

Textphones cost from around £100 to nearly £400. Generally the more features the more expensive. You may be able to get help towards the cost - see How to get a textphone section. The Textlink will be available for rent from BT as the BT Textphone - phone 150 for details.

Some telephone companies give rebates to textphone users. BT customers get 60% off all calls up to a limit of £160 a year (£600 if they are Deafblind). From July 2001 the rebate will be only on calls which use text - it won’t apply to voice, fax or internet calls, but there will be no upper limit.

NTL give a rebate of £8.92 a month. Other companies which provide phone services by line should be introducing rebates by Autumn 2001.

 

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Report contents

What are textphones?
How to use
Some main features explained
The display
Printing
Accessories
Deafblind people
Buying Guide
Mobiles
Alternatives
Typetalk
How to get a textphone
Professional advice
Helpful organisations
Suppliers
Acknowledgements