Filed under: iPhone
It's not surprising that the hearing impaired also want to share in the iPhone experience, but until recently they had to sign up for the same voice plans as everyone else. Now, however, AT&T is introducing the $40/month Text Accessibility Plan which offers:
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CaptSaltyJack said 12:41PM on 4-30-2008
Good on AT&T!
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ImpulGen said 1:02PM on 4-30-2008
Ok...hearing impaired doesn't necessarily mean they're deaf, but still has a very hard time listening. How is this exactly different for them? Wouldn't it make more sense not to have the visual voicemail and the per minute voice plan? Or is it a just in case situation where they have a non-deaf person borrowing the phone? Still seems pointless to me
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Seth A said 1:27PM on 4-30-2008
I think this will attract many more Text Happy Teenagers than expected. :-) I for one, as a Text Happy Teenager, have been wanting an unlimited plan for Text and Data, but few Minutes. I won't jump on this as I still need a small amount of minutes, but still.
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Iphtashu Fitz said 1:36PM on 4-30-2008
How many teens have a certification of a disability? You have to fill out a certification form and send it into AT&T to qualify for this rate. I don't think you'll find a bunch of teenagers using this plan unless they really want to risk fraud charges.
Seth A said 3:44PM on 4-30-2008
Ahh, I wasn't aware you had to prove you were Hearing-Impaired. My bad. Does seem rather silly though. Its not as if you are really saving much by going this way.
ctennenh said 1:35PM on 4-30-2008
What's odd to me is that you need to be hearing impaired to get this plan. I understand that forcing others to get a more expensive plan even though this is the best option for them is good for AT&T's bottom line, but I'm surprised it's legal.
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Iphtashu Fitz said 1:40PM on 4-30-2008
Why wouldn't this be legal? Many companies offer discounts to specific groups of people. As an employee at a university I can get educational discounts on books, software, computers, etc. I have to provide full documentation of my employment to get these discounts and the companies do verify it. This is pretty much the same thing. They're offering a service to people they feel deserve it and don't want it abused so they're making sure you can document your need for it.
quasimoto said 1:46PM on 4-30-2008
This will be perfect for my brother! I find it amusing and a little sad because he's been very fond of iPods and especially the iPhone, but the thing is, he was born deaf. He's been restricted to using a sidekick which is apparently all the deaf people use but I'm sure he'll switch to this.
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Chad Kirchner said 2:15PM on 4-30-2008
This plan would be good for a lot of people, and not just the hearing impaired. Alas, though, AT&T wants to gouge us who use few minutes but enjoy texting a lot.
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Jeff said 3:16PM on 4-30-2008
Get a clue. Find a deaf person with an iPhone and you'll see why they're rolling this plan out.
Chad Kirchner said 3:21PM on 4-30-2008
I totally agree with why they are bringing this plan out. So I do have a clue. I'm just saying why limit this plan to those individuals? I would be useful to a lot of people.
Jeff said 3:23PM on 4-30-2008
agreed.
Lex said 2:02PM on 4-30-2008
This is a good start. But it would be really nice if the iPhone had speech synthesis and voice recognition so I can make/answer calls without looking at the screen.
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Ryan said 2:05PM on 4-30-2008
Wow, it would be nice if this was offered to the general public, as I know many people, including myself that use the Iphone mostly for data and texting rather than voice. Personally, I think this could be a suit against AT&T because they are discriminating against normal people. I can understand something like a handicap sticker on their car, where this actually is something that AIDS in helping their disability, where a text+data plan doesn't AID in there disability, but rather simply 'saves' them money, something many other people may want to do as well. Anyone agree, or am I just stupid?
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Jeremy said 2:14PM on 4-30-2008
I completely agree, but I may be stupid as well :P
Duey Cheatham & Howe said 4:56PM on 4-30-2008
"Personally, I think this could be a suit against AT&T because they are discriminating against normal people."
What about deaf people filing a suit against AT&T for discriminating against deaf people for not having a plan specifically for deaf people? It works both ways. You can't satisfy everyone.
It's almost like non-handicapped drivers getting pissed off at handicapped drivers parking in a non-handicapped parking spaces.
Just_a_guy said 3:24PM on 4-30-2008
LOL! I can get this plan even though I could hear you on the phone quite well anyway!!!! and it's elagl too
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Gene Cowan said 3:29PM on 4-30-2008
One might assume that when signing up for a plan for the hearing-impaired which includes something called "Visual Voicemail", you'd be getting a service that transcribes voice mails into a visual format, like text.
Perhaps they should have chosen a different name for it...
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Scott Miller said 8:17PM on 4-30-2008
WHAT??
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Frank Cocherelli said 9:00AM on 5-01-2008
This is going to get abused, I'm sure. Why can't AT&T just give us unlimited text messaging anyway? It doesn't make sense to me.
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