No, this isn’t an spam message or advertisment on how to prank calls. But it is about prank calling.
I ran across this website earlier today; take a look at it. It is a group of people, presumably hearing, discussing how to use ip-relay calls to prank people. There are even descriptions of prank calls that they have taken.
For me, the most interesting thing about the forum exchange wasn’t the fact that they were pranking people with ip-relay, but it was the glimpse into another world. A world that most of us deaf folks live in but sometimes don’t participate in. And I thought it was amusing how much fun they were having with something as simple (and important to us) as ip-relay!
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I can’t help thinking that this may be the reason why some places/people are reluctant to accept relay calls.
I didn’t see anything amusing about it.
IP-Relay may end up being something that is no longer available if the pranks continues. I have read several times in the news that it is a major problem for the relay company, police, etc. If one thinks it is amusing that deaf people will no longer have on line relay services due to prank, so be it. This is a serious problem. Please see following four part story:
http://www.oreillynet.com/digi.....one_3.html
I remember this came up while back (outrage over pranks and such). Somebody suggested a registration service to get around this, then Relays would know who is REALLY deaf. Caused a big outcry. I’m not sure why people in the community didn’t want to do it.
Eh but it would only solve half the problem, cuz what about hearing people who want to use it to call deaf people?
That article is dated. My understanding is that in the last couple of years, the relay companies have put in safeguards and are monitoring IP activity.
Luckily for me and the wonderful technology implanted at the base of my skull I dont’ have to deal with this anymore. (pats cell phone) my precious! we love’s it we do yes we does!
but in all seriousness, things like this are going to happen in some form or another. I remember reading about the initial steps IP-relay took to stop people who are calling oversea’s to save the hefty phone bill. It hurt the deaf people who were from other countries, but hey is abuse follows steps will be taken. Amazing how far people will go for silly things they know they shouldn’t be doing. Sad really….
PB:
This is off topic but out of curiosity, two things… is there a switch on an implant that you use when you want to talk on phones as opposed to listening to the general environment (like the “T” on hearing aids)? And two when you’re training to learn to listen through an implant, does listening to a voice on a phone figure right into that or does it take more training to decipher what’s being said? My brother can’t hear on phones at all with his implant so he doesn’t know.
I really don’t know your bother’s back ground, but I’ve had experience over the years using phones with my old hearing aids alone, until I lost more hearing and couldnt’ use them well anymore. Now I had the implant put in and it took me about a year to “de-code” everything and make sound and speech understandable enough.
To answer your question, I can use both the telecoil and the standard mode, but using the telecoil is far better and blocks out the background noise completely.
Yes, it takes time to get used to the implant, same thing when you change hearing aids, your brain gets a whole new set of information (sounds, input, exposure, blah blah) and has to figure out what to do with it. With that in mind, since I had to stop relying on my hearing altogether because of the degradation, I had to force myself to rely on hearing again rather than visual cues. So, I’d go to a place with sparse crowds and just close my eyes and listen. I’d get on voice chats through the internet and just listen, I’d listen to audio books and try to make sense of it all, I think I broke the rewind button a few times (chuckle.) It helped me a lot to not watch the captionings fly by on the tv screen and look at them only if I didnt’ catch the word. Kind of helps to listen to a thread of speech (like youtube.com videos) and verbalize what I heard. like for example try and figure out “we todd did, just sofa king we todd did” verbalize that and figure it out (sorry for the crude quote and language.. no direct insult to anyone, something my sister typed to me years back as a joke for something stupid I said.) Patience, perseverance, and dedication pays off in the long run. Sadly, many people seem to think the implant is short of a miracle and an instantaneous cure, but like all new experiences it takes time and effort to adapt.
EDIT: by the way, unfortunately not all the cell phones are made for hearing devices so I had to get a special cell phone that would work with telecoils, otherwise it would be a bunch of electro-magnetic (whatever) blips and cut offs. quite annoying….
well.. when your chip breaks in your skull and have to make a call to the doctor’s office to have surgery to have it repaired, don’t you think IP-RELAY would come in handy for you? instead of saying patting your phone thank god you can speak and hear but when you actually do need to use it one day, see if you want to pat your phone. This is a serious situation where hearing culture are once again manipulating the deaf system.
Telephones were once invented for deaf people and now deaf people cannot find jobs cuz of not able to use telephones. Irony? So now IP-RELAY and VP are next? I hope not!
OH MY GOD! I”M DEAF I JUST SAW A CAR CRASH AT FOUR IN THE MORNING AND I CAN’T CALL THE 911!!! AND MY PAGER IS BROKEN! THERE’S A PAY PHONE RIGHT HERE BUT I CAN’T HEAR! OH MY GOD! WHAT SHALL I DO?!
same thing Brian, my cell might be broken, my zipper might be undone, my brain might be melting, I might die tomorrow. It’s all circumstantial, if you want to remain deaf and smother yourself in the beauties of ASL, then that’s by your own choosing. I was implanted at an age where I can decide what’s best for myself and my lifestyle, so you might want to get off your high horse.
your sarcastic remarks is a low blow about seeing an accident cuz you think you are funny talking about car accidents? You know how many people are affected by that comment?
You were bragging about how you did not need IP-RELAY, I was simply using as an example of what if your CI breaks down, it has nothign to do with a 911 call, that was really stupid of you and you get off your high horse that you are “HEARING” now that you dont need IP-RELAY.
I never said I want to smother myself with ASL you make it sound like it is a horrible thing and you saying that if I didnt get CI then it means I prefer to remain deaf? honey, you are still deaf with your CI! I just opted not to have analog CI or major surgeries so I can hear a few more decibels. You are just accusing me of being anti-CI or anti-hearing which you are wrong I said nothing about me preferring using ASL only, I was simply saying why IP-RELAY is convenient for us all deaf people in any situation and yes including 911 calls!
Again get off your high-horse thinking you are smart, you want to reply to this comment, go ahead, I am not going to argue with you who thinks being deaf is shameful, am i wrong? if not, then I guess I made the same assumption as you did by accusing you of something, how does that feel? So cool it with insults.
there is nothing shameful about being deaf, you are simply attacking me because you disagree with my presentations. that’s fine with me. the only person here who seems to have a problem with anything is none other than you. I took your initial statement as a comment against the fact that I have a CI and it’s against YOUR beliefs. I can hear with a CI, but i’m not bragging about it. it’s a fact of life…. It’s the life i’ve chosen, the deaf life is not me.
again you are mis-reading what I said… where did I say I am against you being CI? or against CI at all? I’m curious? where did I say that CI is against my beliefs?? I’m curious? you are putting words in my mouth and not surprising if you did for others.
I did not disagree with your presentation except the fact you find it humorous to use a car accident as an example, I just simply pointed out the fact that you still need IP-RELAY someday in the future when your hearing aid or CI breaks…but you decided to do name callings and say I am against CI and that I am on my high horse…honestly you need to learn how to take a debate and if I was wrong, then tell me, no need for name callings or accusations. If you continue to do so, you just bore us all with your rants who cannot take it the fact that someone could disagree with you. You are not always right, I am not always right either, if i am wrong, I am happy to have a debate with you but I am standing here “arguing” with you because you are playing victim and name callings… honestly grow up.
okay yer right… I was attacking you because I felt you were against it, I guess I was mistaken, but in truth I was insulted by the sheer STUPIDITY of the comment that If my CI breaks down I’ll still need IP-Relay. How does that make any difference for YOU? you might not be at a computer all the time, you might not have your pager with you.. your pager might be broken, your hearing aids might be broken, HELL you might just go blind!
You have to understand I get people like YOU coming up to me telling me what if what if what if what if… yet it’s not different than the why’s what if’s and wherefores that g on in your life as well. Both sides have their advantages and disadvantages.
I know if by chance a dog coems up and chews up my BTE and i’m done for a couple weeks until Cochlear sends me a new one… I’ll use IP relay. But at this point I DON’T HAVE TO.
as for the accident comment, get over it…..
*yawn*
pb, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to talk to you a little about your implant.
Curiosity kiiled the hearie, I know, but I still have questions.
If you wouldn’t mind dropping me an eamil I’d appreciate it.
Dennis (dsb9938@yahoo.com)
This is exactly why people don’t accept relay calls. I don’t see anything funny about it! It’s a pain in the rear for me to have to call back the doctor’s office or whatever and instruct the relay operator to NOT tell them they are the relay.
Only after talking with me and inquiring why there was a long pause, they discover that there are legitimate means for the relay! *eye roll*
Yes I have been rejected by relay calls so many times that I am building frustration because they were sick and tired of being victims of prank calls.
I also almost lost my job when I tried to call my work to inform that I am not able to come in that night (pizza delivery) and they refuse to accept my relay calls and so on. The next day I walked in to work, my boss and I got into a big fight about why I never called!!! I tried to explain that you refuse to take my calls, you knew I’m deaf, how do you expect me to call? you keep hanging up on me…and he still yelled at me front of everyone, I just simply walked out, if I cannot have the respect like others then I do not need them, but the owner begged me to come back and resolve the issue.
So I explained that relay calls have to be accepted no matter what because I have delivered to deaf customers before…so it’s unfair for them not able to have pizza delivery…to find out, they were victims of hearing people using ip-relay ordering tons of pizza for a nobody for some strangers why? cuz CALLER ID says IP RELAY on it… not the caller who ordered the pizza… that’s why we are taking the HEAT for the hearing people’s JOKES!
I totally agree. I wrote about this some time ago. Crazy.
Precisely the reason I NEVER use the relay without FIRST having ALL of my instructions typed out BEFOREHAND for the operator’s convenience.
Example: “Before I give you the nbr to dial, read these instructions. I am calling an Indian take-out place, my name is Jt, and I’d like to order one side of curry chicken to be delivered to 123 Main Street, and my phone number is 123-456-7890. Okay, now the nbr to dial? 987-654-3210.”
Honestly? This approach works about 98% of the time. If I just wait for the operator to get on her groove with the other end, that’s exactly when I get hang-ups and other rude awakenings. The operator really needs to be prepared in advance so that she can facilitate the conversation more smoothly by completely eliminating the gap between her announcement and *my* message. And the other person, knowing the purpose of my call, tends to be much more patient with my follow-up questions.
yes I tried that many times before with IP-RELAY and they would say (F) answered Hello how may I help you? ga (then I would say ??? relay I gave you instructions) relay would make me repeat it which the person has no patience to wait for my instructions again and I would be hung up on. I filed a complaint to the Relay center demanding why relay operators are not professional at some point by not listening to our desires to handle a phone call after all it is OUR phone call not the relay operator’s and they said they would do their best and that they are simply following the rules of the NAD or some deaf organizations… I said I was not aware of the decision and I think it is in our best interest for us to decide how to handle the call. No matter what instructions you give them the operator will always, always introduce themselves by saying this is the (your state) relay service number 10849 and have you ever heard of a relay service before? (then a hearing person would say what? what? no I can’t take this call.
One time I was on hold for 3 mins cuz relay was talking to the person I called aobut how relay works and so on then I was hung up on.. I was getting pissed… I simply tell the relay… try not to sound so robotic and try to sound human huh? when I use my mother or sister to call for me, I never get hang ups why? cuz they spoke like a human being not like the operators where they sound like they are from a recording. I understand it is all for legal reasons but why can’t relay just wait until the person I called and I chat for a min. so they are aware that it is me that is calling so they are comfortable not thinking it’s Telemarketers, solicitors, or recordings. My mother also said most of the relay calls she recieved from me had strong foreign accents which drove her crazy cuz she could not understand everything.
It is vital to have instructions for the relay operator ready upfront, but I have wondered: is it necessary to have to do this for every cold call where the hearing person has no knowledge of relay calls? Wouldn’t the relay operator be experienced and trained enough to offset this hang-up tendency? We know so little about them and their training instructions…and so often our livelihood, health and well-being depends on the relay operator. Food for thought.
Sometimes I do get the other end to hang up on me when the operator explains the purpose of the relay. I have asked the relay to tell them that there is a deaf person on the other end and if they wish not to accomply according to the ADA law, I would take legal action swiftly. The party on the other line quickly apologized and continued assisting me through the phone.
:)
yes I did that too before LOL. I told the relay service do not introduce themselves and allow me to speak first by saying “this is Brian and I am calling about my appointment (or whatever reasons) and I am deaf, and using a relay service, so if you do not take this call, I can have my lawyer call you for me, would that be OK?” Then I would get apologies and so on… shame that we have to FIGHT just to make a simple phone call.
Wow, this is really interesting. I got denied posting this message on this blog. Speak of the devil. :)
ab,
No one was denied. I checked the spam folder and I don’t see any comments in there, which is usually a problem with other comments. You may want to try re-posting it.
I get “denied” alot due to your IP address is considered a virus or something that you have to fix it yourself. I thought i was being denied and tried reposting it twice and it came up twice. What you need to do, if you get that, just click “BACK” button and then “REFRESH” it will appear on the blog comments that you posted.
Brian (or anyone else experiencing this),
Can you tell me the specific message that you get when the error occurs? That will help us identify the problem. Thanks.
It would say with a big bold ERROR and 2nd line would say something like that deafdc cannot post my blog and that I need to fix my IP address and that I click on the link, and I tried to follow the instructions but never worked. Let me post this blog and I’ll copy and paste what I got.
Error 403
We’re sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /blog/?p=896#comment-83989 on this server.
You do not have permission to access this server.
Your technical support key is: 400c-748b-dfd9-b1ad
You can use this key to fix this problem yourself.
If you are unable to fix the problem yourself, please contact blog at deafdc.com and be sure to provide the technical support key shown above.
Brian,
I think the problem should stop now. Please let me know if it does.
yep it did. thanks!
Just to bring this back to the original subject of the post - has anyone noticed that there has been a comment posted on that thread Bobby refers to by a Deaf person complaining about using IP-Relay for such prank calls?
Interesting.
I realize that there is not much we can do about these young folks who think it’s funny to use the relay to make prank (generally sex-related) calls, but I admit that I did take some pleasure in seeing someone stand up and say “I don’t agree with this thread or with such behavior.”
I am very distressed to know that hearing people out there to misuse the IP Relay for some kind of prank or scheme calls, especially overgratified and spoiled kids.
Is there any way to make the prank and scheme calls to be criminally prosecuted? I would be much pleased to see kids and their parents to be hauled to the jail cell for making unnecessary relay calls at the expense of IP Relay users.
The IP Relay is not funded by the government or totally free. The user fee for the relay service come from every phone user anyway.
RLM
How do they KNOW the IP-relay phone numbers ARE for IP-relay users only? (I have my own IP-relay phone number for my Sidekick). They look like any regular phone number.
The prank calling discussed in the link provided by Bobby are of calls originating from the Web, not to anyone’s IP-Relay number.
I’ve heard about about the IP-Relay ordering large bulk stuff and ask to be billed. I use VRS VCO from now on so it’s my voice they hear and I just watch the relay sign what they said.
I never use MCI IP-relay if i can help it. i711 is my dream relay — they always have a field for instructions prior to making the call, etc… never had a problem with i711. My only problem is with MCI. Even SIPrelay has workd well for me.
This is so sad. This WILL cause the end for IPrelay, for free relay on sidekicks etc. It’s a problem on IPrelay, and with sidekicks. Stupid hearing teens using relay to prank their friends. Sigh.
What bothers me even more is the whole attitude that these kids take when someone tries to point out that their behavior is in fact stupid, immature, and exploitative. If you notice the responses to the Deaf individual who left comments expressing her disgust, these kids were quick to jump all over her case.
This kind of reminds me of Vikki’s post about Welcome to the Real World, where she posted the Rules of Life. Unfortunately, I have a feeling those rules are going to be lost on these kids, who would rather make comments about “the dumb ass who can’t read”, how “90% of the deafs are illiterate,” and that “one of the deafs favorite pastimes has been hacking…”
Seems that instead of owning up to their own inappropriate behavior, these kids would rather point the finger elsewhere and scream at the terrible Deaf folks who would dare to criticize their right to get their kicks off by abusing a service that was never intended for their pleasure in the first place.
Sigh…I know, I know.
But I can’t help wondering what this world is coming to. We have a young eighth grade Deaf boy who posts a vlog about how he gets treated by his hearing classmates at his mainstream school; we read about these teens who think it’s fun to have phone sex over IP-Relay; just the other night I had to comfort a young Deaf pre-teen who after getting her hair styled in a cute pixie cut, got teased about how “now everyone can see those stupid hearing aids that you gotta wear.”
Were we ever that bad? I’d like to think that my parents raised me with a little more common courtesy and common sense…
Yes, I noted that as well. These are probably the same kids who park in parking places designed for mothers to be, or designed for people with disabilities. The people who wouldn’t give up their seat on the metro for an elderly person…. They just don’t get it. sigh.
As a relay operator, I thought that I might shed some light on the subjects at hand
Pranks
These are a huge problem with us. By law we HAVE to take the calls as they come in, and can only disconnect a call if it is 100% identified as a prank call, and not just a caller and the person that they are calling being silly and crude. We catch the ones that we can, but every one of them thinks that they’re doing something new and original, like making a female operator fake an orgasm or having an operator tak dirty to random girls that they call. Trust me, they disgust us as much as they do you with their abuse of the system
There’s a set of regulations that we have to follow that are set by the FCC, and if we don’t follow them we risk losing our funding and being shut down, so if we do something that may seem odd to you at first, it is for a reason.
Explaining what relay is….this is a big source of frustration, because a lot of hearing out there don’t know, and have never heard of relay. When you get those 3 minute delays, it’s generally because the hearing person that is being called thinks that we’re a telemarketer and trying to sell them something. I’ve had countless calls where I have been screamed at, profaned at, called everything in the book until I could get the hearing person to understand what the call was.
JT has a great thing there. We don’t have to explain at the beginning that it’s a relay call if you tell us not to, and those follow up instructions were GREAT.
I’ll keep an eye on this thread, and will be more than happy to answer what questions that I can, but some things I can’t talk about, unfortunately, or I would risk losing my job.
TDI opposes registration for IPrelay. What do you guys think?
I think people who make prank calls via the ip-relay should have their laptops/computers confiscated AND destroyed.
There are three restaurants in this area that I know of that are being sued for ADA violations because the restaurant refused to take orders over the relay for the deaf callers. If the restaurants don’t apologize and make accommodations, they very well may lose their court cases and not only that, but also be financially punished through fines and lawyer fees which would probably put a dent to their bank account unless they have business insurance coverage.
One restaurant owner told me a few years back that he was taken for a ride on one of those IP-Relay calls. He said that someone ordered a bunch of menu items and never bothered to swing by to pick them up and pay for it. Needlessly to say, that is why he no longer accepts orders over the phone, hearing or not, because he said that it wasted the cook’s time and his profits as well.
I don’t blame him one bit for that because if I was in his shoes, I’d be pissed too. Now with the VideoPhones today, it may be a bit better than IP relay because the operator can tell whether the hearing person really is for real or not. Most hearing people trying to pull pranks wouldn’t try it on the videophone but only by the computer since they can remain anonymous online than on the videophone.
Im hearing rumors that ip relay may go away in the near future because the use of videophones are taking over at a faster rate than ip-relay is being used. Honestly, to solve the problem of people pulling pranks on businesses, I’d stop the ip-relay usage and just use the videophone.
I really like using the VP because it allows me to speak to the person on the other end without them knowing that I am deaf. This makes many of my business and personal calls a lot smoother since I never get any hangups unlike others who may not be able to speak on the phone.
On a side note: I’m hearing that the FCC may cut the funding for VRS and IP-Relay as well. That is going to cause us to slide backwards in terms of quality of the calls, increase in delays in answering the calls in turn, poor interpreting, and so on. This is going to hurt a lot of folks who work in businesses if this comes to pass.
I read the Prank website, and I’m sorely hurt by this. I do use the VP when I am home, but when I’m out and about, how can I use the VP? That’s where ip-relay comes in. I have NEVER had any problems talking to another person on the other line using this service on sidekick. I can say however, I’ve had a lot of issues trying to get an apartment years ago by using online relay services. People would hang up immediately. In a small way, I can’t blame them because the area that I was going to live in has a lot of foreigners, and majority of them do not speak English fluently, or know anything about relay services.
I can sympathize with all of you. But…where’s the publicity about it? I remember years ago, I saw a billboard in my town talking about relay services and how people should not hang up. “Don’t Hang Up on me!” something of the sort. What happened?
I’m curious though, with all of this talk about it…is anything actually being done?
Why can’t we have a simple brochure, and send it out to ALL Businesses that you use? Give it to your local Pizzeria that you use all the time. When someone accepts a relay call, that person knows what’s going on, then he/she can tell other people by word of mouth.