So, AT&T has finally offered a “Deaf/HH” plan for the iPhone. Yay! Deaf iPhoners — go forth and changeth your plans to saveth money.
AT&T offers iPhone plan (via Engadget)
Executive summary:
- $40/month
- Unlimited SMS & data (web, etc)
- 40¢ per minute voice
- visual voicemail (pretty useless for most of us)
You have to “certify” that you are disabled, and have a professional sign a form. Text from the pdf:
A certifying agent must be a qualified health care professional, audiologist or hearing health professional, speech or language therapist/specialist, representative of an institution, agency or non-profit 510c3 organization actively engaged in work in the disability area specified by the applicant.
A certifying agent must have direct knowledge or documentation of the applicant’s condition or functional limitation.
Examples of certifying agents include licensed physicians and/or surgeons operating in the scope of their licenses, Vocational Rehabilitation Agency Counselors, Teachers, Audiologists, Credentialed Therapists, Directors of independent living centers, or local, state, or national chapter presidents of associations of/for persons with disabilities including but not limited to: The National Association of the Deaf, Hearing Loss Association of America, AG Bell, Association of Late-Deafened Adults or Telecommunication for the
Deaf, INC.
On an tangential point; something makes me feel awkward that I have to certify myself if I wanted to get the plan. It’s nice that the certifying agent list doesn’t only include medical personnel, but still… I would like to see something a little more self-service. “Please tell AT&T that I’m deaf” sounds kind of stupid, doesn’t it?
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I got mine from a mental health therapist. It was accepted because my mental health therapist is licensed. I was approved quickly. You may want to try a therapist or counselor who is licensed.
i would like new one iphone i am deaf person i live in klamath falls oregon ….. where i can get iphone any place ??? hear from you soon thanks
The only visual voicemail that works for the hearing impaired is with transcription. My company, PhoneTag (formerly SimulScribe) does exactly that. We have been looking for a way to launch a discounted plan to the hearing impaired community but have not figured out the right way to do it. Any suggestions?
Jamie
jsiminoff@phonetag.com
Hey Jamie — your product sounds great. I would think it’d be relatively straightforward to make the discounted plan itself. Perhaps you are asking about ‘marketing’ the idea and plan appropriately to the deaf community? If you are, there are various ways to do just that, and this site (along with others) is a good starting place. During the year, there are also various deaf expos and conferences that have vendors with booths. Happy to help more, will e-mail you my contact information.
Anyone else have any suggestions?
yeah, it feels funny to send your metro transit application for half-fare with a doctor’s stamp or an audiogram sheet. or if you have medicaid, you can qualify for discounted verizon and cable bills. it sucks to provide your personal information to get some breathing room on your bills.
For voicemail transcription services, I use the service from Call Wave. It used to be free (?) and still is for me, but it looks like from the website that they’ve started charging for new users. It’s awesome for my business since even with a relay call-back number, when people are faced with an operator, they hang up 9 out of 10 times. This way, they leave a message, which is automatically transcribed and sent to my SMS and email addresses. Champ!
oh the website is: http://www.callwave.com/landin.....rvice.aspx
This is great. I’d been waiting for something cheaper with unlimited txt. Now the question is, wait for 3G or not….. Another option I was considering was getting a ‘family’ plan with my (hearing) boyfriend since there’s a discount there when you share minutes. He’d get all of the minutes so it wouldn’t cost a lot more for me than my SK3 does… until you add $20 a month for unlimited txt. They need integrated IM on the iPhone (not just web based).
Just wanted to let ya know iphone now has integrated IM called apollo IM. You can check it out at http://www.apolloapp.com
The oddest part is that AT&T isn’t offering the plan to whoever wants it. That would eliminate the awkward proof part. If hearing people want to pay 40 cents/minute to talk, I say let ‘em!
Thanks for the info! After reading your posts, I always feel firmly perched on the cutting edge.
Exactly. With Tmo ANYone can get a data only plan. it’s not a “disability plan” just a “data only plan”
Don’t buy this just yet… wait for the 3rd gen release sometime in June/July as it supposedly has wi/fi and/or 3g connections.
What about Blackberry Curve? Any comments to compare it with iPhone? I can’t decide which of 2 to choose from and which provider to use (ATT or Sprint). Currently I’m using SK3 which is no good anymore and I’m in process of switching to a new pager and a new service provider.
I use the Curve myself; but it or the iPhone are good devices. I’ll probably get the iPhone next later this summer (whenever they update it next). The iPhone is only available with AT&T so if you’re interested in it, I’d get the Curve with AT&T so you can switch/upgrade later if you want to.
Thanks, Bobby. Yes, iPhone uses ATT only, but BB Curve works with ATT, Sprint, Verizon, so if I choose BB, I would also need to decide on one of those service providers.
My number one concern is good signal - I’ve had major problems with it on my Tmobile SK3.
Another thing to consider is cost - which is cheaper - iPhone or BB Curve?
Anything else to consider? Like WiFi, GPS, GSM (I heard GSM doesn’t work as well here as SMDA?), etc
Where does internet work better? Where does it load faster?
When using email, are there accounts that can be used as POP mail - like at SK you can have several accounts?
I’ve been looking into getting an iPhone also. A Blackberry Curve would definitely be cheaper, especially if you’re coming over from another provider. I’ve seen them recently as low as $99 with a 2-year plan. I don’t think you will ever find a deal like that for the iPhone. But, since they offer no discounts on the iPhone, I was told that at any point during my 2-year contract I could purchase an iPhone and switch to that plan without any penalties. So I figure get whatever smartphone you want now, then buy an iPhone whenever the new version comes out (if that’s what you’re waiting for).
LM: thanks for the comments. About the 2-year contract, how is it possible to cancel it without penalties? Most companies won’t allow that..
Where have you seen the $100 with 2-yr plan?
Another thing to consdier - captions for videos. I see that both BB and iPhone have videos, but are they both captioned?
I heard also that iPhone has no “copy and paste” feature??