This is probably outside the scope of your post, but the CaptionCall/CapTel telephone system is amazing for this sort of thing. Well worth looking into, and no cost to you because it's federally funded. Was a lifeline for my folks, will probably wind up having one myself sooner than later with my hearing.

quote:

Originally posted by Legal Beagle:

This is probably outside the scope of your post, but the CaptionCall/CapTel telephone system is amazing for this sort of thing. Well worth looking into, and no cost to you because it's federally funded. Was a lifeline for my folks, will probably wind up having one myself sooner than later with my hearing.

Having done without the "pleasure" of incoming telephone calls for a while, I have absolutely zero interest in paying for a telephone line for the convenience of others. I certainly do not need it for family and friends, we manage just fine with text, email, and face-to-face.

On the rare occasion that I actually need to place an outgoing call, I can use Florida's Relay Service, which brings an operator into the mix; I make an internet connection, the operator types back and forth with me, and speaks to and listens to the party that I'm calling. I use this once or twice a month. It works fine for outgoing calls, but doesn't work for incoming calls, thus the reason for my original bitch, complaining about businesses and governmental entities that require a telephone number in order to submit one of their forms, "in case we need to contact you." Yo, dumb-asses, I have already given you an email address and a postal address on this same form. Use one of those if you need to contact me. Don't REQUIRE telephone number -- there actually are people who are not capable of receiving a telephone call.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I am hearing impaired, so incoming telephone calls are not an option.

I came across an advertisement and thought of this thread.

It's supposed to be they provide land line phones and apps to people with certified hearing loss at no cost to you. Funded by a government program.

The landline phone gives you call captioning on the fly via speech recognition and captioning agents. The mobile app does a similar function.

CaptionCall

You might want to check it out.

Thanks for thinking of me, Rey.

The link that you gave me is a perfect example of what I'm bitching about. Click on the link, it takes you to the website, where you can fill in (fill out?) a form requesting a contact.

One of the fields in the form is a drop-down list that lets you specify the type of contact that you prefer, including choices of mail or email. I tried this, but there is another field on the form for "Home Phone Number," and guess what: the form will not be accepted if that field is left blank. You can try it yourself, to see what I mean. Don't worry about submitting it, your attempt will not go any place if you do not supply a Home Phone Number.

This is EXACTLY the type of thing that I bitched about in my original post, but this one is even more ironic if you think about it.

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Added: The web page on your link also has a "Chat" button. I clicked on that and got a chat-bot. Repeated attempts to ask for "human" or "agent" resulted in a form in the chat window for contact request; this form also requires a phone number.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:


This is EXACTLY the type of thing that I bitched about in my original post, but this one is even more ironic if you think about it.

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Added: The web page on your link also has a "Chat" button. I clicked on that and got a chat-bot. Repeated attempts to ask for "human" or "agent" resulted in a form in the chat window for contact request; this form also requires a phone number.

Yeah, I get the irony. Reminds me of the gif that has Castle trying to point out something but stops, realizing he's defeated from the get go.

"I want to get your phone that can help me understand phone conversations. I can't understand phones calls right now and I want your technology."

"Well, we need your phone so that we can have a conversation with you as a first step."

"But, but, but...."

I hope you still try and get one. Never mind if they try and call you. Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

I hope you still try and get one. Never mind if they try and call you. Good luck.

Hah! It will take more than luck. The online form is not accepted unless the "Home Phone Number" field contains a telephone number. I do not have a "Home Phone." "Chat" is no help either, the chat-bot requires a telephone number, so it appears that I'm dead in the water with respect to this.

Not really worried about it; I can usually find a way to communicate via postal mail or email.

I do appreciate the fact that you tried to help by supplying the link. Too bad that the people behind that website are imbeciles and do not realize the Catch-22 situation that they have created.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Hah! It will take more than luck. The online form is not accepted unless the "Home Phone Number" field contains a telephone number. I do not have a "Home Phone." "Chat" is no help either, the chat-bot requires a telephone number, so it appears that I'm dead in the water with respect to this.

Not really worried about it; I can usually find a way to communicate via postal mail or email.

I do appreciate the fact that you tried to help by supplying the link. Too bad that the people behind that website are imbeciles and do not realize the Catch-22 situation that they have created.

Well, actually, I haven't had a home phone number since 2006. But whenever a home phone number field is required, I just enter my cell phone number.

Often, I put the same number in both the home phone field and the cell phone field. Yeah, I sometimes think about how many people actually still have a landline phone number - it can't be that many and certainly not the majority.

Maybe enter (833) 691-1600 on the web form?

That's their number, as published on their website.