Originally Posted by Dennis

What's your source of information that Hard of Hearing cellular phone/pager/2-way users are starting to even come close to the number the landline users with TTY's?

Hearing people now have fewer reasons to actually have a landline, this is true; with wireless number portability, the increase in cell phone towers and access areas in the world, and plans that allow free mobile-to-mobile calls are excellent reasons to get rid of that pesky wall phone.

Deaf to hearing service (and vice versa) is getting better and better, with relay services being able to be accessed without TTY's or Instant Messenger. Indeed, it is great to be a hearing person with deaf friends now!

I contend that the 28 million hard of hearing people in the U.S. (http://www.goamerica.com/company_info/) still cannot fully benefit from a cell phone. Text messaging has only recently become "popular" and instant messaging is not available on most phones in all areas of the U.S.

If I can ever find Wyndtell's subscriber numbers (2 years ago they had 100,000 subscribers) then we can have a better idea just how many people really believe "the phone is obsolete." and what the real chances are of your friends having a pager of any sort.