My daughter just started high school at a deaf school--she loves it and is very happy! There are VPs in the dorms--most of the students use them to communicate with their parents during the week. We just got one installed in our home on Friday and it is amazing!! My daughter CAN use a regular phone and likes to use speakerphone, but sometimes she still likes a bit of extra clarification--the VP is a GREAT resource!! So far, she has used it several ways. When calling her hearing friends and family, she uses it where she is listening and speaking on the speakerphone PLUS getting an interpreter on the videophone as an extra tool(signing and lip reading)--LOVE IT!!!! And she uses it a lot to talk to her deaf friends from school on the weekends--VP to VP--they seem to be signing and lip reading mostly. I am amazed at how fast my daughter is learning ASL--the VP is a BIG help, plus patient people who sign slowly and repeat things when she doesn't understand. She still loves to use her cell phone for text messaging--sometimes that can also be an extra tool while on the VP--if there is confusion or misunderstanding on the VP, a text message often clarifies things. She wil be 15 this month, and the VP is turning out to be a GREAT way for my deaf teenage daughter to communicate--SHE LOVES IT!!! 
