SneakerNet

I still have two TTY somewhere in the storage, one tty required translations cuz it produced bunch of garbage charaters and I guess the other one is working fine... haven't use it for age...

Really, there are many ways to contact 911 or needing to contact work, one way is to find nearest neighbor that have working phone (I know some may not be comfortable with that idea but for emergency case..they will understand) or if your roomate, spouse or SO plan to go to work and their systems is working then that person can call his/her work to let them know that he/she unable to come to work... or go to library that have power and internet or whatever. During the outages, what the company have is the mobile 3G/4G tower that run on gas generator being deployed in certain area where the main towers are down. This mobile 3G/4G towers are critical for emergency services (police, ambulance and fire services), so you all may not be out of reach using your mobile phone.

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Smithtr

it is very problem on seems slow tty nut on crap I understand I am wish be on fast on smooth I am puzzled it weird on system seems problem I am pretty puzzled it!

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Reba

Such as?

You mean, if you have an emergency at night in your house, like a heart attack or a burglar breaking in, you're going to find a neighbor to make a phone call for you?

Some people do live alone.

That won't work if you're sick or injured, during an emergency, or during hours that they're closed.

That seems promising. Very interesting.

Are they the same size as the regular towers? How quickly can they be set up? Do they keep lots of them around?

Reba

I guess none of you have deaf friends or relatives who don't have internet or cell phones.

Hard as it might be to believe, there are lots of people who don't.

CrazyPaul

Most TTYs have a battery back-up that will provide 45-60 minutes of normal use, didn't you know?

Reba

Yes, mine has battery back up.

CrazyPaul

I forgot to mention internet phone services such as Vonage that we saw alot of TV commericials about in the past. It's not a landline phone since it must be connected to internet which can be out of service sometimes anyway. My son told me that it takes up alot of internet speed so it's not worth it.

Off the point, Verizon FIOS is the best ISP as well as the best cable TV provider because it uses 100% fiber optic cable all the way from the service center to my home. The internet rarely goes down and in the event of a power outage, it has a 30-minutes battery back-up for internet use only with battery-powered laptops. I used to have DirecTV before and switched to FIOS for better picture quality in both SD and HD.

Mateo

To the beginning of the convo about what if this what if that, sometimes these things just happen... if a hearing person's phone gets lost or stolen it's up that person to figure something out.

the way i see it is a deaf person who can't call in for work is in the same boat as a hearing person who can't call in for work.

The Highlander

Don't mean to same happen to anywhere. It's all depend where you live. My ISP cable had drop like 3-5 times a months till I found what cause it then I fixed it and rare drop a year.

Around two years ago, we lost power for almost one week due thunderstorm. Nothing of internet, even phoneline are work at all. Everyone's mobile works fine.

TTY still useless when you are far away from TTY like fall down the stair and hurt the leg due ice and use cell phone to call 911 or friend *happen to my father* How can you use TTY when you are in car accident, outside accident, etc?

I spoke federal government agency once and he hate TTY so much due very slow to communication. He loves VRS over TTY for fast communication.

Did you know that you can text to 911 from mobile? No relay need.

Again, use common sense to send a email, text, or relay FROM mobile to employer when ISP down or visit to place to let them know that you are very sick. That's right I send email to my HR and let her know that I was sick. We have no problem with that. It was happen in 2001 that time I dont know nothing about VRS in old time. I asked most of my employer's permission to use their cell phone as text for sick, accident, etc. They said SURE. Few times, they use texted me for call on or help or tell me to let boss/HR to know for sick (when boss's or HR's phone was very busy).

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The Highlander

I use Mediacom too and love it. Good price, fast, and no problem so far after I fixed it.

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"There are a lot of people that don’t like this software. It is because they don’t understand how to use the software and don’t realize it’s potential."

radioman

- so you are willing to go to your nieghbors and spread your flu to them to make a call. IF you are well enough to make that call...... NC.

Thats one less unit to be donated to a museum!

Isnt this funny?! its the same no matter where you go.

I think its time for ALL of us to sit down and think of the worse case scenerios and get this info ready NOW! We should be talking with our employers HR dept ahead of time and ask them questions like, what happens if MY communications fails. What if I am sick and all I have is VRS and internet goes down and unable to call during business hours when I am due for work ? you really dont want to make a call in sick at neeighbors house unless it means the only way to save your job due to HR policy.

rockin'robin

Like I said, I do have friends who cannot afford Internet and still use their TTD/TTY's....I would never even think about trashing mine, blowing it up, or taking it to the shooting range....

If I really did not want it anymore, I would return it to Independent Living where I got it before....and being sure that there were those people who could use it.....I've even seen a TDD in a Pawn Shop years ago! Unbelievable!......But for those who "bought" their own TDD/TTY, then it's their business if they want to trash it, not caring about other deafies who would be very happy to have some form of communication since they cannot afford Internet.

Seriously!...Give back or donate ur old TTD/TTY's for a good cause if you don't want it anymore....same as for clothes, food, etc. Hard-times can and do befall upon the best of us....

posts from hell

read the ENTIRE post.

posts from hell

Oh, excellent.

"Hey bad guy, go ahead burglarize me while I call the cops on my trusty ol' tty!"
*clack clack clack clack*

And in that particular situation - There are other ways to contact 911. You're are not having internet issues and mobile towers are not down.

Jane B.

But . . . the whole idea from the first post is alternate ways to get through when your internet is down.

Reba

Wirelessly posted (BB Curve 9300)

Not everyone has internet or cell phones. This afternoon I just left a semi-rural residential area where there was no cell service for at least 15 miles.

In areas that have enhanced 911, if the number is typed in, even if there is no further message, police will respond to that address.

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posts from hell

So I should worry about having a landline?

This thread reeks of people not being able to empower theirselves.

Even the dude who "couldnt make a call" - I could list several places that could have a tty. Library, Food stores, Airport.... Police station.. I mean... Seriously.

Alright, if you want to paint a picture of where a deaf person's world just collapses on the brink of an internet outage - fine.

I just don't see it that way.

The Highlander

[QUOTE=radioman;1910035]
same goes for hearing. cellphonee or landline phone is useless when its in the nxt room, so your statement has no bearing.

nxt? What? Car accident have "nxt" room? You don't make any sense to me.


Quote:
Did you know that you can text to 911 from mobile? No relay need.
ok- are you sure this is covered by all carriers?

If 911 not covered then use relay. FCC said it should work for all states in USA. Again, if you can't talk or text then just dial 911 and leave it alone and they will trace you right away.

Too many of us fail to prepare ahead of time to havee this info ready. to whom is reading this- do you have this info written down or stored somewhere without looking it up? I am willing to bet 98% of you will say no!

What info written down or stored? What do you mean and why need them for?

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"There are a lot of people that don’t like this software. It is because they don’t understand how to use the software and don’t realize it’s potential."

The Highlander

Most mobiles with VZ are very rare to internet down.

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"There are a lot of people that don’t like this software. It is because they don’t understand how to use the software and don’t realize it’s potential."

radioman

[quote=The Highlander;1910155]for example a previous post says if internet goes down to call in to work sick because of storm, and if you actually have a conversation with a HR dept on alternate source to inform them you cannot get to work like email, text, another qualified person cell phone number, etc... If you were smart, it would be written down somewhere as well on smartphone. You dont seem to get the concept of being prepared do you? What if your smartphone battery is dead during power outage? your info is stored not written down...
All I am saying , come on guys/gals!!! lets pretend the world went to hell or your world is flipped upside down in your corner of your world, what are your possibilities for communication?

posts from hell

[quote=radioman;1910194]If there was no electricity, what do you do? I have already contacted my city in regards of this. They have established locations where they will spread information. They have also told me their plans in case everything went fubar.

At that point... Even if the world JUST flipped up side down, there is no use for TTY's.

The Highlander

[quote=radioman;1910194]We have power inverter with 12 volts battery 330 CCA. Almost everyone have charger car for their mobiles. Some of my friends don't own a car and they take bus/cab then they alway bring their extra batteries.

You can use email from moblie. That's what I did from 2001 from old Treo 650p. Yes, most mobiles have conversation history. No computer need.

Hell, My iPhone 4's battery life last 2-3 days and TTY last 40min? TTY is useless again.

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"There are a lot of people that don’t like this software. It is because they don’t understand how to use the software and don’t realize it’s potential."

SneakerNet

Such as write down large text 911 on piece of paper, then fold it into streamline airplane, open the door carefully to be sure there's no pressure from the hurricane, if all is ok, then toss your paper airplane out, it will disappear in a split second (speedy service). Then cross your fingers...

Just kidding, really there's nothing you can do about it during the storm but as far as after the storm, you know emergency services, it's going to take a while for someone to reach your destination. You know? So the best chance is to reach out to someone and they can spread the words around for help.


I'm talking about best of your ability. If you have a person that having heart attack, in the middle of heavy storm (like 100 MPH wind), either hurricane or tornado, it's going to be hard for having someone to come because of so many downed trees block the path, and it's not going to be easy to watch that person is dying while waiting for ambulance. It's really hard. My next door neighbor, a couple, her husband died of heart attack. When the storm subside, she ran out to get my father because she know that he's a doctor and when he came in, he's already dead. He asked her how long ago did he have heart attack, she said little over 3 hours ago. That was during Hurricane Hugo. It's sad.... so. The whole point is that regardless what happen during the aftermath of the storm, for emergency service, it's very difficult to reach out people who are in needs.


Right I'm aware of that, but story above explain it all.


right same goes for during the storm.... but contacting someone near you give a better chance... like you may bump somone who happen to be a dr, or person know someone that is a dr and they can help to reach out to get him/her.


Oh yes, but not same size as regular tower, they have fleet of 15 trailers, one is the mothership and many mini trailers. The mothership is the repeater system plus satellite dish. And all the mini one are the transmitters/receivers towers. Now they can broadcast it in the range of 3 miles in diameter.

This guy was there during Obama's inauguration, they deployed it because of 3G bottle neck transmission. So they use them for reducing it and allow room in case of emergency.

I'll take a pictures, they are right next door from our company. It's a fast set up. All they have to do is to reach the right destination, pop up the antennae, and start up the gas generator, tune in frequency.. and it's ready.

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Reba

I think everyone, hearing and deaf, needs to be prepared for emergency situations that might require alternatives to the usual communications.

Reba

Yes, I know how it was during Hugo.

We lived in Goose Creek during Hugo.

Cool!

posts from hell

Exactly.

I just don't think that we still need to have TTY's.

I do realize that there are areas that don't have internet, etc.

Reba

That's fine for you. I just think the TTY option should be open to those who don't have the internet or cell phone service.

CrazyPaul

First of all, I am sorry for telling you not to throw your TTY away because it's not my business but I was just advising it.

Since my workplace, US Postal Service is a very big, serious business, they DON'T have a mobile number. Supervisors don't give their private mobile numbers to employees. The company policy is very strict. They only take sick calls by cell or home phone/TTY (using Relay Service) or VP (VRS). No email or text msgs are allowed. I believe that there are many companies with the same strict policy in this country.

Some deaf friends of mine told me that they got rid of their TTYs because they hate it since their grammar skills are bad so they prefer VP using ASL. That's understandable. I keep mine in case since I have no problem with my grammer skill. Is that understandable, too?

posts from hell

If you couldn't VP, you couldn't email them either. Just saying.

Its okay. I understand where you're coming from. Its just that the concept of having a landline just for the purpose of doomsday is futile for me. Perhaps it helps that I am in a city that is BLOATED with wifi hotspots. Perhaps it is because I know there are other things I can do in case of emergencies.

Also, would the USPS bend and allow emails to be used for sick calls for of accommodation purposes? I mean - you're contacting your supervisor either way,.

CrazyPaul

No, all postal employees must use a toll-free number given by USPS for sick calls. They even have a toll-free TTY number for deaf employees. Then the info is sent to the data system from the answering service center somewhere in the US. Sometimes a secretary in the office at the workplace accept sick calls but is not supposed to because that's what that toll-free number is for. USPS doesn't have an email address for that purpose. It's not a supervisor's job to take those calls since they are always on the workfloor.

"Carl" who got fired didn't call that number because his internet was down so he couldn't use VRS, didn't have a TTY and couldn't use his malfunctioning cellphone. He thought that it was a good excuse but when he came back to work after 4 days, he was written up for not calling in at all. So my point is that if he still had a TTY, that would not happen like this. Every one of us must call in to be absent from work, otherwise we will get an AWOL. USPS is very strict and professional.

I don't have a cellphone myself. So when my internet is down (VP will not work), my TTY would become helpful for me.