AT&T’s FaceTime Blocking Hurts the Deaf

WSJ: 2012 iPhone to support global 4G LTE -- Engadget

Now we're intrigued. It's a common (if unconfirmed) belief that the next iPhone will support LTE-based 4G, but the Wall Street Journal now understands through the ever-present "people familiar with the matter" that Apple is taking 4G worldwide. Where the current iPad only supports two LTE frequencies and drops to HSPA+ outside of the US and Canada, the new iPhone will supposedly cover parts of Asia and Europe as well. The exact countries haven't been outlined, although it's easy to imagine Apple going for those countries where 4G speeds matter the most: there's been rumblings of talks with KT and SK Telecom in South Korea, but we could also see France, Germany, Japan and Scandiavian countries in the mix. The rumor hasn't been confirmed, of course. That said, the iPhone was already purported to be using a new cellular chipset -- and a number of carriers, most often in the US, have long said they won't carry new smartphones unless LTE is part of the package. We'll know the full scoop on Wednesday.
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Will release iPhone 5 to AT&T, Verizon / Alltel... I think sprint will late release next year.
 
if I had an iPhone, I would only use Facetime (or any other data-heavy apps) over WIFI stead of the phone service.
 
I understand that ATT want to block facetime but who introduced and advertised the first place. Its their fault and shouldnt block it. ATT need more servers like Europe way. Servers every several miles will help drasacally improve wireless speed. I viewed it as greedy move to pocket $$$ from its customers. I sure hope FCC order them to unblock it for Deafie because its the only way they can communicate others. I can supposed if there are emergency, they wont be able to call due ATT facetime blockage.

I understand bandwidth usage but here the thing that we all deafie dont always afford expensive plan. I have seen plenty who are not earning much like hearing counterpart and some are on SSI/SSDI income that limits them. Basically ATT are breaking ADA law period.

Catty
 
I did twitter to AT&T and AT&T customer care about blocking facetime hurt Deaf/HH customers yesterday. I did insult them...do they think Deaf can hear or talk to the phone? Hell no way. I think voice plan should be exempted for Deaf/HH population. Marlee Matlin fought for Deaf/HH's rights by twittering her displeasures to both AT&T and AT&T customer care.

I am done my job yesterday by twittering. I hope AT&T CEO hears our objections.

Either use facetime via WIFI or use CYDIA to get your iphone jailbroken.
 
Oddball said:
I did twitter to AT&T and AT&T customer care about blocking facetime hurt Deaf/HH customers yesterday. I did insult them...do they think Deaf can hear or talk to the phone? Hell no way. I think voice plan should be exempted for Deaf/HH population. Marlee Matlin fought for Deaf/HH's rights by twittering her displeasures to both AT&T and AT&T customer care.

I am done my job yesterday by twittering. I hope AT&T CEO hears our objections.

Either use facetime via WIFI or use CYDIA to get your iphone jailbroken.
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I heard a rumor about that Marlee Matlin is mean person and ruins deaf community. alot deafies disliked her. Well, If Marlee Matlin might rage and rude at AT&T over block facetime. We might applause her.
 
I think they need to set rules for FaceTime use over 3G. They need to separate FaceTime between hearing and deaf/hh. Right now, they are taking the easy way out by putting no facetime for everyone.

If they just let the deaf subscribers use facetime, it should not be a huge bandwidth problem since it's probably small group - I bet there are less than 500,000 TAP subscribers.

But the real problem is I think they will have to find a way to make the iPhone recognize if it is hearing or deaf owner. This sounds easy for non-techy but on tech side it seems complicated, it might require different firmware update for deaf users, no idea how it will be done and what problems come out. Ex: what if deaf sell their unlocked Facetime iPhone to a hearing person?

PowerON said:
3G is pointless on use Facetime.
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as long as over 150-200kb upload you are fine. I have got up to ~700kB download on AT&T in Los Angeles easily.
 
I used to have great 700kB download here in DFW 5 years ago on EVO (3G). Now, it slow lately with large accounts of 3G lately.
 
naisho said:
I think they need to set rules for FaceTime use over 3G. They need to separate FaceTime between hearing and deaf/hh. Right now, they are taking the easy way out by putting no facetime for everyone.

If they just let the deaf subscribers use facetime, it should not be a huge bandwidth problem since it's probably small group - I bet there are less than 500,000 TAP subscribers.

But the real problem is I think they will have to find a way to make the iPhone recognize if it is hearing or deaf owner. This sounds easy for non-techy but on tech side it seems complicated, it might require different firmware update for deaf users, no idea how it will be done and what problems come out. Ex: what if deaf sell their unlocked Facetime iPhone to a hearing person?


as long as over 150-200kb upload you are fine. I have got up to ~700kB download on AT&T in Los Angeles easily.
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So you as a deaf person don't want to use it with any of your hearing family, friends or business associates???
 
Jane B. said:
So you as a deaf person don't want to use it with any of your hearing family, friends or business associates???
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Can you point out to me where I said FaceTime in TAP subscribers should not be allowed for deaf/hh people?
 
naisho said:
I think they need to set rules for FaceTime use over 3G. They need to separate FaceTime between hearing and deaf/hh. Right now, they are taking the easy way out by putting no facetime for everyone.

If they just let the deaf subscribers use facetime, it should not be a huge bandwidth problem since it's probably small group - I bet there are less than 500,000 TAP subscribers.

But the real problem is I think they will have to find a way to make the iPhone recognize if it is hearing or deaf owner. This sounds easy for non-techy but on tech side it seems complicated, it might require different firmware update for deaf users, no idea how it will be done and what problems come out. Ex: what if deaf sell their unlocked Facetime iPhone to a hearing person?


as long as over 150-200kb upload you are fine. I have got up to ~700kB download on AT&T in Los Angeles easily.
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naisho said:
Can you point out to me where I said FaceTime in TAP subscribers should not be allowed for deaf/hh people?
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In the first post that I just quoted by you you want to exclude the hearing. Thus, I am saying that I take that to mean that you as a deaf person don't want to be able to use it with your hearing friends, family and business associates. I just happened to state it in the form of a question. In hopes of making it clearer I have put part of that first quote in bold.
 
tumblr_lumztoOGNp1qi362ho1_500.png

My cousin’s cat is fucking intelligent. Look at this. It FACETIMED me, dude.

Best. Conversation. EVER. ;)

Four for you, Kitty Coco!
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Jane B. said:
In the first post that I just quoted by you you want to exclude the hearing. Thus, I am saying that I take that to mean that you as a deaf person don't want to be able to use it with your hearing friends, family and business associates. I just happened to state it in the form of a question. In hopes of making it clearer I have put part of that first quote in bold.
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I did not say I do not want to use it with any "of my hearing family, friends or business associates". FaceTime access, in the practice of our constitution, should be available to any deaf person with the TAP plan. Hearing subscribers do not subscribe to TAP access, they are billed and monitored by their appropriate plans.

I am under the assumption you are not fully understanding what is being discussed here. There are some things you need to grasp first before reading into it.
- What the AT&T TAP plan is, and why it is enacted.
- What ADA law consists of and why this is a controversial topic.

When AT&T is currently not allowing FaceTime, they are already purposely excluding the hearing people, the majority on their network, and unfortunately that includes the deaf/hh. What I'm saying is they need to discover a way to distinguish mobile deaf subscribers from hearing subscribers in order to allow FaceTime access to those phones being used by the deaf. Currently, all iPhones on the AT&T network are lumped into one pool - there is no identification between deaf/hearing users. Every iPhone at the moment is 'hearing' phones and use the firmware toggled for the hearing.

However AT&T wants to deal with the hearing subscribers is still up to their decisions. If they want to exclude the hearing or integrate them into some kind of regulation - which I proposed in here several times already - is up to them. The hearing do not have any communications/disabilities law to back them up, it is up to AT&T to decide what they want to do with the majority of users on their network.

Since if they turned on FaceTime for everyone, it would cause a bandwidth issue as most of us recognize, so the more challenging question presented is how to allow deaf users to communicate without this limitation - not whether hearing can use FaceTime or not.
 
naisho said:
I did not say I do not want to use it with any "of my hearing family, friends or business associates". FaceTime access, in the practice of our constitution, should be available to any deaf person with the TAP plan. Hearing subscribers do not subscribe to TAP access, they are billed and monitored by their appropriate plans.

I am under the assumption you are not fully understanding what is being discussed here. There are some things you need to grasp first before reading into it.
- What the AT&T TAP plan is, and why it is enacted.
- What ADA law consists of and why this is a controversial topic.

When AT&T is currently not allowing FaceTime, they are already purposely excluding the hearing people, the majority on their network, and unfortunately that includes the deaf/hh. What I'm saying is they need to discover a way to distinguish mobile deaf subscribers from hearing subscribers in order to allow FaceTime access to those phones being used by the deaf. Currently, all iPhones on the AT&T network are lumped into one pool - there is no identification between deaf/hearing users. Every iPhone at the moment is 'hearing' phones and use the firmware toggled for the hearing.

However AT&T wants to deal with the hearing subscribers is still up to their decisions. If they want to exclude the hearing or integrate them into some kind of regulation - which I proposed in here several times already - is up to them. The hearing do not have any communications/disabilities law to back them up, it is up to AT&T to decide what they want to do with the majority of users on their network.

Since if they turned on FaceTime for everyone, it would cause a bandwidth issue as most of us recognize, so the more challenging question presented is how to allow deaf users to communicate without this limitation - not whether hearing can use FaceTime or not.
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My understanding of the ADA is that it is intended to remove barriers — in this case to the use of phones to communicate. So, how is keeping the hearing from using FaceTime supposed to help the deaf communicate with them?
 
Jane B. said:
My understanding of the ADA is that it is intended to remove barriers — in this case to the use of phones to communicate. So, how is keeping the hearing from using FaceTime supposed to help the deaf communicate with them?
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It's supposed to be the other way around in this topic. In relation to ADA, the deaf need FaceTime to communicate with other deafs/interpretation/other social services provided. It is a method of communication available.

The deaf can still use relay or text to communicate with hearing. Besides, the hearing can still pick up FaceTime over WiFi access. Nothing has changed for them if the deaf are allowed to use FaceTime over 3G.
 
PowerON said:
I used to have great 700kB download here in DFW 5 years ago on EVO (3G). Now, it slow lately with large accounts of 3G lately.
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Yup, I remember about you trip to Chicago. :lol:
 
Jane B. said:
This article also says what I was trying to convey: AT&T's FaceTime Blocking Hurts the Deaf | Threat Level | Wired.com Please look at the next to last paragraph particularly.
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Hearing who know ASL are not classified disabled by law. They are not covered by the American Disabilities Act. I think you should take some time to understand what the ADA is about and related for, particularly Chapter 5.

47 USC § 225 - Telecommunications services for hearing-impaired and speech-impaired individuals | LII / Legal Information Institute

I understand you are concerned for your hearing friends and family, but the point is they are not disabled by law, therefore they are not supposed to be covered by law in this situation.
An example of what you are asking for, it is like you are asking the Native American Rights Fund to reimburse other non-native americans. This is not what the law was intended to do.
 
Jane B. said:
My understanding of the ADA is that it is intended to remove barriers — in this case to the use of phones to communicate. So, how is keeping the hearing from using FaceTime supposed to help the deaf communicate with them?
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The phone companies aren't subjecting to ADA law to provide a facetime over 3G/4G because ADA law doesn't exactly mention about facetime over 3G/4G.
 
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