Captel Phone

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paperclip

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So I have a Captel phone for work. But the captions are only accurate 60-70% of the time. Is this normal for other folks?

I could ask my work to provide ZVRS (which is what they originally provided) but my ASL is weak.

This is a bit distressing since I make decisions that are safety related. It doesn't come up often, but I don't want to be responsible for messing something up.

Thanks!
 
You can ask your boss about having both of them depending on, you need to educate people. My hubby's ASL is OK.. He prefers to express his voice to hearing people but he prefers to eye-listen ASL or read lips. Try to see if Zvrs can handle both video phone and voice. I hope it works.. My hub has not used the VCO with purple yet but will use it this week. He ll let me know what will he think of it.

Hope things will work out for you.
 
I have a captel phone but from about 10 years ago. Didn't have very good luck with the captioning- it was worse than 60%. Can't tell you about now as I'm hesitant to try it again.

I do like what Frisky Feline's hubby does- I use ZVRS but also use VCO- both hearing and seeing the interpreter helps a great deal for me and I do a bit better voicing myself as my ASL signing has gotten a little rusty...
 
How do you tell that the captions are only right part of the time and the percentage?
 
Jane B. said:
How do you tell that the captions are only right part of the time and the percentage?
Click to expand...


I don't know about the percentage, but I could tell when sentences were out of context and misspelled. Sometimes it was really bad. A sentence said to me could be "how our yew two day" instead of "how are you today?" I used to have to decipher a lot of it and sound it out in my head for it to make sense, sometimes.
 
I'm estimating the percentage of inaccuracy. I'm still new to my work, so the terminology that is being conveyed is not obvious to me. The example AlleyCat provided is exactly what I'm experiencing. Sometimes the captions say it is too quiet to caption.

So if I used ZVRS, is it possible to have the interpreter also mouth the words while signing? My work is really technical and I definitely couldn't convey these terms in ASL. Can I use both ZVRS and captel at the same time? How expensive is the phone?

Ugg, I feel a little foolish asking my workplace to get the ZVRS (after they originally provided it when I first started).

Thanks!
 
So if I used ZVRS, is it possible to have the interpreter also mouth the words while signing? My work is really technical and I definitely couldn't convey these terms in ASL. Can I use both ZVRS and captel at the same time? How expensive is the phone?
Click to expand...

you might be able to-- I don't know... in my experience some do mouth what the caller is saying some don't but I think you can ask. I know you definitely can let them know you want to do VCO. I'm not sure if you can also ask for specific signing abilities too meaning having interpreter sign ASL, PSE or SEE (signed english).

I don't think you can use both ZVRS and Captel at the same time.. that sounds like it would be a bit of a challenge to do.

Most if not all states provide CapTel for free as long as you have proof of your deafness (audiogram). I think the same is true with ZVRS if you go with the standalone. The software that you can install on PC, mac or tablet is free.
 
paperclip said:
I'm estimating the percentage of inaccuracy. I'm still new to my work, so the terminology that is being conveyed is not obvious to me. The example AlleyCat provided is exactly what I'm experiencing. Sometimes the captions say it is too quiet to caption.

So if I used ZVRS, is it possible to have the interpreter also mouth the words while signing? My work is really technical and I definitely couldn't convey these terms in ASL. Can I use both ZVRS and captel at the same time? How expensive is the phone?

Ugg, I feel a little foolish asking my workplace to get the ZVRS (after they originally provided it when I first started).

Thanks!
Click to expand...

maybe you can try to contact with ZVRS then let ZVRS call your agency and say its free im sure your office will take it anyway..
 
Jane B. said:
How do you tell that the captions are only right part of the time and the percentage?
Click to expand...

AlleyCat said:
I don't know about the percentage, but I could tell when sentences were out of context and misspelled. Sometimes it was really bad. A sentence said to me could be "how our yew two day" instead of "how are you today?" I used to have to decipher a lot of it and sound it out in my head for it to make sense, sometimes.
Click to expand...

I must be lucky or they use a different crew for Hamilton CapTel for Smartphones. I have had very very little of any of this. The only other thing could be the way the people on the other end talk. Most of my calls using this have been to different people within the same group at different times.
 
Jane B. said:
I must be lucky or they use a different crew for Hamilton CapTel for Smartphones. I have had very very little of any of this. The only other thing could be the way the people on the other end talk. Most of my calls using this have been to different people within the same group at different times.
Click to expand...

Mine was through Sprint. I gave up on it years ago. I just don't use the phone anymore.
 
AlleyCat said:
Mine was through Sprint. I gave up on it years ago. I just don't use the phone anymore.
Click to expand...

Same here....gave up using any kind of phone 8 years ago....that's when I retired from the world of work. Altho I don't think my hearing has gotten worse, I couldn't use the phone today to save my life!
 
Tousi said:
Same here....gave up using any kind of phone 8 years ago....that's when I retired from the world of work. Altho I don't think my hearing has gotten worse, I couldn't use the phone today to save my life!
Click to expand...

Exact same thing for me. When I reached a point where I could only hear sounds and not full words, it seemed pointless. Had to guess where to start speaking and then waiting for the other person. I just use the IP relay now.
 
Jane B. said:
I must be lucky or they use a different crew for Hamilton CapTel for Smartphones. I have had very very little of any of this. The only other thing could be the way the people on the other end talk. Most of my calls using this have been to different people within the same group at different times.
Click to expand...

AlleyCat said:
Mine was through Sprint. I gave up on it years ago. I just don't use the phone anymore.
Click to expand...

Well I just used mine for the type of call I would usually use my landline and State Relay/TTY combination for. (I really do get GOOD service with the Illinois Relay and my TTY regular phone combination for VCO.) It was really goofed up but was also to an office where the receptionist is not that clear in person. That adds to my impression that the voice quality of the person on the other end makes a big difference.

While looking for what would work the best for me on a cell phone I tried the version from Sprint. It was unusable. The problem turned out to be from their use of VOIP rather than simultaneous voice & data. When Sprint first came out with theirs they said it would work on 3G. Since them they have added this statement to their site that describes their service. "The Wireless CapTel by Sprint app requires a network connection with high enough bandwidth and low enough latency to reliably process a voice-over-IP call. It is highly recommended that use of this app be done in conjunction with connection through a 4G or Wi-Fi network. Attempting to use a 3G connection is not recommended."
 
Just wanted to say that the accuracy of my captel phone never improved. I did call and talk to someone at Captel to explain my issues and they explained that there is a person who repeats what is being said on the line for a voice recognition technology to translate into text. During phone calls with loud noise or accents, there is bound to be error.

I switched over to IP relay and I love it. My only two remaining issues - 1) It is hard to have a phone call with a WebEX meeting (someone remotely controls your computer) and 2) I feel like I need to devote a monitor to the IP reply browser to watch for a phone call (I wish it would blink or flash or something). I requested a 3rd monitor, so that will help so I don't feel like I am restricted to one monitor. Even with these issues, I'm so much more comfortable with IP relay.

Thanks everyone who shared suggestions, stories, etc!
 
Hopefully it doesn't take that long. sprint said the same thing for me, but I got it activated in less than a day. Good luck! :)
 
AlleyCat said:
Hopefully it doesn't take that long. sprint said the same thing for me, but I got it activated in less than a day. Good luck! :)
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Yes i did too, got my # yesterday,it seems to do pretty good so far,does great with voicemail! If it does better than hamilton i will probably get rid of it no need for 2 i dont think,thanks a lot!!
 
BLONDI53 said:
Yes i did too, got my # yesterday,it seems to do pretty good so far,does great with voicemail! If it does better than hamilton i will probably get rid of it no need for 2 i dont think,thanks a lot!!
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I have had hamilton for a mth or so now,it does great and even works without wifi! So glad you gave me this info,thanks!!!
 
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