Confirmation: Captioned Telephone works on iPhone! (Sprint WebCapTel)

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Mark Rejhon

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Big news for Captioned Telephone users!

Mobile Handheld Captioned Telephone is here to stay!
(Thanks to Apple putting a nearly full version of Safari browser on iPhone)

Here's the pix as proof:

captel1.jpg


captel2.jpg


1 Open Safari on iPhone

2. In Safari, log onto www.SprintCapTel.com (or Hamilton CapTel)
If you don't already have an account, get one first via your desktop computer first and get familiar with it first, it's originally designed for desktop use...

3. Place a call, using your iPhone number and your party's number

4. For best experience, hold the iPhone horizontally and make sure font size on SprintCapTel is set to large (point 36 or 42), so you can zoom out on Safari and still be able to read the whole Captioned Telephone conversation on the tiny screen. The font size is configurable as a pulldown box at the bottom of the WebCapTel webpage during a conversation. Remember to save the font size, so the font size is automatically used next time.

5. Answer the call.

6. Go into speakerphone mode on the iPhone.
(This allows you to keep talking while reading captions on the iPhone, holding the iPhone in front of you)

7. Once the call is answered, go back to Safari (you can minimize the Phone and go back to the web browser while still in a phone call on the iPhone)

8. If you are in a 3G area (high speed wireless), it supports simultaneous voice and data.
Does not work in EDGE or GPRS, but works in 3G high speed wireless.

9. Captioned Telephone continues working

Also... I will also test this on BlackBerry Bold at the end of July or early August, which is supposed to support AJAX (Web 2.0 technology), which WebCapTel requires.

Important Note... You must live in a 3G high speed wireless data area to be able to do both voice and web browsing simultaneously on the same phone, or this doesn't work properly! (Unless you use two cellphones, one for voice and one iPhone for the web browser, or you combine WiFi for browser + cellphone for voice, etc.)
 
I can imagine other applications of this:
"Mobile FM System".

1. Get two phones (one being an iPhone, and the other one having a Bluetooth headset)

2. Initiate a Captioned phone call between the two.

3. Give the second phone to the professor, lecturer, or the other person who's speaking to you in person but you want his words to be closed-captioning. Have him/her keep the second phone in his pocket while wearing the headset microphone.

4. Now you've got the equivalent of an FM system that automatically captions everything the professor and lecturer is saying.

This is probably against the TOS of Sprint WebCapTel, as they frown on this application, but it should work perfectly (if there's good 3G reception in the room) as a captioning system, as long as the lecturer is not too fast for the captioning operators... But I did hear they are working on a Captioned Telephone system for this type of application.

This is getting a little bit closer to the Holy Grail of a handheld realtime captioning device for real life use... (For people who can afford about $100 per month of cellphone bills and owning 2 cellphones for this purpose)
 
Mark Rejhon said:
I can imagine other applications of this:
"Mobile FM System".

1. Get two phones (one being an iPhone, and the other one having a Bluetooth headset)

2. Initiate a Captioned phone call between the two.

3. Give the second phone to the professor, lecturer, or the other person who's speaking to you in person but you want his words to be closed-captioning. Have him keep the second phone in his pocket while wearing the headset microphone.

4. Now you've got the equivalent of an FM system that automatically captions everything the professor and lecturer is saying.

This is probably against the TOS of Sprint WebCapTel, as they frown on this application, but it should work perfectly (if there's good 3G reception in the room) as a captioning system, as long as the lecturer is not too fast for the captioning operators...

This is getting a little bit closer to the Holy Grail of a handheld realtime captioning device for real life use... (For people who can afford about $100 per month of cellphone bills and owning 2 cellphones for this purpose)
Click to expand...

That is a great idea. Must have unlimited calling otherwise that would be a very expensive bill.
 
i was wondering if in the future webcaptel can work on any pager such as balckberry or sk lx? let hope it will soon work on other pagers as well thanks
 
superdeaf57 said:
i was wondering if in the future webcaptel can work on any pager such as balckberry or sk lx? let hope it will soon work on other pagers as well thanks
Click to expand...
I was almost able to get WebCapTel working on a BlackBerry Bold. Not quite working yet, though. Hopefully new BlackBerry OS upgrade will fix the bug (browser AJAX issue). I will keep you all updated about BlackBerry Bold's compatibility with WebCapTel.
 
Dennis, I heard that you were were able to get WebCapTel working on the iPhone too! How did it work for you?
 
This is so awesome!!!! I'm all of the sudden thinking about getting one just for this!!!!!!

On second thought.... it costs too much...
 
Mark Rejhon said:
Dennis, I heard that you were were able to get WebCapTel working on the iPhone too! How did it work for you?
Click to expand...

Worked fine for me, though it wasn't always reliable. Sometimes the phone rang and it worked perfectly, others the WebCapTel prog went to voicemail. It's not as user friendly as I would like it to be, but it's the first time I've seen one mobile phone being used for telephone captions and listening/speaking.

It's a start, methinks. But, yeah, I can independently confirm it did work.
 
First, I have a blackberry and I have the WebCaptel website bookmarked and can pull the site up, log in, put in the phone numbers to call (home and person I'm calling) but after that point it doesn't work. But it will happen soon, I'm sure.

Mark Rejhon said:
I can imagine other applications of this:
"Mobile FM System".

1. Get two phones (one being an iPhone, and the other one having a Bluetooth headset)

2. Initiate a Captioned phone call between the two.

3. Give the second phone to the professor, lecturer, or the other person who's speaking to you in person but you want his words to be closed-captioning. Have him/her keep the second phone in his pocket while wearing the headset microphone.

4. Now you've got the equivalent of an FM system that automatically captions everything the professor and lecturer is saying.

This is probably against the TOS of Sprint WebCapTel, as they frown on this application, but it should work perfectly (if there's good 3G reception in the room) as a captioning system, as long as the lecturer is not too fast for the captioning operators... But I did hear they are working on a Captioned Telephone system for this type of application.

This is getting a little bit closer to the Holy Grail of a handheld realtime captioning device for real life use... (For people who can afford about $100 per month of cellphone bills and owning 2 cellphones for this purpose)
Click to expand...

Secondly, unless I'm misunderstanding your concept above (which is a GREAT idea!) it might not even be necessary for you to have 2 phones and 2 bills, depending on the situation. If the professor/lecturer had unlimited minutes on his own phone, you could call the professor directly (just as if it were a regular call) and everything should get captioned back to your phone, correct? Of course this is assuming the professor doesn't mind tying up his phone for the duration of the lecture. I use the webcaptel all the time such as with my mom and she has her own phone, so this should work the same way.
 
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I got my new iphone 3G and was very excited that I could try the WebCaptel. Before setting my voicemail and install jott, I made a call and everything worked like a charm. I setup my voicemail and installed few software then Webcaptel stopped working. When relay calls my cellphone, I never get incoming call, without answering any call the relay calls the destination and the other party answer but since I am not there, he/she disconnect. I tried using speakers, tried with headset, change the voicemail respond to 30 minutes, still I could not make it to work. I navigate to safari and called my cellphone the incoming call is working fine. I tested to be on both safari and phone at once and it is working. It is just not working when I am on WebCapTel. I am wondering if anyone else experiment the same problem and had a solution or recommendation.
 
I found the probelm with my iphone. Although it is 3G, it is not always run as 3G. If I go outside I could do WebCaptel call and top of my screen is 3G. When I am inside the top of my screen back to "E" and I enperiment the WebCapTel probelm.
 
farahkhalili said:
I found the probelm with my iphone. Although it is 3G, it is not always run as 3G. If I go outside I could do WebCaptel call and top of my screen is 3G. When I am inside the top of my screen back to "E" and I enperiment the WebCapTel probelm.
Click to expand...
Exactly -- WebCapTel only works in 3G (highspeed wireless) mode rather than EDGE (slower speed wireless).

In the times you're stuck in "E", you might be able to connect Safari over WiFi, and still be able to the phone over GSM/EDGE. Basically use two separate networks (talk over GSM/EDGE, while using Safari over WiFi)

Or you can still use WebCapTel with EDGE if you own two cellphones: One for talking and one for web browser. You can only do both at the same time in the same phone with 3G.

Also, for BlackBerry, I was able to try out a Bold recently. I think BlackBerry Bold will support WebCapTel, I tested it and it almost worked -- Bold supports the Web 2.0 AJAX technology that WebCapTel uses -- but there was a web browser bug on the Bold that prevented the captions from showing up. I think by Christmas 2008 we'll have WebCapTel working on BlackBerry Bold 3G.

It's bleeding edge definitely, WebCapTel was never designed for mobile devices so it is amazing it works at all on the iPhone and almost works on the BlackBerry Bold!
 
Mark Rejhon,

Congratulations on finding the HOLY GRAIL of mobile captel! I have been waiting YEARS for a solution like this one. Once I found out about Sprint Captel earlier this year, I realized that it was only a matter of time until we could start using WebCaptel on mobile phones.

The stumbling block has always been the inability of the mobile networks to allow for simultaneous voice and data connections.

This is the first time I have gotten confirmation that 3G networks will allow simultaneous voice and data connections so that is very VALUABLE information to work with.

The only question now is whether EVDO (Sprint's 3G) also allows simultaneous voice and data connections? I was thinking of getting the Motorola Q9c from Sprint but if EVDO doesn't support simultaneous connections then I think I'll have to wait for the Blackberry Bold. I could get the iPhone right now but it is quite clumsy to use without a physical QWERTY keyboard.
 
One question: Is there any way to receive calls via Webcaptel? As far as I know, webcaptel is used for outgoing calls and there does not appear to be any facility for accepting incoming webcaptel calls.

The only solution I know of is the AIM IP Relay which is not as good as having incoming calls over webcaptel.
 
rushabh said:
One question: Is there any way to receive calls via Webcaptel? As far as I know, webcaptel is used for outgoing calls and there does not appear to be any facility for accepting incoming webcaptel calls.

The only solution I know of is the AIM IP Relay which is not as good as having incoming calls over webcaptel.
Click to expand...

People calling you first need to dial the toll-free Captioning Service (1-800-933-7219), and then enter your phone number followed by the pound (#) sign.
Click to expand...

Source: www.sprintcaptel.com
 
rushabh said:
One question: Is there any way to receive calls via Webcaptel? As far as I know, webcaptel is used for outgoing calls and there does not appear to be any facility for accepting incoming webcaptel calls.

The only solution I know of is the AIM IP Relay which is not as good as having incoming calls over webcaptel.
Click to expand...

As GP has said, you can log into Sprint WebCapTel, then "Wait for Call" and input your telephone number to wait for a call. Someone calls you at the telephone number GP posted (the 800 #) then follows instructions, they can reach you, absolutely. I've done it a few times -- it's neat!

As for EVDO networks, nope -- at least not today. Maybe in the future. I've been able to use my Sprint HTC Mogul on WiFi and running the new Opera 9.5 beta browser to do it.
 
Wow! This is opening up a whole new world for me! I currently own a Samsung Blackjack 11. Do any of you know if this phone can do that? I have internet access on it. Thanks!
 
Sure! You need an AJAX-compatible browser (not sure about IE in Windows Mobile, but you can download Opera Mini 9.5) and you need to be in an area where there's 3G signals coming from the cell towers.

Can you surf the Internet while doing a cell phone conversation (voice)?
 
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