Just built my own TTY
I am a little late to this thread, but I recently built my own TTY. Here is why:
1. I live in the middle of nowhere. Landline only, no high speed Internet. No cell service.
2. Many big financial firms (like banks) have TTY connections. I can safely give account numbers and passwords without a third party overhearing, as would be the case with Sprint IP, 711, etc. I am sure most relay operators are honest, but after a hundred calls, a one percent chance starts looking pretty bad. 911 is also set up for TTY.
3. I got sick of a bad keyboard on my Superprint being different from my computer. My new TTY takes any PS2 keyboard and puts out VGA output, so I have a nice keyboard and big display for my bad eyes, but without having to depend on a computer with all the changes all the time to Windows, etc. It won't go bad on me all of a sudden because some idiot at Microsoft changes something. I can use it with a computer, but I don't have to. The computer can be on or off and I can still call. When traveling, I can use it with my laptop via a USB cable and use the laptop's screen and keyboard.
4. I have a real answering machine that works for both hearing and TTY. Caller can touch-tone name and number so I can use relay to call back, and also explains to callers that it is better to email me and how to call 711 for relay. So many places stinking require phone numbers as if there are no deaf in the world. The sites won't take your order or whatever if there is no phone number. So then idiots call me instead of emailing me and I wonder what the delay is on my order. Answering machine also tells caller to take my number off their list, per law, if sales or other pest kind of call. If it gets keystrokes back, it switches to TTY answering machine. The way it works is the answering machine starts out with text-to-speech board saying "transferring", says, "Hello. GA" and then text-to-speech says "press 1". So it works for both with minimal initial delay.
5. Now here is a great thing about this answering machine - It only flashes my house strobes IF I get characters back ending in GA. I am not bothered by all of those swine who want to pester me and take my money, but can't talk to me. No picking up dead calls.
6. Has real phone book. Stores both TTY numbers or 711, followed by number for relay operator. Hit a single key, and TTY spits out the number downstream for the operator to dial.
7. I am free from my computer program TTY that does not do what I want. Can you believe they lost the source code!? So it was obsolete but could not be fixed.
8. It is also hooked to a computer by simple RS-232, so I can copy and paste text and print and all that. It works perfectly without a computer, but it is nice to interface to my computer for more fancy stuff. That same computer relays the info to any computer on the house network, so I can use any computer in my house with the same program, so long as the computer it is hooked to is on. I don't have to go to the TTY to take or make calls. RS-232 is old, but will be around for a long time. I don't have to be writing new software all the time just to keep up with Microsoft's stupidity and the hideous complexity of Windows.
So, this is a rather long description. It solves some problems for me. Still, there are plenty of times I use Sprint IP because there are no long distance costs. Mostly I use email. But the world is so stupidly telephone-centric that I had to do something to get a little better connected to the world at large.
I am no businessman, that is for sure and do not want to be. I don't know if any others would be interested in such a device as I built, but, if there is enough real interest, I suppose somebody could take the concept and sell it to people. My hand-made design is not something anybody would want to try to sell since it was not worth making it very small and modern. It would have been too expensive, hard for me to make, and take too long to design. But if anybody wants the design, they are welcome to it if it helps make anyone's life better or gives somebody a place to start.
