TTYs may be "out of date" for sighted deaf people who use videophones or internet relay, but for deafblind people, they are still the best and in some cases, the only accessible, option.
TTYs are, as stated before, being replaced with videophones and internet relay. Video relay especially, because it's in a native signer's natural language and as such, much faster than typing back and forth. For us deafblind people, we're trying to get deafblind relay. A relay company has petitioned the FCC for funding, and hopefully, something good will come of that. DeafBlind Relay would involve real-live interpreters being dispatched to your home or work to facilitate phone calls in things like tactile sign, close up sign, or tactile/close up speechreading.
I don't ever use "tty terms" when typing- I personally think it's rude. You're not going to save a mile's worth of time by shortening a handful of words. If anything, it's confusing.
Heh. Sighted TTYs aren't really that expensive- you could get a good one for, give or take, 300$. If you're lucky, you live in a state where there's a loan or funding program, and it's free or very cheap. On the other hand, TTY for the deafblind is EXPENSIVE. The most popular and supported TTY for the deafblind is probably the "pacmate" note-taker with the company's own "FSTTY" software/hardware package. For the note taker, tty hardware, and software with 40 cells of braille it costs 6,795$. For 20 cells of braille, it's 4995. Yes, for a tty.
TTY is on it's way out, pretty much. With the ever-popular use of video relay and the introduction of deafblind relay service, the few deaf people who keep TTYs generally don't use them all that often- they're slower, clunkier, and they aren't in a language many of us are comfortable with.
NetMeeting doesn't exist under Windows Vista but they are called as Windows Meeting Space Weird, huh?
