[00:00.800 --> 00:02.060]  ...disabled people in the country.
[00:02.840 --> 00:07.860]  And they seem to be largely ignored and probably no pun intended.
[00:08.040 --> 00:11.340]  I guess they're a silent majority in being so.
[00:11.540 --> 00:19.260]  But anyway, so it may not occur to most people, but we take talking on the phone for granted.
[00:19.400 --> 00:21.040]  We pick the phone, we dial it, and we talk.
[00:21.480 --> 00:29.980]  And if you weren't able to speak because of something wrong with your vocal cords or whatever, I'm not an expert on the medical reasons why people can't hear or speak.
[00:31.640 --> 00:41.520]  But if you weren't able to speak for some reason, or if you were unable to hear, or if you were a deaf mute and could do neither, how could you communicate over the phone?
[00:41.580 --> 00:43.400]  It would be a very difficult task, obviously.
[00:43.960 --> 00:51.440]  People who are hearing impaired often rely on lip reading to gather their information from people they're talking to them.
[00:51.520 --> 01:01.460]  But obviously on the phone, until we have reasonably good picture phones, and we've all been waiting about 30 years for that to happen, you're not going to be able to do lip reading over the phone.
[01:01.740 --> 01:04.960]  And I don't expect that to happen any time in the next couple of years at least.
[01:05.240 --> 01:06.840]  So that brings us to TDDs.
[01:08.300 --> 01:09.520]  I can interject something.
[01:09.560 --> 01:09.800]  Yes.
[01:09.800 --> 01:22.080]  I work at a lab which does augmentative communication technology, and one thing that we've done is over a normal phone line, we can do an edge-detected image that basically turns into a cartoon.
[01:22.760 --> 01:25.060]  We're doing this for deaf person to deaf person communication.
[01:25.520 --> 01:29.480]  It doesn't work deaf person to hearing person because hearing people generally don't know sign language.
[01:29.820 --> 01:39.020]  But a deaf person can now do at his regular sign language rate, which is around that of speaking, to another deaf person, to be perfectly understood.
[01:39.360 --> 01:42.860]  And we've also seen that if you zoom in, you can lip read.
[01:43.380 --> 01:49.160]  So this is a camera pointed at someone's lips?
[01:49.460 --> 01:50.540]  Yes, you can do that.
[01:50.720 --> 01:53.220]  Or at the universal sign language?
[01:53.360 --> 01:54.340]  Which are you speaking of?
[01:55.040 --> 02:00.440]  A camera pointed at, if the person wants to do sign language, you can do sign language.
[02:00.440 --> 02:00.700]  Okay.
[02:00.940 --> 02:01.900]  Just point it at them.
[02:02.680 --> 02:07.440]  If it's someone who wants to lip read on the other side, you zoom in really, really close.
[02:07.700 --> 02:08.300]  On the lips.
[02:08.400 --> 02:08.940]  On the lips.
[02:09.380 --> 02:09.980]  Well, actually...
[02:09.980 --> 02:10.460]  Picture...
[02:10.460 --> 02:11.260]  On the whole face.
[02:11.360 --> 02:12.760]  Picture lipophone, I guess you'd call it.
[02:12.860 --> 02:14.760]  It turns out you can't lip read by just this.
[02:15.000 --> 02:16.660]  You need the whole facial expression, right?
[02:17.100 --> 02:17.740]  Well, that's interesting.
[02:17.860 --> 02:22.920]  I see there's new developments in this field all the time, and I'm not an expert in this field, but I knew a little bit about it.
[02:22.920 --> 02:27.640]  And since nobody else was talking about it, I thought I'd take the opportunity to do it.
[02:28.160 --> 02:39.980]  But as this gentleman just explained, there are people working on these other technologies with limiting the need for typing, which TDDs use, and actually visually being able to do lip reading over the phone.
[02:40.100 --> 02:45.060]  But obviously that would require a significant expense on the part of the people.
[02:45.060 --> 02:51.840]  A very simple board, which we're producing right now by hand, for around $150.
[02:51.980 --> 02:53.140]  Oh, that's great.
[02:53.740 --> 02:55.740]  It works with most existing fax modems.
[02:55.900 --> 02:56.060]  Yeah.
[02:56.220 --> 02:56.760]  Oh, that's great.
[02:58.100 --> 03:02.640]  Get me some information on that after the talk, because I'd like to have that.
[03:02.980 --> 03:14.520]  Anyway, we're getting on the main subject of the most commonly, common methods used for hearing and speech impaired people to communicate over the phone, are these TDDs, telecommunication devices for the deaf.
[03:14.740 --> 03:19.820]  And they involve basically typing information, just like we're used to typing on a computer keyboard.
[03:20.160 --> 03:29.580]  And those who are familiar with modems know that when you type on your keyboard, those characters each have an individual code.
[03:29.580 --> 03:31.040]  Usually it's called an ASCII code.
[03:31.160 --> 03:38.580]  And those ASCII codes are converted into what could be referred to as musical tones, or they don't sound very musical.
[03:38.580 --> 03:47.960]  They contain variable pitches of audio tones, get sent through the phone line, and then they're decoded at the other end, and reconstructed into the letters that we see on our screen.
[03:50.940 --> 03:54.720]  Well, telecommunications devices for the deaf have been around a lot longer than PCs.
[03:55.380 --> 04:08.580]  In fact, the earlier telecommunications devices for the deaf were simply mechanical teletype machines, which had been around since the beginning of probably around the 20s or so, teletype machines came out.
[04:09.300 --> 04:18.440]  I think one of the most popular TDDs back in the 30s or so was called a Model 15, manufactured by a teletype corporation.
[04:18.960 --> 04:28.120]  And for those of you in the audience who might be ham radio operators, you're probably familiar with that particular machine, because it was used by Western Union frequently.
[04:28.320 --> 04:42.640]  And then when they upgraded to new models, like the Model 33 teletype machine, all these things hit the surplus market, and you could buy a Model 15 teletype machine for next to nothing and use it as a computer printer before computer printers were affordable when you had to build your own PC before you could buy one in a store.
[04:42.640 --> 04:52.500]  Anyway, the most modern TDDs now are much more compact than the old mechanical TDDs of the past.
[04:53.040 --> 05:09.260]  The ones they use today really don't have any moving parts aside from the key switches on the keyboard as opposed to the old mechanical teletype writers which literally weighed 50 to 100 pounds and had hundreds of gears and levers and required oiling and they were extremely noisy.
[05:09.260 --> 05:14.040]  I guess that wouldn't bother you if you were deaf, but the newer machines are quite compact.
[05:14.240 --> 05:16.760]  I happened to bring my TDD with me.
[05:16.880 --> 05:18.480]  It's manufactured by AT&T.
[05:19.020 --> 05:21.000]  This is their Model 2930.
[05:21.260 --> 05:22.640]  It's still currently manufactured.
[05:22.760 --> 05:24.600]  They've put it out for the past three years.
[05:24.820 --> 05:29.300]  I think I paid about $250 for this at an AT&T product store.
[05:30.000 --> 05:36.940]  You can see that it looks like a standard computer keyboard, although it's not a sculptured keyboard like a lot of us are used to typing on.
[05:37.380 --> 05:43.420]  It's for those of you who've been dealing with computers long enough to remember the original PC Junior or the Peanut.
[05:44.240 --> 05:46.140]  They had the flat Chiclet type keys.
[05:46.320 --> 05:47.560]  It has that kind of keyboard.
[05:48.000 --> 05:56.760]  And the folks at AT&T expressed a concern to me that some users of this particular device found it difficult to type on it.
[05:56.820 --> 06:03.240]  I don't at all, but I guess some people who didn't have a lot of manual dexterity might have difficulty typing on this keyboard.
[06:03.240 --> 06:09.640]  But there is a tactile feedback, and there's a two-line liquid crystal display of 40 characters across.
[06:09.820 --> 06:13.800]  So a total of 80 characters, and it automatically scrolls to the next line.
[06:14.740 --> 06:21.120]  The way it attaches to your telephone is that it is acoustically coupled, which means there's no electrical connection to the phone line.
[06:21.260 --> 06:23.240]  You don't have to plug in any cords or anything.
[06:24.160 --> 06:29.420]  The handset of the telephone simply rests on the top of the device.
[06:29.660 --> 06:46.000]  For those of you who remember from the earlier days of PCs, when modems were acoustically coupled and you would scream along at 110 or maybe even 300 baud, you can remember hearing the tones waiting for the carrier and then hanging the phone up in the handset.
[06:46.000 --> 06:57.360]  Well, that's still done with TDDs, because if you leave your house or something and you have a portable TDD, if you're going to a payphone, for instance, and there's not a TDD built into the payphone, there's no connection to plug into.
[06:57.620 --> 07:16.620]  But every phone anybody uses has a handset that you can... this is a cellular phone, but if it were a regular phone, it would have a handset anyway, and you could just plop it on here, and it would... the tones that you type on the keyboard are... the keys you type on the keyboard are converted to tones which go into the microphone of the phone that you're calling from.
[07:17.000 --> 07:28.820]  And the tones from the person on the receiving end of this message are heard by the earpiece of your phone and translated by the computer and the device into text that you see on the screen.
[07:28.820 --> 07:41.440]  Now, getting back to what I mentioned about payphones, not too long ago, I don't remember the exact number of years, but I think three or four years ago, maybe you know, when was the ADA finally voted in?
[07:42.320 --> 07:42.760]  1990.
[07:43.000 --> 07:43.440]  1990?
[07:44.140 --> 07:44.360]  Okay.
[07:45.020 --> 07:49.560]  The Americans with Disabilities Act.
[07:49.780 --> 07:50.160]  Okay.
[07:50.340 --> 07:58.720]  I'm going to go over a couple of things, some mandates, some federal laws that were passed that required that TDDs be made available.
[07:58.820 --> 07:59.900]  In public places.
[08:00.260 --> 08:04.100]  And some of the details on that are, I'll quote them here.
[08:05.080 --> 08:21.560]  It's the law, if an interior public pay telephone is provided in a stadium or arena, in a convention center, in a hotel with a convention center, or in a covered mall, at least one interior public text telephone shall be provided in the facility.
[08:21.560 --> 08:25.740]  And by public text telephone, referring to TDD, telecommunications device for the deaf.
[08:27.000 --> 08:43.920]  In regards to healthcare facilities, the law states, if a public pay telephone is located in or adjacent to a hospital emergency room, hospital recovery room, or hospital waiting room, one public text telephone, or TDD, shall be provided at each location.
[08:44.420 --> 08:48.000]  And it shows, yeah, it does show you the date, July 26, 1991, that was passed.
[08:48.320 --> 08:59.260]  And finally, the law states, if an interior public pay phone is provided in a transit facility, like a train station or bus station, at least one interior public text telephone shall be provided in the station.
[08:59.260 --> 09:12.720]  And where four or more public pay phone serve a particular entrance to a rail station, and at least one is an interior location, at least one public text telephone shall be provided to serve an entrance.
[09:12.720 --> 09:30.080]  So, the bottom line is federal law requires shopping malls, train stations, hospitals, to provide text telephones, or TDDs, whether or not they have hearing impaired people that work there or visit there.
[09:30.200 --> 09:31.620]  It's just, it's the law, they've got to be there.
[09:31.740 --> 09:35.400]  It's just like ramps have to be in buildings for wheelchair access now.
[09:35.860 --> 09:39.540]  You might not get any wheelchair people, but you've got to have the ramps there, and it's a good idea.
[09:40.880 --> 09:57.640]  I don't know if the people, many of the people here have noticed the public TDDs, but if you notice, what you'll notice often is a pay phone or a sign near the pay phone that looks like a telephone handset at the top of the sign with a few white squares underneath.
[09:57.860 --> 09:59.200]  I wish I had a copy of the logo here.
[09:59.320 --> 10:09.200]  There's an international logo that symbolizes TDDs, and it basically looks like a telephone handset with three rows of white keys under it, and it's sort of a white on black logo.
[10:09.200 --> 10:13.520]  And that is to symbolize that a TDD is available at this facility.
[10:13.960 --> 10:17.220]  Often I've found, and I'm not hearing impaired, but I just find this interesting.
[10:18.000 --> 10:26.060]  Often I've found whoever manages whatever facility it is, whether it's a shopping mall or a hotel or whatever, they don't have the TDDs out.
[10:26.160 --> 10:30.440]  They just have a sign saying, if you need one of these, come to this floor and see someone.
[10:30.520 --> 10:35.980]  Now, I'm not sure whether that complies with the law or not, but it seems to be the norm that they aren't really out in the open in most cases.
[10:36.640 --> 10:37.680]  Oh, yeah, he had a question.
[10:39.140 --> 10:41.140]  Yeah, I'm going to touch on that, yeah.
[10:42.280 --> 10:44.220]  She had mentioned something I was just going to bring up.
[10:45.240 --> 11:02.000]  That in some facilities where it may not be immediately obvious that there's a TDD available, you might notice that some of the payphones have an extra metal shelving to the bottom of it, maybe a foot deep or maybe 10 inches deep underneath, and there's a red light on the front of it.
[11:02.000 --> 11:07.660]  And that may or may not, usually you'll have a sign above it saying TDD telephone.
[11:07.900 --> 11:24.480]  You can use it as a regular payphone, but what happens is if you pick up the phone and dial a number that reaches a TDD, the payphone will detect that tone, or actually the TDD underneath that phone, will detect it and automatically slide out on a motorized drawer.
[11:24.480 --> 11:28.440]  So most people don't even notice these TDDs because they're hidden underneath the payphone.
[11:29.240 --> 11:41.340]  And if you ever want to see one of these for yourself, a good way to do that is to walk up to one of these public text telephones, assuming there's no one who's hearing or speech impaired waiting to use it, and dial this number.
[11:41.380 --> 11:42.480]  You might want to take this number down.
[11:42.480 --> 11:50.220]  It's 800-855-1155.
[11:50.660 --> 11:58.730]  That is a national AT&T operator services number for hearing and speech impaired people who are using TDDs.
[11:59.160 --> 12:13.360]  If you call that number, you will hear a tone that kind of sounds like a modem tone, although you can very clearly hear a shift between two different pitches, high and low pitch.
[12:13.560 --> 12:21.440]  It sounds very, very slow compared to the modem tones we're used to hearing, especially like 14.4, which is just like a buzz.
[12:21.780 --> 12:22.680]  Yeah, you were going to say something.
[12:25.320 --> 12:27.320]  Yeah, I'm going to be touching on that as well.
[12:27.540 --> 12:28.440]  Say the number again.
[12:28.440 --> 12:38.700]  Yes, the national number for AT&T operator services for TDD users is 1-800-855-1155.
[12:38.860 --> 12:44.380]  Everyone in this room can try this out by going to a facility where there's a public pay telephone.
[12:44.640 --> 12:45.540]  South Street Seaport.
[12:45.760 --> 12:50.140]  South Street Seaport, Penn Station, Staten Island Ferry.
[12:50.520 --> 12:52.500]  People are volunteering places they're aware of.
[12:53.120 --> 12:54.140]  Maybe this hotel.
[12:54.140 --> 12:54.780]  I don't know.
[12:54.900 --> 12:57.460]  But I would think that they'd be required of having one.
[12:57.460 --> 13:00.920]  You probably would have to ask the manager and they'd have to pull it out of the shelf or whatever they do.
[13:01.240 --> 13:04.120]  But in any case, if you call that number, you'll hear a tone.
[13:04.320 --> 13:12.940]  And if you're at a public pay telephone that has a TDD attached to it, in most cases it's in a motorized drawer that will slide out and you'll see something like this facing you.
[13:12.940 --> 13:17.600]  Usually it's a gleaming stainless steel unit though, which looks like it's indestructible.
[13:17.820 --> 13:22.140]  And then when you're done making the call, it detects the tones have stopped and it slides back in.
[13:22.920 --> 13:29.640]  If you have a home telephone, you obviously don't have to wait for anything to slide out because you have this device you can carry around.
[13:29.800 --> 13:37.000]  I didn't mention this, but this particular unit folds up just like about the size of a VHS video cassette and it recharges.
[13:37.160 --> 13:43.840]  I guess you can get about two or three hours of continuous use out of it.
[13:43.840 --> 13:47.380]  It's kind of a battery hog, but you just got to charge it up frequently.
[13:48.980 --> 14:00.920]  I wanted to touch on the fact that you can, if you don't have access to a regular TDD, that you can access some of these services now with a regular computer modem.
[14:01.440 --> 14:08.060]  Not all services that are provided to TDD users are accessible by regular modem.
[14:08.060 --> 14:13.680]  And the reason for that is TDDs traditionally have used a telecommunications code.
[14:13.900 --> 14:21.760]  We're most familiar with the telecommunications code called ASCII, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
[14:22.020 --> 14:27.760]  Well, that was developed, I believe, in the late 60s or the early 70s.
[14:27.760 --> 14:30.760]  Prior to that, there were other codes, EPSIDIC.
[14:30.900 --> 14:37.720]  But prior to that, the main telecommunications code for sending text was something called Bordeaux.
[14:38.140 --> 14:46.840]  And it's named after a French researcher, but a lot of people dispute that he was the discoverer, and we'll call it the Murray Code.
[14:47.060 --> 14:52.320]  But the bottom line is it's a 5-bit code as opposed to ASCII, which is a 7-bit code.
[14:52.740 --> 14:55.960]  And it only supports uppercase.
[14:55.960 --> 14:58.380]  There is a shift character.
[14:58.920 --> 15:00.980]  There is actually a character which is shift.
[15:01.240 --> 15:01.960]  Oh, that's...
[15:02.540 --> 15:03.240]  That's true.
[15:04.140 --> 15:11.260]  It's a pseudo-upper and lowercase character set, as I stood corrected here.
[15:11.780 --> 15:14.800]  It's a throwback from the days when these were mechanical machines.
[15:15.960 --> 15:31.180]  The way they got around not having just uppercases, they would have one code that would tell the machine, the old teletype machine, to shift a bunch of... a new set of gears in that would drive a lower set of characters.
[15:31.380 --> 15:36.020]  So if you got a code to say go uppercase, then everything from then on would be uppercase.
[15:36.100 --> 15:37.780]  Or if you got another code, it would be all lowercase.
[15:37.980 --> 15:44.780]  But generally speaking, most TD users didn't bother with the upper and lowercase because either the machine didn't support it or whatever.
[15:44.960 --> 15:54.480]  But the bottom line is ASCII is not compatible still with some TDDs because it's a 7-bit code and the data rates are different.
[15:54.920 --> 15:56.480]  We're most familiar with the...
[15:57.180 --> 16:00.960]  Well, maybe the old Bell 103 standard, which is 300 baud.
[16:01.160 --> 16:02.280]  I forget what 110 was.
[16:02.420 --> 16:04.800]  But then there's 202, which is 1200 baud.
[16:04.880 --> 16:11.300]  And then the whole slew of VDOT whatever protocols, which were 2400 baud.
[16:11.360 --> 16:14.100]  And we're up to 14.4 and VDOT 34 now.
[16:14.260 --> 16:17.220]  Well, they're all incompatible with some of the older TDDs.
[16:19.720 --> 16:27.360]  We're finding more and more services now except both ASCII now and baud code.
[16:27.540 --> 16:32.640]  This particular machine supports both 300 baud ASCII and baud.
[16:32.880 --> 16:36.900]  And the baud rate, by the way, on baud is 45.5 baud.
[16:36.980 --> 16:39.340]  And if that sounds really slow, it is.
[16:39.340 --> 16:44.620]  But it's still not much slower than an average person can read.
[16:45.260 --> 16:47.140]  It doesn't... it's not too ponderous.
[16:47.240 --> 16:52.780]  I mean, if somebody's typing as quick as they can at 45.5 baud, it doesn't seem like you're tapping your fingers.
[16:52.940 --> 16:59.080]  But it's certainly not what we're used to with 14.4 modems with the screen filling up almost instantaneously.
[16:59.120 --> 17:00.300]  But nobody can read that fast anyway.
[17:00.300 --> 17:04.560]  So it doesn't really affect people who are using this just for casual conversation.
[17:06.720 --> 17:08.600]  There's another thing I want to touch on briefly.
[17:08.600 --> 17:11.900]  And that's a machine called Telebrail, which I just found out about recently.
[17:11.900 --> 17:14.900]  Maybe you can mention to me to explain what Telebrail is about.
[17:16.200 --> 17:17.000]  Which version?
[17:17.380 --> 17:17.740]  Okay.
[17:18.040 --> 17:19.640]  The most common version of Telebrail.
[17:19.700 --> 17:21.600]  I just found out about it this afternoon.
[17:21.720 --> 17:23.660]  I was reading, it's like, oh, Telebrail is something I never heard of.
[17:23.840 --> 17:26.920]  It's really not a TDD, but it's for blind?
[17:27.180 --> 17:27.580]  Yeah.
[17:27.940 --> 17:33.920]  There's a whole section of the population that is deaf-blind.
[17:35.500 --> 17:40.020]  If they're just blind, they can use a telephone normally without any problems.
[17:40.020 --> 17:43.800]  But it's basically a TDD with a little Braille reader on it.
[17:44.640 --> 17:47.360]  It's got the Braille-coded pins.
[17:47.540 --> 17:47.900]  Okay.
[17:48.280 --> 17:52.840]  So it would be something similar to this, but with raised dots that would move across the display?
[17:53.140 --> 17:53.460]  Yes.
[17:53.600 --> 17:53.820]  Okay.
[17:54.360 --> 17:57.820]  I'm not sure how they would do that mechanically, but I'll take your word for it.
[17:58.020 --> 17:59.200]  Yeah, it's not that difficult.
[17:59.360 --> 17:59.600]  Uh-huh.
[18:00.000 --> 18:00.360]  So...
[18:00.360 --> 18:04.420]  And it's the same sort of system.
[18:04.780 --> 18:07.520]  You just hook the phone up and go with it.
[18:07.640 --> 18:08.340]  That's really interesting.
[18:08.340 --> 18:10.380]  And a lot of them are TDD-compatible.
[18:10.620 --> 18:10.880]  Uh-huh.
[18:11.100 --> 18:11.980]  And Modem-compatible.
[18:12.040 --> 18:12.260]  Right.
[18:12.460 --> 18:16.700]  So you actually can have a telephone conversation by just sensing something with your fingers.
[18:17.960 --> 18:22.440]  And if you've got to do it that way, then it's not so bad, because it's the only thing you've got.
[18:23.680 --> 18:26.780]  So I want to mention some other telephone numbers that you can try calling.
[18:26.780 --> 18:35.960]  I did mention that the main directory service number for AT&T, for TDDs, which is 800-855-1155.
[18:36.200 --> 18:36.880]  Uh-huh.
[18:37.320 --> 18:40.360]  You can call the AT&T Special Needs Center.
[18:40.580 --> 18:56.440]  AT&T has a special division of their company dedicated just for people with special needs, such as hearing and speech impaired people, or maybe blind people as well, that have problems telecommunicating and need special services or products.
[18:56.440 --> 19:04.000]  And the number for AT&T Special Needs, uh, the voice number is 800-233-1222.
[19:05.060 --> 19:12.240]  And a TDD number they've set up for the AT&T Special Needs Center is 800-833-3232.
[19:12.920 --> 19:21.760]  Um, there's another service made available, um, by the various Bell operating companies, I believe, called, uh, Relay Services.
[19:22.240 --> 19:29.320]  Now, you may know someone who is hearing impaired or speech impaired, but you don't own a TDD, and you don't want to go running out to a pay phone where there is one.
[19:29.560 --> 19:30.800]  You just want to call them from your home.
[19:30.940 --> 19:32.820]  There's still a way you can communicate over the phone.
[19:33.340 --> 19:40.360]  Um, and that is to use one of these Relay Services, which are, again, required by, by federal law that the, the Bell operating companies provide these services.
[19:40.860 --> 19:48.280]  Um, in my area in Pennsylvania, and I just called this number here from my cellular phone, and I got a carrier, so I assume it's, it's valid in New York as well.
[19:48.280 --> 19:56.900]  The, the toll-free number 800-654-5984 will connect you with a Relay Service.
[19:57.240 --> 19:57.520]  Yes?
[20:01.500 --> 20:08.940]  Yeah, if you look at the beginning of your, uh, your telephone book, where it has all that information, like how to dial a phone and stuff like that, it has that information in there, usually.
[20:09.200 --> 20:14.760]  And if you're not sure, um, call the, uh, AT&T Special Needs Center, and they'll, they will point you in the right direction.
[20:15.320 --> 20:17.960]  Uh, what was I, uh...
[20:17.960 --> 20:19.300]  Well, I have a question about your TDD.
[20:19.580 --> 20:19.720]  Mm-hmm?
[20:19.840 --> 20:22.940]  Does it have an interactive mode where it doesn't have to use the telephones?
[20:23.180 --> 20:32.080]  Because I've seen ones where someone will go into a store who only speaks sign language, they pull out their TDD, and type on it so the clerk can see it.
[20:32.120 --> 20:32.700]  Sure, yeah.
[20:33.000 --> 20:37.780]  It doesn't, the, this unit doesn't really know if it's sending information to a phone or not.
[20:37.940 --> 20:45.620]  It knows if it's heard something, but, uh, just as a point of interest, I was demonstrating some, uh, uh, radio surveillance equipment at my table over here.
[20:45.860 --> 20:53.500]  And, uh, uh, speech-impaired person, uh, came up to me, and he saw this, and he knew what it was, because he, he obviously had used one before.
[20:53.780 --> 20:55.140]  And he started writing a message to me.
[20:55.220 --> 20:56.080]  I said, no, no, use this.
[20:56.480 --> 21:04.020]  And, uh, so he typed some messages to me that he, that he was, uh, he was deaf, and, uh, that he, he uses a TDD.
[21:04.180 --> 21:05.000]  You know, it was great, you know.
[21:05.160 --> 21:16.240]  So you can type messages on this, um, it's kind of like, uh, being on a computer, um, a communication software in local mode, where every type character you type is just echoed back on the screen.
[21:16.820 --> 21:18.340]  Um, that, that happens with this, too.
[21:18.440 --> 21:20.820]  As you type, type the letters, they appear in the screen.
[21:21.040 --> 21:29.740]  And for those of you who did not hear what that actually sounds like, I will let you hear what the Baudot tones sound like.
[21:29.740 --> 21:31.500]  If we can have some little more mic gain.
[21:32.360 --> 21:35.340]  And this is what a TDD sounds like over the phone.
[21:50.640 --> 21:55.960]  Okay, the message I just, I just typed was, uh, this is coming to you from the HOPE conference.
[21:56.420 --> 22:00.040]  Um, I don't know anybody who can check that out by ear.
[22:00.120 --> 22:01.600]  I, I happen to be a ham radio operator.
[22:01.680 --> 22:04.000]  I'm interested in all forms of communications.
[22:04.460 --> 22:12.720]  And, uh, I can tell by ear, um, whether it's Baudot, um, at 45 and a half Baud, or ASCII at 110.
[22:13.120 --> 22:13.840]  You can just tell.
[22:13.920 --> 22:18.080]  And there's other forms of communications that go over shortwave radio, that radio teletype, and so forth.
[22:18.180 --> 22:21.640]  You can tell from, just from kind of how it sounds, like what speed it is, and so forth.
[22:22.100 --> 22:31.160]  Um, there are people, surprisingly, who can, who can, uh, because I'm a Morse, I'm a ham radio operator, who can, uh, understand Morse code up to like 40-some words a minute.
[22:31.160 --> 22:33.220]  And that, that has always amazed me.
[22:33.480 --> 22:41.960]  I, I'm lucky if I can do 18 or 19, but, um, that's another method people can, uh, uh, can use to communicate if they don't, if they can't speak.
[22:42.140 --> 22:43.440]  But that's getting off the subject.
[22:44.100 --> 22:44.100]  Um,
[22:48.440 --> 22:49.900]  three models that AT&T sells.
[22:49.960 --> 22:54.520]  AT&T seems to be the, the biggest provider of these, although I may be, I stand corrected on that.
[22:55.280 --> 22:57.260]  There, there, there's a whole bunch of different...
[22:57.260 --> 22:57.360]  Yeah.
[22:57.640 --> 22:59.220]  I know there are a lot of companies that make these, but most of the...
[22:59.220 --> 23:00.760]  You don't have to find the right catalog.
[23:01.320 --> 23:01.620]  Yeah.
[23:03.860 --> 23:10.760]  One, uh, what would be a good source for finding out about other, other, uh, besides calling AT&T special needs center, obviously they're not going to send you elsewhere.
[23:11.260 --> 23:14.160]  Where could one find out about other, other devices from other companies?
[23:14.340 --> 23:21.980]  The states have a resource center that, um, like in Delaware, it's called, uh, D-A-T-I.
[23:22.240 --> 23:24.240]  D-A-T-I in Delaware?
[23:24.240 --> 23:27.800]  Some, you know, something, something, something.
[23:28.000 --> 23:28.200]  Uh-huh.
[23:29.020 --> 23:31.800]  And you can look it up in generally the blue pages.
[23:31.900 --> 23:33.820]  The blue pages of a telephone directory.
[23:34.080 --> 23:37.700]  And, and they'll go and get you, you know, in contact...
[23:37.700 --> 23:39.220]  This is usually a state agencies?
[23:39.500 --> 23:40.280]  Uh, yes.
[23:40.480 --> 23:40.700]  Okay.
[23:40.860 --> 23:41.980]  Some sort of state agencies.
[23:42.220 --> 23:42.840]  That's interesting.
[23:42.960 --> 23:46.040]  And you, as far as you know, these exist in, in most states?
[23:46.280 --> 23:47.100]  Yeah, as far as I know.
[23:47.120 --> 23:47.320]  Okay.
[23:47.320 --> 23:49.100]  You, you had a comment there?
[23:49.100 --> 23:50.840]  I also go to a sign language school.
[23:51.140 --> 23:51.400]  Ah.
[23:51.640 --> 23:52.640]  A sign language school.
[23:52.920 --> 23:58.380]  You know, that, companies that sell products for, the hearing impaired, like, vibrating along the box.
[23:59.060 --> 23:59.320]  Uh-huh.
[23:59.380 --> 24:01.200]  Or, you know, TVs and stuff like that.
[24:01.360 --> 24:05.660]  For example, it's the American Sign Language Institute on 23rd Street and other places like that.
[24:05.800 --> 24:06.180]  Great.
[24:06.240 --> 24:08.000]  Or any school that has, like, a deaf program.
[24:08.460 --> 24:09.480]  Like, LaVardia, I think.
[24:09.900 --> 24:10.080]  Great.
[24:10.420 --> 24:18.100]  Yeah, you kind of have to, if you're not already involved with the whole culture, um, then you have to seek this stuff out.
[24:18.240 --> 24:23.100]  And I kind of sought it out a little bit, because I'm just interested in every possible form of communications.
[24:23.540 --> 24:39.820]  But, uh, as, as the people here in the audience said, you, if you, if you hunt around and make some phone calls, and, uh, maybe contact a, a, a school for the hearing impaired or speech impaired or the blind or deaf or whatever, you might be able to get some leads as to where you can find a reasonably priced device.
[24:40.060 --> 24:44.620]  Maybe they're, they're, I'm not sure, but there may be a, a market for these, for used devices as well.
[24:44.620 --> 24:45.040]  I don't know.
[24:45.160 --> 24:50.780]  People are, would, I would assume would want to upgrade, um, from one model to another, just like people upgrade computers.
[24:50.820 --> 24:54.720]  Although, I hope they don't have to do it as frequently as we in the computer area have to.
[24:55.100 --> 25:00.020]  Um, I did mention that some of these services can be accessed by, uh, by a normal computer.
[25:00.360 --> 25:03.280]  And I'll, I'm gonna give you the technical details on how to do that.
[25:03.680 --> 25:11.480]  You're gonna need a standard, uh, PC communications package with a modem that communicates at, at least, um, 300 baud.
[25:13.580 --> 25:15.040]  Darn, it leaves a lot of you at, I know.
[25:15.760 --> 25:27.200]  Um, uh, the, most of these services communicate, when they, when they are compatible with ASCII, communicate at, at either, uh, 300, 1200, or 2400 with automatic fallback, if you only have a 300 baud modem.
[25:27.880 --> 25:39.440]  Um, the, uh, uh, uh, the settings you want to set your communication software are eight data bits, no parity, and one stop bit.
[25:41.740 --> 25:49.440]  Check into the, uh, the submenus of your communication software to enable the flow control.
[25:50.840 --> 25:55.460]  And you also want to enable the X on, X off protocol.
[25:56.380 --> 25:57.800]  All those things are important.
[25:58.000 --> 26:03.760]  If you don't have, uh, eight data bits, no stop bits, or eight data bits, no parity, and one stop bit.
[26:03.980 --> 26:07.220]  Um, oh, and it has to be half duplex.
[26:07.360 --> 26:08.140]  I forgot to add that.
[26:08.300 --> 26:09.060]  That's very important.
[26:09.160 --> 26:10.080]  It must be half duplex.
[26:10.320 --> 26:14.920]  You have to use flow control, and you have to have your X on, X off enabled.
[26:15.580 --> 26:29.160]  Then if you call, for instance, that 800-855-1155 number with your computer, you can just type, if you have a Hays compatible modem, you could, from the, from the, uh, uh, from the, uh, the blank communication screen, I guess you could just type, uh, uh,
[26:29.320 --> 26:32.320]  ATD and T if you have a tone modem.
[26:33.140 --> 26:36.360]  Uh, ATDT, uh, 1-800-855-1155.
[26:36.660 --> 26:41.520]  Um, and then after the modem dials, you'll, you'll hear a carrier tone, and then you'll be connected.
[26:41.520 --> 26:44.160]  Now, the way that works, it's kind of interesting.
[26:44.540 --> 26:48.900]  Um, you'll be connected with an operator who has one of these TDDs.
[26:48.960 --> 26:55.840]  Generally, they're, um, I've, just from communicating with them and doing a little social engineering, I've found most of them are not disabled.
[26:56.000 --> 26:59.740]  They're just, um, they can hear and they can, and they can speak.
[26:59.880 --> 27:03.820]  They just, this is just their job with AT&T or the Bell operating company they happen to work in.
[27:04.180 --> 27:18.680]  Um, what I find is really strange is that the, the operators who handle directories, directory assistance services, like looking up telephone numbers for you via TDD, um, aren't linked into any kind of computer system.
[27:18.980 --> 27:27.740]  They have, um, and I find this, sometimes if you call, you'll get, you'll get, I live outside of Philadelphia and there's a big central office near where I live in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
[27:28.520 --> 27:35.700]  Um, but there's a, there's a TDD office in there where they have, uh, directory assistance services for the hearing impaired.
[27:35.700 --> 27:42.840]  Uh, I've talked to TDD operators in Washington, in North Carolina, and other areas.
[27:43.040 --> 27:45.740]  It just, it's just luck of the draw.
[27:45.880 --> 27:52.440]  When you call that number, depending on the traffic patterns of the telecommunication system, you get rooted to wherever they have people available.
[27:52.720 --> 28:04.180]  But, uh, what I find interesting, I was starting to say, it's ironic is, um, AT&T bills itself as, you know, the, the, the company of the future and you will experience this and that and whatever in, in the future.
[28:04.580 --> 28:12.460]  Yet, they're still using, uh, uh, manual telephone directories at these, at these offices.
[28:13.000 --> 28:15.420]  Manual phone books for their areas, they have them on a shelf.
[28:16.100 --> 28:24.940]  And another telephone, which, if they can't find it in the phone book, what they'll do is they'll say, please hold, they'll type, they won't say this, they'll type in, please hold while we look up your number.
[28:25.780 --> 28:31.840]  And, you hold while they pick up another phone and call a regular voice directory assistance operator.
[28:32.580 --> 28:36.720]  And they'll ask that information of them and then type that in.
[28:36.840 --> 28:43.380]  And that whole process takes a good minute, which is, I find it almost excruciatingly slow.
[28:43.760 --> 28:53.240]  Um, it's not like when you call a regular directory assistance operator, they can just type a few keystrokes, you can hear the keystrokes in the background usually, and, uh, then they just connect you with some automated voice that tells you the number.
[28:53.240 --> 29:07.440]  Well, TDD users, unfortunately, have to suffer through this awkward, painfully slow, and technologically, um, uh, anachronistic, uh, method where they don't have online computers.
[29:07.580 --> 29:17.020]  And I've asked some of the operators, well, why don't you have some sort of online system where, you know, you could have a TDD integrated with a directory assistance terminal, like regular directory assistance operators.
[29:17.020 --> 29:20.000]  And they said, oh, we don't know, we just, this is our job, and whatever.
[29:20.360 --> 29:32.940]  I found from a, from a hacker standpoint, I'm a hacker, that the TDD operators are, are often much more, uh, uh, uh, susceptible to social engineering than a regular operator.
[29:33.120 --> 29:35.160]  Because they have really boring jobs, evidently.
[29:35.240 --> 29:37.320]  They don't get a lot of, they don't get a lot of calls.
[29:37.800 --> 29:42.540]  So, uh, you can have some pretty interesting conversations with these, with these operators just by typing on the TDD.
[29:42.540 --> 29:52.100]  And one of the other advantages I've found to, uh, to using a TDD is that, uh, it's a toll-free number when you call, um, directory assistance via this.
[29:52.260 --> 29:58.240]  As opposed to dialing one, the area code, and the number, um, when you have to pay 75 cents.
[29:58.440 --> 30:03.340]  Now, just recently, I found last year, um, they said, oh, we're gonna put a stop to this.
[30:03.460 --> 30:04.760]  These people shouldn't be getting free.
[30:04.880 --> 30:08.140]  AT&T decided they shouldn't be getting free, uh, directory assistance services.
[30:08.760 --> 30:24.080]  So, uh, they put in a, uh, uh, an ANI or ANAC type system, whereby they knew who was calling, and then they wrote something down, or whatever, that, like, two months later, you get this bill in the mail, this addendum to your phone bill, like it's a buck and a half.
[30:24.280 --> 30:34.240]  Now, from all the laws that I've read, they're not legally allowed to charge you more than the going rate for directory assistance services, yet, the times I've done it, they've charged me like a dollar and a half.
[30:34.240 --> 30:36.480]  So, I've always called them and, and complained.
[30:37.380 --> 30:41.020]  And, so, oftentimes, I've even had to ask for supervisors to get them to take it off my bill.
[30:41.160 --> 30:41.500]  And they have.
[30:41.660 --> 30:42.980]  So, I've found a way around that.
[30:43.100 --> 30:46.420]  And the only reason I'm saying this is because they're being, they're being jerks about this.
[30:46.520 --> 30:56.220]  So, what I've done is, you can eliminate having to deal with the, uh, automatic identification of, uh, giving your phone number up whenever you call an 800 number.
[30:56.300 --> 31:00.900]  For those of you who don't know, whenever you call a toll-free number, the person you're calling will know your phone number.
[31:00.900 --> 31:05.620]  Either they'll know it immediately if they have the right equipment, or they'll know at the end of the month when they get their, their watts bill.
[31:05.960 --> 31:08.180]  So, just be aware of that from a privacy standpoint.
[31:08.720 --> 31:20.180]  But, uh, one way around, one way around this exorbitant fee that AT&T is charging is if you just dial zero and tell the operator, Operator, I've been trying to dial this toll-free number, and I can't seem to get an answer.
[31:21.440 --> 31:22.380]  Can you try it for me?
[31:22.380 --> 31:23.160]  And they'll say, what's the number?
[31:23.280 --> 31:25.220]  And it's 800-855-1155.
[31:25.580 --> 31:28.180]  And they'll try it, and then as soon as you hear it ring, say, thank you, Operator.
[31:28.360 --> 31:30.920]  And then you hang your phone up in here and, in the thing.
[31:31.020 --> 31:32.360]  And you, you process your call.
[31:32.740 --> 31:42.280]  The operator will, at that point, ask you for, um, you know, who you want to, uh, contact, or who, the number of the person, the name of the person, whose number you want.
[31:42.280 --> 31:46.460]  And you have to tell them the name of the city, and the name of the city, and so we're lucky to do regular operator systems.
[31:46.660 --> 31:51.440]  But then, if you call through the operator, I've found, they will, uh, ask you, what number are you calling from?
[31:51.940 --> 31:56.720]  So, what I have frequently done is just give them the number of my local, um, AT&T office.
[31:57.160 --> 31:58.680]  So, who evidently gets the bill.
[31:59.100 --> 32:02.060]  So, it's, uh, just as serious as far as I'm concerned.
[32:02.220 --> 32:03.160]  You, you were gonna add something.
[32:03.340 --> 32:05.060]  That doesn't work anymore with the zero.
[32:05.200 --> 32:08.380]  When you dial zero, um, you used to be able to...
[32:08.380 --> 32:09.460]  I did it last week, twice.
[32:11.820 --> 32:16.920]  I found out that when I dialed the NYNEX operator, they, they're not allowed to place 800 total.
[32:17.240 --> 32:18.140]  And what I've done is...
[32:18.140 --> 32:20.360]  That may, that may be a New York policy, that may be a NYNEX policy.
[32:20.580 --> 32:22.240]  I'm, I'm from the Atlantic land.
[32:22.480 --> 32:24.580]  So, maybe, you may be right about that for this area.
[32:24.900 --> 32:37.120]  And now what they do is they claim, if they try to dial the 800 number, and record it, instead of it going to the 800 number, our recording keeps on saying, we're sorry, uh, the local operators are not able to dial the 800 number.
[32:37.340 --> 32:38.680]  That's pretty lame of NYNEX.
[32:38.680 --> 32:41.460]  As you can see, I have a t-shirt that says, XNYNEX.
[32:41.580 --> 32:42.860]  I'm, I'm a former NYNEX employee.
[32:44.200 --> 32:45.900]  I had an AT&T dial number.
[32:46.200 --> 32:49.580]  And if you dial a certain number, AT&T will not dial it.
[32:49.700 --> 32:53.120]  And if you dial a certain number, AT&T will be able to dial it.
[32:53.460 --> 32:53.820]  So...
[32:53.820 --> 32:54.660]  Go figure.
[32:55.120 --> 33:00.740]  Well, if, if they're, the way I look at it is if they're gonna charge you an exorbitant fee, then, um, I'm gonna find a way around it.
[33:00.740 --> 33:02.500]  And if they charge a fair fee, I wouldn't mind.
[33:03.700 --> 33:03.980]  But...
[33:03.980 --> 33:04.680]  You can do it from a pay phone.
[33:04.700 --> 33:07.180]  But if you're home, you don't want to have to go out to a pay phone to find a TDD.
[33:07.420 --> 33:08.080]  Yeah, it's just, that's true.
[33:08.180 --> 33:12.280]  If you call a long distance, direct your assistance from a pay phone, on a normal phone, you gotta do it that way.
[33:13.380 --> 33:13.660]  So...
[33:14.060 --> 33:16.120]  Were there any questions anybody had about, uh...
[33:16.120 --> 33:17.840]  Oh, one, one question I wanted to ask the audience.
[33:18.140 --> 33:21.660]  Um, I know there were special numbers set up for emergency services.
[33:21.660 --> 33:26.780]  Like, you know, hearing people, and speaking people can call 9-1-1 for that system.
[33:27.080 --> 33:30.200]  I, I know in the New York area, there's another number you can call.
[33:30.380 --> 33:31.240]  I think it's a three-digit number.
[33:31.340 --> 33:31.780]  3-1-1.
[33:31.780 --> 33:32.420]  3-1-1.
[33:32.660 --> 33:32.800]  Okay.
[33:32.980 --> 33:42.040]  If you call 3-1-1 from a cellular phone, uh, or not from a cellular phone, from a, from any phone, you will get a TDD operator, um, a TDD emergency operator.
[33:42.200 --> 33:43.340]  So they've set up these systems.
[33:43.780 --> 33:53.080]  And, uh, I've also found, uh, uh, uh, Emmanuel Goldstein had called me with, uh, some interesting tape recordings of some phone, phone, uh, messages.
[33:53.380 --> 33:55.660]  And they, I said, they sound like TDD messages.
[33:55.740 --> 33:57.160]  So he played them over the phone to me.
[33:57.280 --> 33:59.860]  And I just held the phone up to, to my TDD.
[34:00.060 --> 34:02.060]  And, and we were able to decode the messages.
[34:02.220 --> 34:02.580]  It's pretty interesting.
[34:02.860 --> 34:14.300]  One last thing I want to say is the, the way the, the, one advantage to the lower speed baudot, 45 and a half baud thing is, it doesn't require a carrier like we're used to using, uh, uh, modems.
[34:14.420 --> 34:19.360]  You can, you can record, uh, these TDD messages on an answering machine.
[34:19.360 --> 34:21.320]  And somebody can play them back and decode them.
[34:21.440 --> 34:22.340]  Cause it's just audio tones.
[34:22.800 --> 34:23.860]  Uh, voicemail systems.
[34:24.000 --> 34:28.160]  You could leave, uh, messages for, uh, for people on a voicemail system via TDDs.
[34:28.200 --> 34:28.740]  I've done that.
[34:28.860 --> 34:35.720]  And actually I found it as sort of a, a crude, but sort of effective security method, uh, of, of leaving, leaving messages.
[34:35.720 --> 34:37.700]  An average person is like, what is this noise?
[34:37.800 --> 34:38.500]  They're not gonna know what it is.
[34:38.580 --> 34:39.280]  They're not gonna know it's a TDD.
[34:39.420 --> 34:42.980]  I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't say that if somebody really wanted to know what it was, they couldn't figure it out.
[34:43.120 --> 34:48.060]  But, um, you can leave, uh, messages on voicemail or answering machines with a TDD.
[34:48.060 --> 34:53.580]  And the person who retrieves them can just hold the, their TDD, uh, up to the speaker of their answering machine.
[34:53.720 --> 34:55.260]  And it will decode and display on the unit.
[34:55.440 --> 34:56.940]  So, um, it has that advantage.
[34:57.080 --> 35:00.460]  You couldn't do that with a, with a computer type, um, message.
[35:00.660 --> 35:03.680]  Cause modems, you know, and if they don't tic-tac the carrier, they hang up right away.
[35:03.920 --> 35:04.040]  So.
[35:04.460 --> 35:06.960]  Any questions about TDDs that I might be able to answer?
[35:07.460 --> 35:07.820]  Yeah.
[35:11.180 --> 35:11.540]  Yeah.
[35:11.540 --> 35:12.020]  Oh yeah.
[35:12.240 --> 35:14.840]  That's, that's something, they kind of pulled back on that a little bit.
[35:14.980 --> 35:15.880]  But, uh, yeah.
[35:16.160 --> 35:18.260]  You folks might have, uh, and there was some mention of this.
[35:20.480 --> 35:20.840]  Okay.
[35:21.280 --> 35:25.620]  Um, for those of you who are 26 readers, 2600 readers, and many of you probably are, or you wouldn't be here.
[35:25.980 --> 35:31.820]  Um, uh, you've probably seen these AT&T or read about these AT&T 2000 phones.
[35:31.820 --> 35:35.520]  There's a public, you know, pay phone that, uh, looks very futuristic.
[35:35.760 --> 35:39.340]  There's a, there's a color video display on it and a keyboard and all this.
[35:39.600 --> 35:45.660]  Well, those things, um, are combination, uh, regular ASCII computer terminals and TDDs.
[35:46.040 --> 35:58.460]  Um, evidently there was some ruling a few months ago that forbade, uh, AT&T from, from having the, the, uh, ASCII part of that to work anymore as a regular telephone modem.
[35:58.460 --> 36:01.020]  It didn't, didn't go with certain tariffs or something.
[36:01.200 --> 36:04.180]  But you can still use these as, uh, as TDDs.
[36:04.260 --> 36:07.880]  However, I found they nail you on a charge every time.
[36:08.060 --> 36:17.840]  You can't even, you cannot call the, you cannot call the toll-free directory assistance number, um, 800-855-1155, um, from one of these.
[36:18.080 --> 36:18.760]  It won't work.
[36:18.980 --> 36:19.760]  They, they nail you.
[36:19.840 --> 36:26.540]  The operator comes on and says, or the, the, and, and types, you know, please deposit the money or whatever.
[36:27.360 --> 36:27.720]  So...
[36:28.660 --> 36:29.220]  I'm sorry?
[36:30.700 --> 36:33.360]  So, I guess they asked for, I'm sorry, they asked for a credit card number.
[36:33.460 --> 36:34.340]  Their home phone number.
[36:34.340 --> 36:34.680]  Right.
[36:34.900 --> 36:36.080]  So you can't even use a red box.
[36:36.200 --> 36:38.540]  So you have to give them a, you have to give them a card number.
[36:40.320 --> 36:40.680]  So...
[36:40.680 --> 36:41.200]  Uh, yes.
[36:42.540 --> 36:45.200]  Um, they can't charge for 800 numbers.
[36:46.200 --> 36:50.840]  I, that's, that's something I have, I have stated to AT&T.
[36:50.840 --> 36:55.940]  Um, if you call an 800 number, there should not be a charge because it's a, it's a toll-free number.
[36:56.120 --> 36:58.400]  I mean, that's the whole definition of an 800 number.
[36:58.520 --> 36:59.600]  It's called a toll-free number.
[36:59.780 --> 37:10.820]  Yet, if you call 800-855-1155, the operator who types the message back to you when you ask for director assistance information, at no point anywhere says that there's any charge involved with calling this eight, this toll-free number.
[37:11.460 --> 37:14.740]  And, like, two months later, you get this delayed buck and a half charge.
[37:15.240 --> 37:17.920]  And, every time I've disputed it, that's the rationale I've used.
[37:18.000 --> 37:18.700]  Yeah, I've used it.
[37:18.860 --> 37:20.580]  I called a toll-free 800 number.
[37:20.920 --> 37:21.720]  And what is this charge?
[37:21.840 --> 37:23.120]  I was never informed that there was a charge.
[37:23.360 --> 37:28.040]  Now, you had heard that there was some, some law or something saying you could not charge for calling an 800 number.
[37:28.180 --> 37:29.960]  Why is AT&T doing this to us?
[37:30.040 --> 37:38.900]  I mean, technically, the way the laws are currently written, you can't even use a TED or a modem without violating the law because it's in code.
[37:39.400 --> 37:44.880]  In fact, you can't even, like, go and call someone and say the dog barks at midnight because it's in code.
[37:46.140 --> 37:46.540]  So...
[37:46.540 --> 37:47.600]  Well, we could use a clipper chip.
[37:47.700 --> 37:48.700]  They don't mind that, do they?
[37:49.600 --> 37:50.560]  Right now, they do.
[37:50.940 --> 37:51.260]  But...
[37:51.260 --> 37:52.740]  I'm not saying any of this is...
[37:52.740 --> 37:54.760]  By the way, I'll be demonstrating a clipper chip tomorrow.
[37:55.180 --> 37:57.260]  I'm not saying it's even possibly enforced.
[37:57.580 --> 38:02.860]  It's just, you know, the laws are, you know, you can't drive pigs at noon.
[38:02.860 --> 38:09.240]  Yeah, I think we probably all agree that no human being can go through a single day without making some laws inadvertently.
[38:09.440 --> 38:09.680]  So...
[38:09.680 --> 38:10.760]  That's just our legislature.
[38:11.080 --> 38:12.060]  Yeah, you're gonna add something else?
[38:12.140 --> 38:12.460]  Well, no.
[38:12.660 --> 38:14.920]  Does it work when you call the supervisor and say I'm out?
[38:14.920 --> 38:16.520]  Yeah, but you have to raise hell and you gotta...
[38:16.520 --> 38:17.260]  You gotta...
[38:17.260 --> 38:18.960]  You have to go through one or two levels up.
[38:19.120 --> 38:21.580]  I always enjoy it because, you know, I don't give up.
[38:21.780 --> 38:22.500]  And they have...
[38:22.500 --> 38:23.360]  They can't hang up on you.
[38:23.460 --> 38:24.320]  So, I've got them.
[38:24.500 --> 38:25.200]  You know, there's...
[38:25.200 --> 38:27.440]  I'll talk with them for an hour to get it off.
[38:27.440 --> 38:29.320]  But they're not allowed to hang up on you.
[38:29.440 --> 38:30.680]  And if they do...
[38:30.680 --> 38:31.500]  Before I...
[38:31.500 --> 38:32.120]  Before I...
[38:32.120 --> 38:34.280]  As I initialize the conversation, I get their name.
[38:34.600 --> 38:45.040]  So, whenever you get somebody's name, especially an operator's name first, they will never be rude to you or hang up because they know that you can call their supervisor and get them fired or at least in a lot of trouble.
[38:45.280 --> 38:45.680]  So...
[38:47.100 --> 38:47.880]  We're gonna add something?
[38:47.880 --> 38:52.300]  Can you use a TDD as a low-cost alphanumeric paging terminal?
[38:52.600 --> 38:54.000]  Little systems accept it?
[38:54.020 --> 38:54.960]  No, unfortunately.
[38:55.520 --> 38:56.840]  That would be a good idea.
[38:57.000 --> 39:01.140]  I wish someone would come up with a sort of an all-in-one solution.
[39:01.460 --> 39:08.980]  He'd ask whether you can use one of these things to send a text message to these new alphanumeric pagers, which I'm not lucky enough to have yet.
[39:09.140 --> 39:11.580]  If I have a display page, just regular digital display page.
[39:11.580 --> 39:18.840]  No, there is a device, a company called PageEntry, P-A-G-E-N-T-R-Y.
[39:19.000 --> 39:19.980]  I believe they have a toll-free number.
[39:20.040 --> 39:26.840]  If you call them, they make a little calculator-sized device that can be used to send text messages and faxes, surprisingly.
[39:27.080 --> 39:31.920]  You can type a message and it'll come out of a fax machine or send messages to a text pager.
[39:32.400 --> 39:46.440]  Now, with the advent of digital signal processing technology becoming mainstream, somebody could easily, or without too much difficulty, somebody like AT&T could easily design a device that could send messages to text pagers, which would be valuable to hearing impaired people,
[39:46.460 --> 39:50.140]  I would think, and send Baudot and ASCII messages.
[39:50.620 --> 39:51.680]  But they haven't come out with one.
[39:51.820 --> 39:55.720]  This isn't really a hugely profitable market since there aren't as...
[39:55.720 --> 39:59.940]  You would think they'd come out with this stuff because there's 22 million people that might need these things.
[40:00.060 --> 40:04.760]  But they just don't seem to come out with things that people want, generally.
[40:04.760 --> 40:05.500]  Yeah?
[40:07.280 --> 40:07.900]  I'm sorry?
[40:08.100 --> 40:08.780]  Baudot modems?
[40:17.520 --> 40:18.280]  I'm sorry.
[40:18.400 --> 40:19.520]  I can't understand what you're saying.
[40:20.520 --> 40:22.040]  There were some Baudot modems.
[40:22.640 --> 40:23.860]  This is a Baudot modem.
[40:26.120 --> 40:28.000]  Oh, yeah, yeah, that's true.
[40:28.680 --> 40:29.880]  Before ASCII caught on.
[40:31.480 --> 40:32.900]  It also did Bordeaux.
[40:32.940 --> 40:33.340]  Yeah.
[40:33.500 --> 40:35.960]  That was one of the best modems ever made.
[40:36.200 --> 40:37.220]  I still think that.
[40:37.940 --> 40:39.060]  Thanks John Draper for that.
[40:39.740 --> 40:40.980]  What is Bordeaux?
[40:42.360 --> 40:47.100]  Bordeaux is just a way of saying ASCII, but it's referring to a different telecommunications code.
[40:48.380 --> 40:52.820]  Bordeaux is the name of a French guy who came up with this code, I guess.
[40:53.000 --> 40:53.340]  I don't know.
[40:53.460 --> 41:00.140]  But when you say Bordeaux, you're referring to the 5-bit telecommunications code, unlike ASCII, which is 7-bit telecommunications code.
[41:01.340 --> 41:05.780]  But if that doesn't make sense to you, go to the library and look it up, because they can explain it better than I can in the book.
[41:06.740 --> 41:11.540]  What do you do if you call from a pay phone and give it to them and they say that they can't build a pay phone?
[41:13.200 --> 41:18.420]  He'd ask if you call from a pay phone and you give that number, do they say they can't build through a pay phone?
[41:18.520 --> 41:18.920]  I don't know.
[41:19.000 --> 41:20.600]  I've never tried to give them a pay phone number.
[41:20.700 --> 41:22.660]  I just usually give them the number of my local AT&T office.
[41:23.480 --> 41:24.520]  They don't have ANI?
[41:24.660 --> 41:25.400]  You have to give them the number?
[41:25.400 --> 41:27.120]  Well, not if you call through an operator, they don't have ANI.
[41:27.460 --> 41:30.740]  No, I'm saying if you dial it direct from a pay phone, they know your number, right?
[41:30.880 --> 41:31.160]  Yes.
[41:31.400 --> 41:32.980]  So when you keep doing that...
[41:32.980 --> 41:33.880]  That's a good question.
[41:34.200 --> 41:35.200]  I have not done that.
[41:35.360 --> 41:49.520]  If you dial just from a regular pay phone with one of these things, that 800 number, ostensibly, I don't know whether they would ask you the number of your home or whether they would ostensibly just bill that pay phone number.
[41:49.580 --> 41:50.140]  I don't know.
[41:50.220 --> 41:50.800]  That's a good question.
[41:51.020 --> 41:51.800]  I've never tried it.
[41:53.160 --> 41:54.920]  Yeah, well, that's their fault.
[41:55.420 --> 41:56.580]  So, yes.
[41:56.780 --> 41:57.620]  Yeah, I have a question.
[41:57.780 --> 41:59.160]  I actually tried that number.
[42:01.040 --> 42:02.320]  Yeah, you tried that number.
[42:02.320 --> 42:05.360]  I can do it to my work on my PBX, plus I handle the phone audit.
[42:05.520 --> 42:05.700]  Uh-huh.
[42:05.960 --> 42:13.460]  I don't have problems on the charges, but my question is that, when I dialed in, right, and I saw it, and I put on half a new...
[42:13.460 --> 42:13.740]  Right.
[42:14.100 --> 42:18.580]  I saw a little... they're not garbage, but I saw something like GA, and I was just wondering...
[42:18.580 --> 42:19.000]  Oh, yeah.
[42:19.280 --> 42:20.220]  I'm glad you touched on that.
[42:20.560 --> 42:28.480]  Yeah, there's what are called human TDD protocols, little abbreviations which make it easier for people to send a message without typing out whole words.
[42:28.620 --> 42:31.680]  There's... he said... he saw things that said GA on the screen when he tried it.
[42:31.960 --> 42:33.960]  GA means... it's an abbreviation for go ahead.
[42:34.120 --> 42:36.480]  It means, like, I'm done typing this line, now you reply.
[42:38.300 --> 42:39.720]  That comes normal when we talk.
[42:39.860 --> 42:41.900]  You can tell when somebody's at the end of a sentence and waiting for a reply.
[42:41.980 --> 42:43.640]  But if you're just typing something, you type go ahead.
[42:43.980 --> 42:53.100]  Another... there might be other little niceties like that, but one other I've discovered is that at the end of a communication, you type a SK, SK, SK.
[42:53.500 --> 42:54.180]  What does that mean?
[42:54.340 --> 42:55.000]  Stop key.
[42:55.200 --> 42:56.280]  Stop key, okay.
[42:56.540 --> 42:57.220]  Stop keying.
[42:57.300 --> 42:58.200]  Stop keying, okay.
[42:58.300 --> 43:01.060]  I thought... I didn't know what it meant, but I use it.
[43:01.120 --> 43:02.640]  I just... it was just a convention.
[43:03.060 --> 43:06.080]  Are there other little conventions you use for typing that...
[43:06.080 --> 43:09.140]  Sometimes at the end of a line you use K instead of GA.
[43:09.380 --> 43:10.640]  K refers to...
[43:11.200 --> 43:15.680]  Okay, sometimes you can type... people will type a K at the end of a line instead of GA to go ahead.
[43:15.680 --> 43:21.660]  And also, if their TD doesn't have a question mark symbol, they'll put QQ if there has to be a question mark.
[43:21.680 --> 43:22.200]  Ah, right.
[43:22.320 --> 43:24.660]  Some TDDs do not provide a question mark character.
[43:24.980 --> 43:26.780]  So, you type QQ.
[43:27.020 --> 43:30.260]  And I noticed some of the director-assisted operators use the Qs instead of question marks.
[43:30.440 --> 43:30.850]  So, that's probably...
[43:31.880 --> 43:33.520]  There's a display, perhaps...
[43:33.520 --> 43:33.760]  Right.
[43:33.900 --> 43:36.400]  So, I guess they use the lowest common denominator.
[43:36.520 --> 43:37.080]  That makes sense.
[43:38.260 --> 43:42.760]  I'm gonna have to leave here because I'm over... I'm expanding past my time, but I'll take one more... two more questions.
[43:44.200 --> 43:44.680]  Up here?
[43:44.680 --> 43:49.700]  Yeah, if you're interested in building your own PDY by the PDD, right?
[43:50.020 --> 43:53.020]  A program called HAMCOM, which is used for radio communication.
[43:53.500 --> 43:59.520]  You can build a very, very simple field circuit, which will just code it and help the transit.
[43:59.700 --> 44:01.980]  It's a HAM radio program called HAMCOMP.
[44:02.020 --> 44:04.180]  H-A-M-C-O-M-P.
[44:04.340 --> 44:05.320]  It's a public domain, or is it...
[44:06.260 --> 44:06.700]  HAMCOMP.
[44:06.700 --> 44:07.140]  HAMCOMP.
[44:07.360 --> 44:09.200]  Is it for sale, or is it a public domain?
[44:13.180 --> 44:13.580]  That's great.
[44:13.680 --> 44:14.740]  I've been looking for something like that.
[44:14.880 --> 44:18.220]  And that'll communicate at like 45 and a half baud.
[44:19.520 --> 44:22.600]  Now, you're still gonna have to build some kind of a hardware device, though.
[44:22.700 --> 44:23.980]  Very, very simple.
[44:24.140 --> 44:24.460]  I mean...
[44:24.460 --> 44:27.800]  Would you use a... just a... like an XR-2211 chip or something, or what?
[44:27.840 --> 44:29.680]  It's actually an op-amp, but they...
[44:29.680 --> 44:29.960]  Oh, yeah?
[44:31.860 --> 44:35.560]  Is there a particular magazine article that detailed how to do that, that you're aware of?
[44:37.340 --> 44:37.740]  Really?
[44:37.740 --> 44:38.280]  That's great.
[44:38.380 --> 44:46.640]  You could build your own one of these with a public domain software package and the text instructions in there, using a little op-amp to make your own.
[44:46.800 --> 44:48.980]  So, I'm gonna do that myself, just for the challenge.
[44:50.700 --> 44:51.060]  HAMCOMP.
[44:52.380 --> 44:56.240]  Contact your local HAM radio club, if you don't know where to get that, and they'll point in the right direction.
[45:00.900 --> 45:01.620]  Great idea.
[45:01.880 --> 45:05.020]  Somebody programmed an HP-48 calculator to do TDD work.
[45:05.100 --> 45:05.800]  That's fantastic.
[45:07.160 --> 45:07.920]  I'm gonna have to go.
[45:07.980 --> 45:08.660]  Yeah, one more question.
[45:08.660 --> 45:14.240]  Is it possible a place of an incoming TDD call to one of those payphones that's equipped with the drawer?
[45:16.720 --> 45:17.300]  Yes.
[45:17.900 --> 45:22.280]  Yes, you can do that, unless it's a payphone that doesn't accept incoming calls.
[45:23.780 --> 45:34.440]  And some of the payphones that have... his question was, can you call a payphone that has a TDD from another TDD, and will it answer?
[45:35.620 --> 45:39.920]  COCOTS, as probably most of us are aware, you can't accept calls at COCOTS, because...
[45:40.420 --> 45:41.120]  You can't.
[45:41.220 --> 45:43.240]  There's technical reasons for that, but...
[45:43.240 --> 45:44.460]  Is there a light on the phone?
[45:44.760 --> 45:45.180]  I'm sorry?
[45:45.340 --> 45:46.160]  How do you know it's ringing?
[45:47.000 --> 45:47.800]  When what?
[45:49.120 --> 45:50.880]  If you're deaf, how do you know...
[45:50.880 --> 45:51.840]  Oh, you have a light?
[45:53.340 --> 45:55.700]  The light wouldn't start flashing until you took the handset.
[45:55.960 --> 45:57.620]  The shortest light on the phone is on the phone.
[45:58.820 --> 46:00.340]  Oh, on the payphones, yeah.
[46:00.520 --> 46:03.420]  There's a red light on the front of the keyboard...
[46:03.420 --> 46:08.240]  on the front of the keyboard drawer on these public pay TDD phones.
[46:08.500 --> 46:15.060]  And when it's ringing, and if it's a Bell operating, an RBOCs phone, you'll see this light flashing.
[46:15.840 --> 46:17.100]  Along with the ringing.
[46:17.340 --> 46:18.960]  So you can actually see it ringing.
[46:19.280 --> 46:24.820]  But if it's a COCOT, it's not going to take incoming calls, regardless of whether it's a TDD phone or not, because it's a COCOT.
[46:24.820 --> 46:25.320]  So...
[46:26.380 --> 46:26.880]  Whatever.
[46:27.120 --> 46:27.620]  I gotta go.
[46:27.960 --> 46:29.720]  Thanks for your time, and...
[46:29.720 --> 46:30.400]  Bye-bye.