Archive for December, 2007
Listen to this as a podcast:
Gizmodo, DeafMac, and TUAW all report that AT&T offered a data-only plan and then retracted it. A Colorado AT&T store was offering a text/data-only, no-voice plan at the price of $27.99 a month, but had to cease when AT&T Corporate told them that people were complaining about deaf people getting “special treatment.”
First, let me explain data-only plans. Deaf and hard of hearing people are heavy SMS/text message users, and email/Instant Messenger users as well if it’s an option on their phone. It’s a convenient way for them to keep in touch with each other and with members of the hearing community. Deafies have no use for the voice telephone features – I mean, think about it. How is a deaf person going to use a telephone? They can’t hear. So, why should they pay for a service they can’t use? Why not offer a rate plan that covers the cost of data use, but doesn’t include telephone use? And if the phone happens to get used for a few phone calls – let’s say a deaf person lets their hearing friend call their parents on their phone – why not charge a small fee per minute for the duration of that phone call? What a great idea! TMobile offers such a plan, which I use with my Sidekick. It’s called the Sidekick Data Plan, and for $29.99 a month I get unlimited web, email, text messaging, and instant messenger. If voice phone calls are made, I pay 20¢ per minute. The only time the voice phone is used is if I hand my Sidekick over to my hearing boyfriend and he makes a call, which rarely happens. Not a bad deal at all, and in fact, I think all cellular companies should get on the ball and offer this plan. It doesn’t have to be only for deaf people, though – maybe hearing people would like it as well. I’ve read in other places that hearing people complain that the voice phone function doesn’t work very well on some handheld devices, but they like the option of being able to surf the Web or using Instant Messenger on the go. Sprint also offers data-only plans that are slightly more expensive than the Sidekick data-only plan.
AT&T’s handling of this was an absolute snafu. From what I can understand from poring over the various blogs, what happened was an AT&T store in Colorado offered a special $27.99 data-only plan for the iPhone. But wait! It was for the deaf only, and in order to get the plan, one had to prove they were deaf. Hearing customers called AT&T Corporate to complain that it was unfair, AT&T called the Colorado store and told them to cease and detist, and after this issue erupted on the blogosphere, AT&T said they’ll offer a data-only plan sometime in the future. DeafMac also reports that AT&T was offering a voice-only plan, but cancelled it after the deaf community pointed out if they can’t have a data-only plan, then the hearing community shouldn’t have a voice-only plan, either. I guess AT&T stock is going on sale this week, then.
I hope that when the dust settles the phone companies will take a look at this issue and realize that offering a data-only plan to their customers – deaf or hearing – is good business practice, and overall a Good Idea.
On a personal note, reading some of the snarky, racist, and offensive comments in the Gizmodo and TUAW posts about people with disabilities made me really disappointed that in this day and age we’re still dealing with such ignorance. Deaf and dumb? I don’t think so. I’m deaf and smart, thank you very much.
Previously:
Jott – getting the hearing & deaf in touch via voice-to-SMS
Hiptop Sidekick – why it’s so popular among the deaf
