Listen to this as a podcast:
Text 4 Deaf is a web-to-text message service that allows users to send a text message from the web site to a cell phone belonging to an individual or a group. The recipients can return the messages via their cell phones, and the messages will be delivered to the sender via Web.
Text4Deaf is a web-based service that allows two-way web texting – from the web to the phone and back. With other services, recipients can only reply to the sender’s phone or email address – not ideal for real-time planning or collaboration. It also offers unique features like Group Messaging, Scheduled Messaging, Reminders and SMS Forwarding.
The idea is to make text messaging easier to use and more accessible. Using a full-sized computer keyboard is much easier than typing on a cell phone, and the costs of Text 4 Deaf are much lower than what most cellular carriers charge for text messaging. Many deaf and hard-of-hearing people use text messaging to communicate and stay in touch, but many others don’t have cell phones, so this service is providing a way for people without text-enabled cell phones to stay connected to deafies with text-enabled cell phones.
There are two plans, the Basic – which is free, and the Premium, which is $2.95 a month.
Text messages can be sent to an individual or to a group of up to 10. Via Text 4 Deaf’s website:
When using Group Messaging, you also have the option of web texting in Broadcast mode or Chat mode. In Broadcast mode, when someone in your group replies to the message, their reply only comes to you. Chat mode means replies are sent to everyone else in the group – like hitting “Reply All” to an email.
Text4Deaf web texts can be sent from any web-enabled device worldwide to any U.S. or Canadian mobile phone, and is compatible on either PC or Mac.
Previously:
GotVoice – read your voicemail
Jott – getting the hearing & deaf in touch via voice-to-SMS
Spinvox: voicemail to text service
Text transcripts on LiveJournal voice posts
SimulScribe – voice mail transcribing service
Sounds great. I wonder how many decades it will take for this to reach the UK?
When my fiancee was in Australia, I used ipipi.com, which is the exact same thing and will do any mobile phone number to get the text out. That was only until my service provider was able to get txt msgs to her directly. ipipi.com has been around for years, nothing new here. Except this site includes the precious four letter word that attracts those who cannot hear: deaf.
As a person who has just recently gone deaf, I’d never used a text device before, I used to be on the phone at work 8 hours a day so the last thing I wanted was another portable demon in my pocket chirping, ringing and buzzing, so never thought of any communicative devices other than the basic cell phone, which, like I said, was tied to my ear 8+ hours a day.
Well, those days are history and I’m about to embark on a new world of text messaging, or at least I hope I will. To look at the exorbidant cost of these devices, not to mention the highway robbery monthly fees is criminal. And, not surprisinly, nobody really caters to the deaf community.
I’d like to know exactly where to start, I don’t want to spend a whole lot on something that I won’t use that very much anyway…I’ve never relied on telecommunications much in my private life, I’m more of an in-your-face and personable sort of person.
Any advice? Oh and I wouldn’t need anything that plays games or music or any of the children’s features. Hmmmm… I’m only 25 and feel like an old fart, oh well.
TIY