I’m pretty old fashioned when it comes to technology. Always the last to upgrade or see what the latest gadget is all about, I still consider a pen or a paper notebook one of my favourite gifts to receive.
Even my nieces’ knowledge of technology surpasses mine. They all have iPads (I don’t) and the eldest has a brand spanking iPhone 7… I only begrudgingly got an iPhone 5 after my Blackberry packed in and I have no plans to upgrade. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it – a motto I abide by!
Yet I impressed myself lately. As I downloaded an app that actually proves to be quite useful.
Seeing as the only fully hearing person in our household is a 3 year old, we have relied on our beloved dinosaur like Minicom for text calls. It’s like this but even older and shabbier…
Luckily a lot of places accept emails or text messages for correspondence so I don’t have to dust it off too often, but it’s handy to have nonetheless.
And it was the day before Christmas Eve when it came to my aid. Because on this day, so very, imminently close to Christmas (!) that our gas oven stopped working.
Cue frantic phone calls to numerous gas engineers to find someone who could come and fix it and save our Christmas dinner!
Phone call after phone call it seemed we were doomed to have to fry the turkey and boil the potatoes… But then one freelance engineer said although he was off work, it was Christmas after all and he’d be happy to help.
He asked for our address so he could pop over and start work. Happy days!!!
But then. I got the message that everyone with a dinosaur like Minicom dreads…
Message from operator. Your text is jumbled. Please type again.
Slowly and purposely I typed.
Message from operator. I can’t read what you’re saying.
Argh!!
But then the gas engineer was smart enough to figure out that although I was coming across all jumbled I could still read his messages. So he passed on his mobile number to the operator and asked me to text him.
Phew! Crisis averted.
To cut a long story short the oven got fixed on Christmas Eve and we had the best Christmas dinner ever. (Coconut oil roasted potatoes – seriously try them!)
But it made me realise that I can’t always rely on old technology. Minicoms that freeze or jumble if you’ve used them for a length of time really aren’t useful at all. So I asked my friends for advice.
When they finished making disbelieving comments at how behind the times I was “seriously Beck?!” I cautiously downloaded… NGT Lite.
It’s a mobile app that connects you to the Next Generation Text relay service. So you make phone calls on your mobile, connect it up to NGT and instead of bashing the minicom’s sticky keys you can type effortlessly on your smartphone, tablet OR laptop!
Amazing…and useful!
So I guess I’m going to be a bit more brave in 2017 and instead of writing off new apps or developments, just have a look at what’s out there…
Any recommendations? Go easy on me, mind.
Read more of Rebecca’s articles for us here.
Rebecca Anne Withey is a freelance writer with a background in Performing Arts & Holistic health.
She is also profoundly deaf, a sign language user and pretty great lipreader.
Her holistic practices and qualifications include Mindfulness, Professional Relaxation Therapy, Crystal Therapy and Reiki.
She writes on varied topics close to her heart in the hope that they may serve to inspire others.
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Queby
January 13, 2017
I’m still thinking about using NGT. It will be interesting to read other people’s experiences
MW
January 13, 2017
I have use it.. but quit when I set it up. Partly to do with cost…mobile companies will not tell me what the call will cost me and using NGT seems to be expensive to me. I did not have the confidence . Be good to know from others if the call cost are the same as hearing peers. I am with Three pay as you go. Landline I am with Virgin and have the inclusive 01 02 and 0845 free as a monthly contract with internet. I use Text Relay (NGT) VCO. I still don’t like the system and much prefer VRS system where I see people to communicate.so that I can measure emotion as hearing people does with listening to the tone of voice – I miss this. Text relay (NGT) doesn’t offer this input. I think it is an out of date technology.
Natalya
January 13, 2017
MW: GiffGaff do not seem to be charging me at all for relay calls to UK local rate numbers. I need to keep checking my balance to see if they are charging in a way which doesn’t show up.
Natalya
January 13, 2017
Ah, they say it is free at https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Learning-and-giffgaffer-articles/Next-Generation-Text-Relay-Service/ta-p/15133017
Natalya
January 13, 2017
I have long been wary of the accuracy of TextRelay after a couple of disastrous telephonic form calls where the forms ended up riddled with errors (which I was blamed for, and which I had to fix). I have avoided it for anything with personal or financial data.
While NGT is a huge improvement in terms if being able to use my computer instead of a textphone, it is also making me realise how much ‘chatter’ between the relay op and caller is NOT relayed to me in text. I have enough residual hearing to understand fragments of some speakers’ speech or determine that not enough is typed to match the audio. Relaying is overly simplified and information is stripped out which means what I receive in text is often not even similar to what is said by the hearie on the other end.
Yesterday a caller was verifying the spelling of my name using phonetic alphabet which they got wrong (not enough words) and the relay operator just confirmed the incorrect spelling and none of this was relayed to me in text. Sadly I don’t have a recording of that call. 🙁
I have raised my concerns with NGTS and asked for their relaying policies and will go back to audio recording calls when I have to use telephony so I can at least get a pet hearie to verify the audio compared to my text transcript…
MW
January 16, 2017
thank you for the link GIFF GAFF wondering what Three has to offer so will call them and point out Giff Gaff …..information…. anyone out there uses Three with NGT services? be good to know. Again VRS system is a better service …..hope they get started soon and do away with MINICOM (did you know that British Airways still insist we use MINCIOM and wouldn’t allow me to use Text relay!! sigh)
kizzib
January 16, 2017
I don’t like ngt lite I’m afraid. I have the speak and read option but I have to hold my phone in front of me and pretty much yell into it so I can read the responses which come up almost immediately. Not good for privacy. I still prefer email and text messages, although I have a roger pen when I need to make phone calls.
Laura
January 18, 2017
There is information about the cost of text relay calls here:
http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/services-and-billing/relcost