Posted: 09th Oct, 2008 By: MarkJ
UK Broadband ISP
Fast.co.uk has launched a textphone service, allowing it's deaf or hard of hearing customers to communicate with them via a textphone or minicom device.
The TalkByText system allows staff at the provider to make and receive real-time, character-by-character text calls directly with customers who have existing textphone devices:
"In the past deaf or hard of hearing customers have relied upon a RNID operator to convert their textphone communications into speech, when they've needed to contact us via telephone. This new system allows us to communicate directly with our customers equipment, removing the need for a relaying operator, and speeding up support response times." said Fast.co.uk's CTO, Mark Baker.
It's believed that Fast.co.uk is one of the first ISP's in the UK to operate such a service.