Meeting Notes, June 9, 2011-CapTel-STAP
The meeting was promptly called to order at 3pm and Gary Shepard made several announcements to the 19 attendees. Several new members were welcomed with total membership currently at 141.
Lance Davis was introduced as the new Texas Outreach Representative for CapTel that is located in Austin. The CapTel headquarters is located in Santa Monica, CA www.CapTel.com. CapTel offers a high speed internet amplifier phone that provides free caption service provided for by the American Disabilities Act. The CapTel 800i phone which has been in production and use for 10 years and previously sold for $595 is currently available for a limited period of time at $99 with no sales tax, free shipping and handling, and a no risk 90 trial period as a result of a Sprint (telephone line provider) subsidy.
Lance provided the following information about the CapTel phones and answered numerous questions from attendees
:
USA product
Installation-plug and play (Ethernet-phone line-power supply)-picture diagram with phone
Nothing added to phone bill
Amplifier (4 times louder)
Voice mail button to text voice mail messages
Phone book-95 names/numbers-speed dial
Can change tones to suit hearing loss
In existence for 10 years
1 year warranty-extended warranty for next 4 year at $35/yr-expect $30-$50 expense to repair
Can wall mount
Two models: 800i for use with internet cable 800 analog for phone line only use (same price)
$595 regular price for 800i-$99 subsidized price (one per household) for limited time (Sprint is doing subsidy)
Cap Service is free due to American Disabilities Act (in force 21 years-not likely to be repealed)
Live Cap Assistant trained in dealing with various accents-98% accurate-translates hears only person calling you
Cap Assistant Operator # provided for each call-Sees no phone numbers or other ID of either person
No calls are saved or recoverable by CapTel
Travel-can take phone or use web CapTel with computer (can save to word document)
90 day $ back including free shipping both ways via coupon code
Can change text size and color of caps and can change background color
Cap text can be saved up to 500 lines total of all calls saved-then will write over oldest line
Can review cap text while talking
No speaker phone-can use other phone’s speaker phone on same line as the call while getting caps on CapTel phone
Can connect to voice recorder-never an incident reported about legal issues
Can use the cap phone and the house/cell phone at the same time including the house speaker phone
Can use internet while on phone
Can use neck loop and T-coil with hearing aids with two size plug in slot
2 second delay on text
Max number of text lines saved for all calls-must hit “save”-scroll through to find
Just approved by Texas STAP to get phone free
24-7 usage
Can’t print caps
Customer service button on phone for direct connect to report and resolve problems
Gary Shepard made a short presentation on how to obtain a STAP free voucher from DARS and specifically how what to say on the voucher application when using it for the purchase of a CapTel phone. For more information on the STAP program see the Hearing Forum.
The meeting was concluded after a drawing for a Kindle door prize provided by CapTel and presented to Jenny Burson, the lucky attendee.