Can you hear me now? No...

[codeman38]

(cross-posted to gimp_vent)

Is it just me, or do phone companies make it as hard as possible to get a smartphone on a data-only plan-- at least now that the Sidekick, what I'm using currently on a grandfathered plan, seems to be dead and gone?

Seriously. The whole reason I want a data-centric phone to begin with? Because I can't hear well on the phone. In any given month, I usually don't use more than 100 minutes of talk time because phone calls are so stressful; in most months, I don't even use 60.

Let's look at the options:

• AT&T: Not so bad when it comes to Windows Mobile phones and Blackberries, which actually surprises me quite a bit (though most of the options do seem to be postpaid and contract-based). But the iPhone, perhaps AT&T's most popular smartphone, actually requires filling out a form with documentation of disability. I do have a diagnosed auditory processing disorder, but it's quite a hassle for me to get to a counselor or medical professional who'd be able to actually sign off on the form. (Not to mention that this whole thing with requiring medical documentation cheeses me off as a fan of the social model of disability.)


• T-Mobile: Sidekick prepaid was wonderful... while it was still being sold. And again, Blackberry and WinMo aren't so bad-- if you're willing to go with a postpaid plan. There are flexpay (i.e., prepaid) plans available for WM/BB, but only if you're willing to add 500 voice minutes to the package. And as for any phones running the Android OS (G1, MyTouch, Cliq), there is literally no data-only option, despite several deaf people having complained.


• Sprint: Although there's nothing on their main site about this, they do have a backchannel data-only offering, and the price is quite good. Doesn't require documentation of disability, either; it's all on the honor system, which is also nice. However, it requires signing a 2-year contract; I'd prefer 1-year, even though that means the phone will be more expensive.


• Verizon: Oh, this one gets really weird. As of yesterday, it was possible to get a smartphone on a $55 data/text plan. But now that they've introduced two new Android phones, this has changed. Apparently now, this has to be activated in store, and "appropriate documentation may be required" (I hope this doesn't mean having to track down diagnosis docs like with AT&T!).
  

So, in other words: If you want a data-centric plan, better prepare to have a credit check and be billed on a postpaid basis, possibly with a 2-year contract required. And you may have to go see a doctor in the process to become eligible. If you want an off-contract option, don't expect to have a nice data-centric phone or a reasonably priced data plan.

Seriously, why aren't there more options for this? There are tons of options for voice plans, but very few choices for people who can't use voice services for whatever reason (or who use them so little as to not even hit 100 minutes in a month).


EDITED TO ADD: OK, I found out what Verizon requires on another page of their site, and it's just as I feared:

In order to establish your eligibility for the Blackberry or PDA Smartphone plan, please bring either (i) a letter indicating that you are hearing impaired on appropriate letter head from your audiologist, hearing health professional, speech or language therapist/specialist, physician, surgeon, vocational rehabilitation agency counselor, teacher or credentialed therapist; or (ii) your membership card for the National Association of the Deaf, Hearing Loss of America, AG Bell, Association of Late Deafened Adults, Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc or other similar group.

So they *have* gone and done the same thing as AT&T. Grr. And I have to wonder whether they would consider my auditory processing disorder eligible or not. Not that it's not already a hassle to try to catch a bus to the necessary doctor's office to get the thing signed off on anyway-- though I suppose they might accept a letter from my GP. I also have to wonder how it'd apply to some of my autistic friends who are speech-impaired but not hearing-impaired...

Which, of course, just makes the subject line of this post just that much more appropriate...

Comments

[jackandahat]

This is exactly why I'm on pay as you go. Because when I was talking to the guy in the shop, he could not seem to understand that "I don't make phone calls" doesn't mean "I can't afford to" it doesn't mean "I don't think I make that many compared to the average 23 year old", it means "I don't make phone calls." I think the last time I used the phone was ten minutes to my doctor last month. I can't imagine hitting 100 minutes a month. So I ended up with PAYG, and they just get next to no money out of me - I'm lucky in that I have that option, I can't imagine needing to use whatever a data plan is and having to deal with phone companies.

I don't get it. Deaf people have been around a hell of a lot longer than phones, why is it so confusing that people might not use voice calls much, for whatever reason?

[princess]

I ended up taking the smallest possible voice plan with Sprint, ended up sharing the plan with my partner, and just realized that while I use 3x as much data, he uses the majority of the minutes that are used, which still aren't that many.

I don't mind paying for it since we don't have any sort of home line, and he does actually use the phone sometimes, but I wish we could go lower than the lowest step of minutes they offer, especially now that they have unlimited cell to cell (on any provider, not just on sprint), which means most of my calls don't even hit minutes any more, since when I'm not calling my partner, I'm just trying to reach friends to coordinate plans by and large.

Also, the "having to have a diagnosis" is pretty crap, since I don't use voice phone much because I have anxiety issues that make it very difficult for me...which is a lot harder to convince a sales rep is a "legitimate" disability to let me off the hook for paying for minutes.

Ugh!

[yarram]

I have gotten thoroughly sick and tired of this conversation:

Me: I have a hearing impairment, please speak clearly.
Salesperson (SP): *continues mumbling*
Me: Sorry?
SP: *mumbles again*
Me: I'm looking for a phone that is compatible with my hearing aids, do you have live phones I can test?
SP: *looks at me like I'm a three-headed alien, and mumbles again*
Me: *puzzled, look at friend who is with me*
Friend: He said no, they don't have any activated phones, here's his card if you want to come back and buy a phone.
Me: *does not take card, and leaves store*

[zing_och]

Wow. The part with the doctor's documentation reads like "if at all possible, we want to avoid you becoming our costumer." You'd think you wanted something for free instead of just a plan that suits your needs. Which you'd pay them for. I just don't understand why companies don't seem to get that.

[jesse_the_k]

This is totally craptacular.

The history of the telephone company's failure of deaf people is epic, and well told in A Phone of Our Own: The Deaf Rebellion Against Ma Bell

Don't know if the Cricket service is available where you are, but they do have $3/day PAYG data plans.

[amadi]

Hmm, judging by the phone companies you have listed, I'm presuming that you're in the U.S. That leads me to consider, if they want a statement regarding your medical condition, are they willing to give you one attesting that everyone in their various offices and outlets has been trained with regard to HIPAA and federal privacy regulations regarding medical information and that their recordkeeping meets federal standards for the confidentiality of medical information?

I don't see how they can make a requirement that you give them federal protected information without responding in kind in that regard.

Someone with a better understanding of HIPAA than I might be able to find a hole in my thinking, but to me it's a glaring problem.

[yarngeek]

I don't know how this might apply to a pay-as-you-go plan, but on my carrier (verizon) I can call up and say "I want to use this phone with this ESN on this line." As long as I don't buy the new phone through them, I don't extend the contract at all. (This does mean you would need to purchase an unlocked phone, though.)

[stone_ocean]

If you like the feel of the iphone, a good alternative would be ipod touch+Skype.

[kaz]

I sympathise entirely! And as a fellow person with some kind of auditory problem that is *not* deafness or hearing loss (probably some combination of auditory processing disorder/hypersensitivity/inability to filter background noise), it really gets me how those are the only hearing-related disabilities that are considered valid by most people. As if hearing can be condensed to a one-dimensional spectrum with deafness at one end and abled hearing at the other. Hint: this is not how it works, people.

And, yeah, "bring your diagnosis so we'll consider it" is just... WTF?! Why should people be forced to prove their disability and, hell, why *shouldn't* abled people who just don't care for telephone conversations be able to get that kind of plan? Never to mention that not only are there non-deafness/HoH auditory disabilities that might mean someone doesn't like using the phone, there are actually non-auditory disabilities that can cause the same! I have a speech disorder that often winds up causing severe anxiety when it comes to phone conversations; I don't see why stutterers shouldn't be able to get this kind of plan.

I've recently got a pay-as-you-go iPhone. I don't know if they don't have that where you live (I'm in the UK) or whether it's just not an option for you, but I am finding it awesome. (Disclaimer: I've only had it a few days and am mainly using it for organisational things.)

[kitrona]

I don't know if this helps at all, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case it does. I have this phone (https://www.iwirelesshome.com/phones/AV_SYO2700PNKHS_BX/ and on sale now; it wasn't when I bought it) and it accesses the web. Slowly, but it does, and the plan is $30 a month for 150 minutes (that can also be used for text messaging) and it's prepaid, kind of a hybrid between the usual prepaid and the contract ones, as it provides service like a contract phone but there's no penalties if you decide to not pay (aside from no service, of course).

I hope this made sense, and that it might help someone. The phone's also available in blue, if that matters.

[althea_valara]

I read the beginning of this post and was going to say that "Verizon has a data-only plan that you can buy through their website! :D" And then I got to your part about Verizon and OH HELL NO.

This seriously, seriously pisses me off. Because yeah, one shouldn't need to prove disability to just to get a phone. I'm able-bodied, and the reason I bought a Blackberry with a data-only plan is because I wanted to check the real-time bus schedules online, and maybe visit websites when I am bored. That's it. I don't need a voice plan because I don't talk on the phone. I can go months without calling anyone on my cell. If you deduct work-related calls (I work from home) from my landline, then you have maybe two calls to my mom each month.

I'm thinking this calls for a letter to Verizon--that's how mad I am. GRRRRRRRRRR.