I copied and sent.. Please fwd this to your friends, families, etc…. This may work, we need better access. iPhone may be the best ONLY if we are satisfy with what we want. Let’s FWD this messages to everybody. :)

HI Chad

Thanks for sharing this information with us. I enjoy learning about MAC world! since I am avid PC user and I thought MAC has so much to offer! wow!!! alright see you around!

Gary Brooks

Thanks very much all of you.

Sent!

as at&t mobility employee, i would say ‘go for it !’ :)

Just learned from a friend of mine, Barry Solomon who said his friend contacted AT&T and got TAP for his iPhone and said he will be mailing out his doctor’s approval that he’s Deaf.

I told Barry please to post a comment and confirm. He said he wants to follow up with his friend to confirm before posting his comment here.

I’m sooo anxious to hear from him again to see if it’s true business. :D

Done send them two emails.

#6 I will keep my eye open on that

Awesome!

Sent.

Immediately after announcement of the ‘soon-to-be-available’ iPhone, I sent an email to Apple with a deaf-needs list but received nary a reply. On the evening of July 2nd, I sent an email to accessibility@apple.com and was amazed to receive a response the very next day! Now all we need is a wait-and-see with the next generation iPhone. (Or perhaps they can simply upgrade software on this first-generation?) But don’t stop here. Spread the word and tell everyone to contact accessiblity@apple.com. The more they hear from us, the more they’ll take our requests seriously.

Matt K…your letter is excellent!

And hey, thanks and kudos to you guys for creating this deafmac.org website!!!

I tried the keyboard in an Apple store and found it to be the main drawback for me.
Would like feedback from owners of this beautiful device: How do you rate typing on the iPhone–easy, so-so, or difficult? And how long did it take before you were able to type without typos?

@marlene: Would you be able to share with us on the response made by Apple? Thanks for helping out by sending Apple an email. Hopefully soon enough they will be able to change the plans and start to offer TAP. *fingers crossed*

@marlene: At first, the keyboard was very awkward for me. A lot of typos but after using it for 5 days now, I am getting really comfortable with it.

On my 5th day, I am still looking at the keyboard as I type. I hope soon enough I won’t have to and let my thumb do all the memory typing. Additionally, I am not sure about the speed because I have noticed the keyboard to be slow in catching up with typing speed and reminds me of the old mechanical typewriter where you have to type slow to ensure there’s no mechanical jammation.

I’m still keeping the iPhone. The only thing is missing is iChat. I especially love the ability to manage my calendar (syncing from my computer to the iPhone).

Fr: Accessibility
Da: Tue, 3 July 2007
Su: Re: Accessibility iPhone

Hi Sonny:

Thanks for your email. Your requests will be sent to the iPhone team.

—
To: accessibility@apple.com

I’m deaf and I currently use T-Mobile Sidekick iD with their data only $29.99 plan with unlimited Internet, email, instant messaging (AIM, YIM, MSN) and SMS.

I’m drooling over the iPhone however, I’m waiting for the unlimited data plan for the deaf with unlimited instant messaging and SMS to come out because I do not speak or hear at all.

I so love the idea of watching movies or videos from YouTube and more but I need captions to enjoy it. Please be the first to break the glass/technology barrier for the deaf to enjoy movies and videos.

Thanks!

Yeah.. I become comfortable with keyboard now.

I got respond from Apple:

From: Accessibility

Hi Roger:

Thank you for your email and long-time support of Apple. Your
suggestions are excellent and we Apple thanks you for sending them
in, and telling others to do so too. We want to hear from our
customers, and potential customers, what they want in the iPhone.

Thanks again!

So, they want to hear more from you.. Do its more..

Apple’s Accessibility Respond:

————-
Hi Kevin:

Thanks for your suggestions on the iPhone. You can rest assured they will be forwarded to the iPhone team.
————
Possible enhance iPhone in next generation??

Sent! GOOD IDEA! Keep up and fighting for our desires!!

I got a response from Apple Support Service. See below.

Joseph,

This issue with your email has been forwarded to engineering and they are currently working on it. At this time that is the only information I have at this time.

The issue regarding the data plan is an issue that will have to be resolved through AT&T as they are the ones who handle the plans.
Thank you.

Teena Adler. Apple
tadler@apple.com

Response from ATT

Mr. Kolash

Yes I have, and the answer unfortunately was still the same. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Jeffrey Lathrop| Field Operations Manager | Service Steward Western UNY | AT&T Mobility
Office 585.292.6304 x6019 | Wireless 585.354.9723 | Fax 585.766.6002 | PTT 585.319.0597

From: Joseph D. Kolash
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 12:06 PM
To: Lathrop, Jeffrey
Subject: Re: iphone

Mr. Lathrop,

Have you mentioned this to War room yet?

Joe

From: “Lathrop, Jeffrey”
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 11:30:39 -0400
To: “Joseph D. Kolash”
Cc: “Oakley, Bill” , “Burr, Janet”
Conversation: iphone
Subject: RE: iphone

Mr. Kolash:

When I emailed the NCCD department earlier (the one I copied you on), I was sent an email stating that it was undeliverable? With that said, I gave the NCCD department a call to find out if the iphone was available for the TAP plan. Unfortunately the answer was no. On behalf of AT&T Mobility, we are very sorry that this device is not available for this plan and apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. If you have any further questions please feel free to email me or call one of the numbers below. Thank you.

With a two-year commitment, AT&T also offers the Nokia E62 model at $199.00. Handset availability and pricing is subject to change.
To learn more about TAP, contact AT&T at NCCDSupport@att.com or call our National Center for Customers with Disabilities at:
1-866-241-6567 (TTY)
1-866-691-7265 (alternate TTY)
1-866-241-6568 (Voice)

Jeffrey Lathrop| Field Operations Manager | Service Steward Western UNY | AT&T Mobility
Office 585.292.6304 x6019 | Wireless 585.354.9723 | Fax 585.766.6002 | PTT 585.319.0597

From: Joseph D. Kolash
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 10:01 AM
To: Lathrop, Jeffrey
Subject: Re: iphone

Mr. Lathrop,

See the AT&T plan (Text Accessibility Plan (TAP))

http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-resources/hearing-aid-compatibility.jsp#tap

Why can’t be apply to iPhone?

Joe

From: “Lathrop, Jeffrey”
Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 21:03:41 -0400
To: Joseph D. Kolash
Conversation: iphone
Subject: Re: iphone

Mr. Kolash:

I have not heard anything yet on just pure data plan for the iphone. For now, the iphone is only available for the iphone voice and data combo. I am very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing you. I will keep you posted as soon as I hear something.

Jeffrey Lathrop
Field Operations Manager
Service Steward Western – UNY
Cell 585.354.9723
PTT 585.319.0597
AT&T Mobility
————————–
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

—–Original Message—–
From: Joseph D. Kolash
To: Lathrop, Jeffrey
Sent: Mon Jul 02 17:25:14 2007
Subject: Re: iphone

Mr. Lathrop,

Have you hear anything so far?

Joe

________________________________

From: “Lathrop, Jeffrey”
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:25:29 -0400
To: Joseph D. Kolash
Conversation: iphone
Subject: iphone

Mr. Kolash:

I just wanted to give you an update on your iphone and service. We are still working on a solution for a data only package at this time. I just got off the phone with our war room and they have not given us an answer yet (however, they are diligently working on the problem). I will keep you updated throughout the day. Please feel free to email me with any questions or concerns you have. Thank you.

Jeffrey Lathrop| Field Operations Manager | Service Steward Western UNY | AT&T Mobility
Office 585.292.6304 x6019 | Wireless 585.354.9723 | Fax 585.766.6002 | PTT 585.319.0597

From: Teena Adler
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 10:53:56 -0500
To: “Joseph D. Kolash”
Subject: Re: Case 80373807

AT&T is the company that handles the rate plans we handle the actual phone
If you would like you could voice your concerns at 

Apple
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

Teena Adler. Apple

Huh? I”m so confused because in post #18, Teena Alder said “The issue regarding the data plan is an issue that will have to be resolved through AT&T as they are the ones who handle the plans.”

I thought Apple was the one who decided the pricing/rate plan?

Apple is not responsible for rates plan for iPhone. AT&T is one who makes the decision with price plan for phones.

Flash News:
An impending software update to Apple’s iPhone will include a plug-in for the handset’s Safari web browser that will finally let users view Adobe Flash media files, the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg reports.

Matt:
Apple only making iphone and ATT is responsible for wireless service therefore ATT decided on prices.

AT&T has announced its intentions to open up its Wi-Fi hotspots to select broadband customers. The Associated Press reports that subscribers to the company’s Pro, Elite and FastAccess plans will soon be able to connect to any of the official hotspots for free, which number to about 10,000 across the US in locations such as airports, bookstores, restaurants and coffee shops. Subscribers with cheaper plans will be able to pay $2 per month for the same access, or $8 per day if they are non-subscribers. No reason for the discount has been given, but the move likely coincides with the launch of the iPhone, which depends heavily on Wi-Fi as a selling point.

Both AT&T and Apple blamed each other for not including the Data Plan for iPhone. At this point of time, we would not know exactly the issue, which they have. I tried both ways and got their response to point either ATT and Apple. Don’t give up and keep on to figure out to put pressure on both of them. I will try to contact with my local US Senator to raise the concerns and see if I could get some support from them.

Hello,

I would like to know how many times limit are vibration(s)when you receive email.

As Kolash is experiencing here is exactly what most of us are going through with trying to resolve the reason why AT&T isn’t offering TAP for iPhones.

AT&T Customer Service is blaming on Apple for denying TAP. Apple Customer Service is blaming AT&T. This is a Catch 22 situation we are experiencing here. Obviously something is going on and we don’t know what it is… or Apple and AT&T have communication issues. Why don’t they get on their iPhones and talk to each other and resolve this immediately. :)

Keep pressuring on them (AT&T and Apple). Don’t give up and I’m confident that down the road we’ll get Voice Plans removed.

I have been getting in touch with Apple and AT&T in a civil manner and trying to get to the bottom of everything. As always, I will come back to DMO and update on the progress.

@Hugo: Only ONE vibration for any notifications (ie: Calendar, Mail, SMS, etc…)

Thank you, Chad. Did you feel strong enough vibration for any notifications? I prefer to have two times vibrations.

Why dont we email apple and ask for vary vibration on each individual?

What is DMO?

DMO = deafmac.org

Thanks Chad

Chad…here’s the letter per your request. (I should have typed ‘ebooks’ instead of text books…but am sure they knew what I meant.)

Hi Marlene:

Thank you for your email. Your suggestions are excellent and will be forwarded to the iPhone team.

On Jul 2, 2007, at 6:43 PM, Marlene wrote:

As a deaf Mac owner, I had been waiting for the iPhone to make its presence simply because it is an Apple product. After playing around with it in the Apple store, I decided NOT make the purchase for the simple reason that it just doesn’t meet my needs.

Here are several features I would like to see added to the next generation iPhone:

Unlimited data plan (with zero voice minutes)

Stronger vibrations with longer durations (would be best to have several to choose from)

Captioning for music and videos/movies (include options to turn on or off)

Relay service capabilities (both text and video)

911 (emergency service calls)

Text books (audio books are provided — because I cannot hear, I need to see printed words)

Keyboarding is difficult and therefore inefficient (tweak this for ease of typing)

Don’t you think it’s time for us to move to another level, that is, contacting the executive board of Apple or Steve Jobs himself…. only if we have his email address? : )

I do understand the dilemma over agreements between AT&T and Apple regarding voice plans. They (mostly Apple) spent a lot of money on designing their iPhone, so they could take an advantage of the newly-released Visual Voicemail feature — I believe that AT&T maintains the special server for this voicemail system at huge expenses, so I can see why they are trying to develop reasonable cost recovery plans. Whenever they try to be more reasonable, they fail miserably… that is, they forget the needs of the deaf community. Minutes of voice plan and visual voicemail, ohhhh please.

Personally, I think both Apple and AT&T need an insider -Deaf advisor who can provide advice about the needs of the deaf community. Did you see the note from Apple asking us for advice, which I think is unacceptable. They should *already* know about our deaf needs a long time ago and we should be their first-class customers, not second rate!!

Don’t you think it’s kind of discriminating for not having a right rate plan for the Deaf consumers? Is there a way we could step further than emailing to them? It’s starting to get no where.

Jason K, you’re right that we DO need a Deaf advisor in any kind of business related! :/

Chad Taylor- Did you get a chance to get in touch with Apple and AT&T yet? Keep us posted.

I have tried to contact Apple operator to ask to contact someone at Steve Jobs office or Steve Jobs. The operator informed me that there are only two ways to contact to Steve Jobs. They are fax and send a letter to them. They gave me the address is the same address as Apple are. I did not ask for fax number. No email address avalable to reach Steve Jobs.

I already contact New York General Attorney’s office. They send me a form for me to fill out. I am waiting to get them in the mail. Just try different avenues to reach AT&T and Apple to response our needs.

if only steve jobs read this stuff here, right now…

I see the box is wider than usual.. this can be fixed by adding a space after “/” in links like this (just HTML text, not inside the a href tag):
http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-resources/hearing-aid-compatibility.jsp#tap

http://www.wireless.att.com/ about/ disability-resources/ hearing-aid-compatibility.jsp#tap

I doubt that Steve jobs read this message. He is too billionaire to worry about 1 percent of deaf community. I believe their executive will read this.

(http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-resources/disability-messaging-solutions.jsp)

“Wireless Text Messaging…
With text messaging-capable phones, you can:
* Exchange short messages with most other wireless phone users
* Exchange e-mails and instant messages with other wireless phone or PC users
* Send text messages directly to a wireless phone over the Web”

Cool, eh… Hold on…

(http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-resources/hearing-aid-compatibility.jsp#tap)

“Text Accessibility Plan (TAP)…
AT&T is pleased to announce a new Text Accessibility Plan (TAP). TAP was developed for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and/or hearing loss, and was designed with input from the community.

The $29.99 per month Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) includes:
* 5,000 text messages
* Unlimited Internet usage
* Free 911
* $.40 pay per use voice”

Wait a minute…. Come to thinking of what TAP includes…
5,000 text messages for all of them; Emails, Instant Messagings (AOL/AIM, Y! and MSN), and Text Messagings… BOTH WAYS (sending and receiving) “exchange” for $29.99 per month. Check what it says under the first link above… “Exchange short messages…. Exchange e-mails and instant messages….) I find it quite expensive comparing to TMobile’s price; $29.99 per month for UNLIMITED text messages.

Although I want a iPhone so badly, I will wait for a “2nd version” of iPhone…

Another thought about TTY compatibility, I find it ridiculous that we need to buy an adapter for TTY support so that we can use iPhone in TTY mode being plugged with the standard TTY machines. WHO uses TTY machines nowadays?! Why don’t they just install the TTY program into iPhone?! (Ahh, I just now realized that I forgot that it is quite expensive being Deaf–LOL)

Ahh, another thought about iPhone, it would be HOT if they installed a iSight on the iPhone so we can chat via, maybe, xMeeting on iPhone to VideoPhone users. How about that?!?

I emailed to the technology department about 4 months ago asking about closed caption for the video software on iPhone and they haven’t responded back to me yet.

Jeff B

Finally, AIM for iPhone.

Check about data plan only on Apple’s Support Discussions board. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1038124&tstart=0

Hope to get a response from Apple regarding to this.

If you aren’t happy with iPhone, here’s a perfect solution for it!

Suggest to write a letter to Congressman Edward J. Markey, Chairman of Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee. http://clerk.house.gov/committee_info/index.html?subcomcode=HIF16. Express your concerns about iPhone to him and see if he can help us to contact with Apple and AT&T.

It may take a while to get through to the iPeople (if they are in fact real people) But keep at ‘em folks. I got lured to “free” iTunes downloads on official iTunes webpage only to find they want a credit card number after you spend the time to key in all your personal info. It’s frustrating. I am Hearing, but, probably don’t need an iPod. (I got it free from opening a bank account) So, I “hear” your concerns,and
support the cause. Although, you still may find a TTY to be a better way to communicate than all this blah, blah, blog.

By-the-way. There’s no immediate relation between me and the other Mr. Lathrop who appears to work for Service Steward Western (scroll up).

Jeff Lathrop
Singer/Songwriter

I’m on the Deaf side of spectrum.

Good job Matt K.
Go deafmac.org!