[misc.handicap] Data comms for the deaf?

Eric.Bohlman@p1.f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Eric Bohlman) (02/10/90)

Index Number: 6626

 SW>  > 2. Has anyone done any work on implementing a faster communication   
 SW>  
 SW>  >    standard for TDD? I realize there is a huge installed base of 
 SW> 45.5 
 SW>  >    baud TDD's. How would you (anyone who wishes to comment) respond 
 SW> to
 SW>  >    the addition of a second standard that ran at, say, 9600 baud 
 SW> using
 SW>  >    one of the tried and true datacomm standards (v.32, MNP, etc.) Do 
 SW>  
 SW>  >    you feel this would help the deaf community in general? Has this  
 SW>  
 SW>  >    been done?
 SW> 
 SW> Ahh.. Only for the very quick typists! (grin!) More seriously, it
 SW> would be too expensive with 9600. As it currently is, the TDD's are
 SW> at their cheapest at $450, and that is too expensive as is.

I think 9600 would be overkill, given the expense of the components involved.   
I would think 1200 would be adequate, given that there are many sources of  
1200 bps (212-type) modems-on-a-chip, and they're pretty inexpensive.  1200  
bps is faster than most people can type, but the speed would be useful for  
"store and forward" applications, such as TDD answering machines.

Chipsets for the 1200/75 standard (FSK) aren't as easy to come by, at least  
not in the USA, but the circuitry is still nowhere as complicated as for  
9600.  If 9600 were required, I'd suggest using v.29, since that's what fax  
machines use and hence there are a lot of chipsets available.
 

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