D.C. Stultz

I have a severe hearing impairment that progressed about eight years ago to the point that, even with an amplified receiver, I can't hear or understand a regular landline phone, let alone use a cell phone.

Until last year I used a TTD for a phone. It has a keyboard and a th ree-line display. You must dial through the state's relay service which types the other party's responses so that I can read them. Since I can speak, I use Voice Carry Over -- I speak directly to the other party without typing.

Last year, I was accepted in a test of the CapTel phone. It is limited to VCO and has no keyboard. The incoming voice is re-voiced by the translator and turned into text by speech recognition software. The test was successful and Florida now offers this phone and service for the hearing impaired.

The technique works well. The translations are in near real time and are very accurate.

A big plus for the CapTel is that the operator can keep up with the rapid speaking automated menu systems used by every "customer service" (what an oxymoron!) phone system. A TDD operator typing cannot.

The big minus is ever having to call customer service to begin with. I know. I've had to do that multiple times in the past weeks as I have struggled to add mobility to my text communication needs.

My quest for some inexpensive wireless text based communication capability began over three years ago. My wife and I used two Motorola two-way pagers with Skytel service for awhile. We became frustrated with them because the coverage was spotty and the units wouldn't transmit or receive inside either of our workplaces.

I tried a Palm VIIx for a while, but the coverage areas were even less than for Skytel.

Last month, I saw an item on the net about a new text device called the Ogo by AT&T. It had just been released the day before. The info on the Ogo on the AT&T web site looked promising and the cost was reasonable ($99 after a $30 rebate and $18 per month with no contract), so I went to the local AT&T shop in a nearby strip mall.

There was a neat, white Ogo decal on the door. Inside, I looked around but didn't see any on display. When I asked a sales clerk where was the Ogo, she replied, "We don't have any."

"Then why bother putting the decal on the door?" I asked.

The store manager overheard me and told the clerk that there was one somewhere in the back. She went and retrieved it and its charger, plugged it in and let me handle it and go through the menus.

I pondered for a minute and said, "OK, I'll take it."

"You can't have it," she replied. "It's our demo unit. We're going to put it over there."

"Why have a demo unit if you don't have any to sell?" was my rejoiner.

Once again, the manager overheard me and told the clerk that she could get another unit the manage r had put aside on the manager's desk.

I whip out the credit card and the clerk types on her computer terminal and starts asking all kinds of questions. From the web site, I knew that activation was done on the device, not via their terminals like a new cell phone account. When she got to the point of asking for my social security number, I balked and asked her why she needed that for a simple sales transaction.

"I'm running a credit check," she replied.

"For what? You're not activating a phone. I am merely buying an electronic device."

Guess what? Yep, the manager steps in and agrees with me.

I leave with my new Ogo shaking my head and muttering "when will I ever learn?" This was the fourth time I'd been in that store and every time I had come out with steam flowing from my ears. (Note to self: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.)

At home, I plugged the Ogo into the charger a nd went through the activation screens. It would not accept my Discover card, so I used my Visa. Since the credit card menu list showed Discover spelled as Discovery, I have to wonder if perhaps the programming had been outsourced to India and they not only fouled up the spelling, but also the checksum algorithm.

The activation became effective overnight and I was able to send a couple of test messages to my home email account and to my daughter's cell phone.

Now, we needed to get a device for the wife. She's had an AT&T Nokia phone for the past couple of years and used it maybe 10 times. She just couldn't master the small buttons and complex menu screens. There was no way I would even consider trying to teach her how to thumb SMS messages into the beast. She wanted a phone and a keyboard for text.

A search of the web showed me that T-Mobile had just released the Sidekick II. A cell phone, color screen, email, IM, SMS text messages, browser and a camera. All for $249 (on the net) and $39 a month for unlimited data and the minimum phone plan.

Without even showing it to her on the web, I ordered it for her on a Sunday. It arrived on Wednesday by FedEx. (Free shipping). Alas, it arrived without the SIM ca rd that would make it work. Time for "customer care" push-button hell phone call #1.

After telling my sad tale of woe to four different reps at T-Mobile (each of which said, "Oh, no! That's bad.") I finally connected with the one that could overnight me a new SIM card for the device. The card arrived Friday.

(An aside: Even if I had perfect hearing, I could never be a CapTel translator. They not only have to patiently listen to on-hold elevator music all of the time, but they actually translate all of the blasted sales messages that the companies bombard you with while they have you on hold.)

The SIM card was inserted and all of the activation screens filled in without problems. Now to wait for it to take effect. The screen said it would normally take 1-3 hours, but not to call until after 48 hours. After waiting 30 hours, I made another hell call. Only talked to three reps this time. And the last one managed to tweak my account so that the Sidekick was live in a few minutes after the call.

I managed to send one test text message before the wife grabbed it saying, "That's MINE!" Since then, she's only let me touch it to show her some feature that she doesn't yet understand. She loves her Sidekick!

So do I. It has the slickest, most intuitive user interface I've ever seen for that type of device. Note that I did get the job of putting her contacts in the address book on the phone. Which I did using their web interface, not using the keyboard on the device. You can enter your calendar and address book data via the web and it appears instantly in the phone. As you youngsters say today: COOL!

In fact, I'd get one in place of the Ogo if it didn't have the camera. I cannot have a camera phone where I work.

The story doesn't end here. I've had serious problems with the Ogo. Some messages are not being delivered for 24 to 48 hours. I get duplicate messages if the sender is using SMS from another wireless vendor. (I received 66 copies of the same message over the weekend when the device was just laying on the desk.) I've been on the phone with AT&T about it. I spent over an hour last night with their online support chat trying to troubleshoot the problem.