Sprint has a live captioning service available for hard of hearing people whom struggle to hear conversations on the telephone.

Here’s the gist:  if you need to make a call, you log in to the CapTel website (once you are registered), input your own telephone number and the number you want to call.  In a second, your phone will ring and shortly thereafter, the number you are calling will ring.  As the conversation takes place, captions appear on your your computer screen - in the window you just input your numbers into.

If you want to receive a call, your caller calls a special number you have been assigned and enter your telephone number.  Moments later, your phone will ring, and the conversation will be captioned on your computer.  This seems more complicated than it really is.  Do it once and it’s a cinch.

To make it even easier, you can use a CapTel phone.  But it is not necessary if you have a web browser and a telephone, including smart phones.  Each state has different guidelines on the purchase of the telephone, in some cases the phone is free.  Check out your state’s policy here.

There are some wonderful things about this:  you don’t have to be a Sprint customer, the service is available 24/7 for free, you can use a smartphone for the web browser and you can get captions in Spanish.   But, there are improvements to make and Sprint recognizes this.   Please join me in sending Sprint a hearty Thank You and if you wish, highlight areas to improve.  Here is their email address if you don’t want to do the form:  CapTel@CapTelMail.com.  Here is what I wrote:

Dear CapTel:  Thank you so much for this service.  It has helped me greatly in communicating with friends and family, especially other hearing impaired people.  Two people with hearing loss on a phone can be very frustrating.  I’m looking forward to my holiday calls this year.  Thank you!

Complete information and instructions on the service can be found here.

So, try it out and let me know what you think in the comments.  If it helps you, let me and Sprint know.