Home > Writings > Science & Technology > Real-time text: a Primer > History and Background

Real-time text: a Primer

History and Background

The ubiquity of telephones and their importance in terms of a citizen’s opportunities for full participation and fulfilment nevertheless created barriers for those individuals for whom telephones were not accessible, of which people with significant hearing loss form the largest group. So, unsurprisingly, a solution was devised to offer text based alternatives (to voice telephony) for this user group, a technology that became known as text telephony.

Traditional textphones, which have been around for decennia, were simple modem based devices that used the traditional PSTN telephony networks to send and receive character-by-character text. They are very much a niche technology, largely confined to a group of users who possessed what was perceived to be "specialised" needs. Because text telephony resides outside mainstream markets, it hasn't benefited from the type of competition and product investment that has driven innovation in the wider market. The consequence is that traditional text telephony remains very much a second-rate experience compared to mainstream services and products.

Availability and adoption of textphones is limited in many parts of the world, and even completely absent in some. The various products used different technical standards and communication protocols, often incompatible with one another and, consequently, with great difficulties for interoperability and with very little support in the networks (including with regard to call control and signalling). Imagine that telephone users could only call others if the party they were calling was using the same local network and had a similar brand and type of phone, configured with the same settings. Yet, this is exactly the situation that textphone users still often have to contend with. Despite being limited devices, of old-fashioned design, frequently hard to use and based on very rudimentary technology, textphones are expensive contraptions. You probably would not want to use one unless you really have to (and of course some people simply had no other choice).

Compare that to the amazing variety of voice phones for fixed and mobile usage available on the high street, the vast range of services on hand and the fact that you can find and use them pretty much anywhere in the world these days to connect to also more or less everyone else.

Moreover, while text telephony remained confined to a niche environment and user group, other text based communications arrived and became highly popular. Email, SMS, Instant Messaging and messaging via social networking websites have all become common place, staples of daily life.

Next: A Spectrum of Choices