To leave a message on an answering machine, just begin speaking as soon as you hear the beep or see "(Beep)" on your CapTel display. The Captioning Service sends out the (Beep) message as soon as it occurs, even if the answering machine message has not yet been completely captioned. This is why you may sometimes see captions that say: [(Recording) You have reached John and Jane Doe Please leave a message at the sound of the beep Thank-you for calling and have (Beep) a nice day]
Waiting for that important phone call? It?s easy to get captions of voice mail and answering machine messages with CapTel!
Checking Voice Mail Messages
Call into your voice mail system as a ?remote? caller using remote message
retrieval, then follow the voice mail prompts to retrieve your messages. You can
press the number key prompt options at any time; You do not need to wait for
the captions to finish before pressing your selection. Captions of your voice mail
messages will appear on the CapTel display screen, just like conversation captions.
Reading Answering Machine Messages
Set up the answering machine close to where your CapTel phone is located.
With the CapTel handset hung-up, press the Menu button repeatedly until
you see "Caption External Answering Machine Messages" on the CapTel
display. Press the button next to "OK".
Next, pick up the CapTel handset and place the mouthpiece next to your answering machine's speaker. Make sure that the handset mouthpiece is close enough to be able to "pick up" the messages as they are played aloud. You may need to put the handset directly on top of the answering machine.
Your CapTel phone will then automatically connect to the Captioning Service. Watch the CapTel display to see when a connection is established with a captioning assistant. Then, start playing the messages aloud on your answering machine. Captions of the messages will appear on the CapTel display.
If you do not see captions, or if you see "(Speaker Unclear)" on the display, re-position the handset mouthpiece for better speaker clarity and replay the message.
If you're ready to try the convenient features 2-Line Mode offers, the CapTel phone you already have can also be used in 2-Line Mode*. To make the switch from 1-Line to 2-Line CapTel:
You will need a second, dedicated analog phone line, with its own jack and telephone number. If you do not already have a second line, contact your telephone service provider to get one installed.
Make sure your primary telephone line cord is plugged into the left jack (with a symbol) on the bottom of the CapTel. This phone line should be the one with the telephone number you give people to call you.
Plug the second telephone line cord into the other telephone jack (with no symbol). Change the ?2 Line Mode?? setting in your Menu to ?ON?. Confirm menu settings for dialing prefix or call waiting to match your second line. In 2-Line mode, most menu settings refer to the second line only.
You?re ready to go!
If you have any problems or questions about switching from 1-Line to 2-Line CapTel, please contact CapTel Customer Service. We?re happy to help you make the transition!
* Note: The 2-Line CapTel option is not available in Alabama, except for Federal CapTel Program Participants.
While there is never a charge for using the CapTel captioning service, if you make long distance calls with your CapTel phone, you will incur long distance charges on the call. It is important to register your long distance carrier with CapTel Customer Service in order for your long distance calls to be billed correctly to your home plan at your established rate.
Unless you register your phone number and long distance provider with CapTel Customer Service, the captioning service system doesn?t know what long distance provider you use. If you do not register, by default, long distance captioned calls made on your CapTel phone are automatically billed through the long distance provider designated by your state relay service. The prices on these default long distance rates vary from state-to-state and from carrier-to-carrier. If you do not register, this may result in higher long distance rates than what you have arranged for with your own calling plan.
There are three exceptions:
Make sure that long distance charges are billed correctly.
REGISTER TODAY!
If you register and change carriers, let CapTel Customer Service know.
As you dial the CapTel phone, have you ever experienced a "(Tones)" error or gotten captions that said your call can not be completed as dialed?
It could be that you are not dialing the phone number within the pre-set time allowed for dialing. If you dial slowly, the telephone number may not be completely entered within the pre-set time limit, even if you finish dialing all the numbers. The CapTel will still try to make the call, but will not recognize the full phone number ? resulting in a dialing error.
Solution: Do not wait for captions to establish before dialing. Pick up the receiver and dial out immediately. If you still run out of time, it is easy to set up your CapTel phone to give you more time to dial out. Please contact CapTel Customer Service and ask for more dialing time.
If the captions seem to lag behind the person speaking, here are a few tips to help get the captions back on track.
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Interrupt the party that is talking, briefly, to ask a question or make a statement. This causes the person speaking to stop momentarily, allowing the captions to catch up. |
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If you are following the person?s voice well enough but the captions are farther behind than you like, simply press any key on the dialing pad of the CapTel phone. The captions will catch up instantly by skipping to the most current words. |
CapTel Customer Service is your source for answers to any questions about your CapTel phone. We’d also love to hear your comments, concerns, and CapTel experiences. But you have to contact us and let us know! If you or anyone you know wants to know anything about CapTel, we are only a phone call, e-mail or letter away, and we look forward to finding out how we can best serve you. Please contact us!
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