About this factsheet

This factsheet is part of RNID's equipment range. It is written for deaf and hard of hearing people. We use the term deaf people to refer to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people throughout this factsheet.

Read this factsheet to find out about:

How do I buy a mobile phone?

Where to go

All high streets have mobile phone shops. It is a good idea to visit one of them so you can see and try out different handsets. Choose a mobile phone with features you will find useful. Always shop around, as you will find differences in prices and products. Some companies offer better deals online.

Choosing a mobile phone

Decide how small you want your mobile phone to be. Although a smaller phone will be easier to carry, it will probably have smaller controls and display, making it fiddly to use. To make it easier to use, look for good-sized keys, a large, clear screen and functions that are easy to understand. You may prefer one with a colour screen as this makes the menu options easier to understand and use. You will find phones with keys on their front, those that open in a clamshell design and others where the keypad slides from beneath the screen. Try out different designs to find out which suits you best.

You should also ask to hear the range of ring tones and volumes. Ask if you can make a phone call and be sure that you are happy with the volume and sound quality of the phone before buying it.

If you wear a hearing aid, check that you can use the mobile phone you want with it. Check if the phone interferes with your hearing aid. If the shop will not let you do this, then go to another shop where they are more helpful. For more information on interference see the section "Can I get equipment to help reduce interference with hearing aids?".

Another useful feature to look out for is 'predictive texting'. Predictive texting 'guesses' the word you want and can make SMS text messaging easier and faster. See the section on "What is SMS and MMS text messaging" to find out more.

The cost of buying a mobile phone will depend on many things including its size, what features it has and how new the model is. How much it costs to use will depend on how you choose to pay for your calls. For example, some phones come with free call minutes or are included free with a monthly payment plan. See the section, "How do I pay for my calls?".

Do you have difficulty using small or awkward equipment?

A lot of equipment has tiny and often quite fiddly buttons and other controls. Sometimes equipment will just be an awkward shape or difficult to grip. If you have these difficulties, it is particularly important to try out a mobile phone first before you buy. Ask yourself:

How do I choose a mobile network?

There are many different mobile phone networks available now. The main ones are listed below.

Most of these networks have shops on the high street. They all offer good national coverage but you should check how good reception is in the area where you live.

How do I pay for my calls?

The mobile networks offer many different ways to pay for calls, so you will have to decide which one suits you best. Don’t be taken in by what appears to be a good deal. Decide when and how you are most likely to use your mobile and choose a deal that gives you the best value for your needs. You will be able to choose from a range of options.

What are the different payment plan options?

Monthly payment plan

You can choose a monthly payment plan, which includes the phone line rental and an agreed number of free calls and text messages every month. This is ideal if you use your phone a lot, especially during the day. The price of these plans will depend on the combination of call minutes, text messages or other services you choose. These plans normally offer you a free phone, the model offered will depend upon the package you choose and how long you agree to sign up for. Some packages will cover calls at any time of the day whereas others may specify off-peak calls only, so be sure to check all of the details.

Pre-pay

Pre-pay or ‘pay as you go’ deals let you buy phone units in advance. With these deals you only pay for what you use and you are less likely to run up a large bill. However, when your pre-pay units run out you will not be able to make outgoing calls or texts until you ‘top up’. It is very easy to top-up your pre-pay phone units at places like supermarkets, shops and garages. You can even buy units over the phone with your debit or credit card, or from ATMs. Pre-pay deals are ideal if you are on a limited budget or make few calls. However, each call you make will tend to be more expensive than those made as part of a monthly payment plan.

Can mobile phones interfere with hearing aids?

Mobile phones can cause interference with older analogue hearing aids.  You get less interference with in-the-canal aids than behind-the-ear aids because they are smaller and a bit further away from the mobile phone.

When choosing a mobile, find out whether it does interfere with your hearing aid. If the shop will not let you do this, go to another shop where they are more helpful.

Can I get equipment to help reduce interference with hearing aids?

If you have old analogue hearing aids and experience some interference with your mobile phone, hands-free kits or listening accessories such as neckloops and ear loops may help. These keep the mobile phone further away from your hearing aid and so reduce the chances of interference. They work with almost any hearing aid that has a ‘T’ setting.

Hands-free kits are also useful while driving. It is now illegal to make or receive telephone calls while driving a car, unless you are using a hands-free kit so these accessories can be useful in many situations.

A neckloop is a plastic-covered wire that goes around your neck and connects to a small control unit. A second cable connects the control unit to your phone.  An ear loop (also called an ear hook) works in a similar way. It can be hooked behind your hearing aid and a single cable connects to your phone. Both produce an inductive output that your hearing aids will pick up when set on ‘T’ and they have built-in microphones so you can easily have a conversation.

Hearing your phone ring

All mobile phones have a wide range of ring tones to choose from and a ringer volume that you can adjust. These can be simple tones or more complicated tunes or songs. Most mobile phones will let you download other ring tones or tunes, though you will have to pay for these, and on some you can even compose your own ring tone.

Most models can be set to vibrate when you receive a call or text message. This is especially useful if you keep your phone in a pocket. If your phone does not vibrate, you could try using a separate vibrating belt clip or a vibrating gadget that you attach to your phone. You can buy either of these products for around £10 each.

Some mobile phones have lights that light up or flash when you are receiving a call. These work well as long as you keep your phone in a visible place.

You can use some multi-alerting systems to alert you to your mobile phone receiving a call. For more information, see our factsheet "Multi-alerting systems to let you know about different sounds in your home".

Can I adjust the volume of the sound output on my phone?

You can usually adjust the sound output on your mobile phone so you can hear what someone is saying more easily. However, problems with hearing phone conversations are often more to do with sound quality than volume, so you might find that increasing the volume does not help.

Some phones have a hands-free feature so you can hold a conversation whilst holding the phone away from your ear.  You might find that this works well for you, especially if you wear hearing aids. But be aware that these can be very loud and could cause damage to your hearing. Also you will have little privacy if you use this feature in a public place.

What is SMS and MMS text messaging?

Over recent years, SMS (short messaging service) and MMS (multi-media messaging service) text messaging have become very popular. They are cheap and simple ways to send short, one-way messages, including letters or numbers, to other digital mobile phones. Many new digital cordless phones can also send and receive text messages as can some corded domestic phones. Messages are usually received within a few minutes but this does not always happen. They can take much longer or may never reach their destination. You need to remember this if you use your mobile to send a text message in an emergency situation. We do not recommend that you use text messaging to call the emergency services.

SMS text messaging is not interactive. This means that if you send a message, it will be some time before you receive one back, so you cannot have real time conversations using SMS. Each message will cost about 12p.

MMS (multi-media messaging service)

MMS lets you send longer text messages than SMS and lets you add pictures, video and sounds to your messages. MMS has no specific benefits for deaf people, but it does let you take and send photos with your mobile phone. MMS messages are more expensive than SMS text messages.

You can send a text message using a:

Mobile phones

This is the most common way of sending text messages. You can send and receive text messages on all modern mobile phones, however some mobile phones have small keys that can be fiddly to use. One way around this is to get a phone with predictive texting. This means that your phone ‘guesses’ which word you are trying to type, which can make it easier and faster to use.

Alternatively, buy a phone with good-sized buttons and a large screen to make text messaging easier.

Mobile communicators

Mobile communicators are mobile phones with many extra features. This means you can use them as personal organisers and personal digital assistants (like mini computers). You can use them to send text messages, send and receive emails or even access the internet. They are more expensive than mobile phones but they do offer an alternative way to type your text message. They have a QWERTY keypad, which makes typing your text message very easy: the keypads are smaller versions of keyboards you find on traditional typewriters or computers.

Home-based SMS systems

You can buy a range of products that let you send and receive text messages from your home, without having to buy a mobile phone. Many digital cordless phones let you do this as do some corded phones. Remember that a digital cordless phones might interfere with your hearing aids if they are old models.

Can I receive email and instant messages on my mobile?

A growing range of mobile products now let you send and receive text by email and instant messages, as well as SMS or MMS text messaging (see What is SMS and MMS text messaging?). These products include Personal Digital Assistants (PDA’s) and Smartphones, but many normal mobile phones now have these abilities as well. Some handsets, like the BlackBerry range, use ‘push-email’, which fetches your email automatically and alerts you by vibrating.

However, if you want to have a text conversation (rather than send messages), it is best if your handset runs mobile textphone software. As you type, the other person will see each character on their screen almost immediately (just like with a textphone), so there are no long delays and it is easy to interrupt if you want.

When you run a mobile textphone program, you can make text calls to other textphones and you may also be able to receive text calls. It is useful to choose a handset that vibrates when it receives an incoming call. By using BT TextDirect and RNID Typetalk you can also contact hearing people who have an ordinary phone.

How can I get mobile textphone software?

RNID has developed a mobile textphone program called TalkByText Mobile, which can be downloaded free and used on a wide range of mobile handsets.
Go to our website (external link) to find out more about the software and which phones work best with it.

To run TalkByText Mobile you will need a phone that can run ‘Java midlets’ (technology specifically designed for mobile communications) and that has a screen large enough to show a few sentences of text.  For easy typing, your phone should have either a full built-in keyboard, an external keyboard or a stylus. TalkByText Mobile uses internet technology, so you need access to the internet through GPRS, a type of fast data transfer technology (not just WAP, which is wireless technology). If you are not sure whether your phone has GPRS access, ask your mobile network provider.

What is third generation (3G) technology?

Third generation (3G) mobile phones and services are now quite widespread in the UK. ‘3G technology’ lets you send information much faster so these mobile phones will have many new services, like sending longer messages and video clips. They will also give a permanent connection to the internet so you don’t have to dial up every time you need to send an email or check information on a website. Many 3G phones will allow you to have two-way video conversations, but the picture size, quality and frame rate make them unsuitable for lip reading or signing.

Where can I get further information?

If you want to find out more about some of the subjects covered in this factsheet you may find the following factsheets useful:

You may also want to look at our leaflet, The facts: equipment.

Further information from RNID

Our Information Line offers a wide range of information on many aspects of deafness and hearing loss. Contact us for further copies of this factsheet and our full range of information factsheets and leaflets. You can also contact us if you would like information in Braille, on audiotape or large print.

RNID Information Line

19-23 Featherstone Street
London EC1Y 8SL
Telephone 0808 808 0123
Textphone 0808 808 9000
Fax 020 7296 8199
Email: informationline@rnid.org.uk  

RNID Tinnitus Helpline

19-23 Featherstone Street
London EC1Y 8SL
Telephone 0808 808 6666
Textphone 0808 808 0007
Fax 020 7296 8199
Email: tinnitushelpline@rnid.org.uk   

Buying equipment from RNID

Visit the RNID shop (external link) or contact the RNID Information Line for a copy of our Solutions catalogue, full of products for deaf and hard of hearing people.

RNID Information, April 2007