flashBACK Friday: The Rise and Fall of WyndTell Pagers
Posted by: Staff Writer on April 25, 2013
Designed specifically for deaf and hard of hearing people; WyndTell Pagers quickly became a revolutionary communication tool.
Although the pagers were limited to sending two-way e-mail to other owners of WyndTell pagers - they played a part in history as they helped the deaf community catch up with the cellular-phone revolution. Before pagers, deaf people were limited to expensive dial-up modems and TTYs. WyndTell Pagers allowed us to catch up with our hearing peers; finally becoming mobile.
Deaf people will tell you that no two deaf persons are alike; WyndTell understood that and allowed us to express our individuality with color selections such as Aquatic Ice, Razberry Ice, Mystic Blue, or the original black (I remember the Ice Blue as a favorite among my friends).
With the increasingly competitive options within the cellular phone market, WyndTell found it difficult to keep up with all the newest gadgets that offered cheaper texting plans and more applications; hence the fall of WyndTell Pagers. It was also the year the Sidekick cell phone kicked pagers off the shelves everywhere.
WyndTell Pagers served their time briefly, but well. On some rare days, you may even catch a glimpse of an Aquatic Ice pager in some tech-laggard’s hand!
How many of you owned a WyndTell pager? What color did you choose?
Tags
- deaf
- hard of hearing
- deaf culture
- sign language
- deaf-friendly business
- deaf community
- deaf consumer
- wyndtell pager
- deaf history
- flashback friday
- tty
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