IP Relay

My good buddy Kevin and I were having one of our obscure conversations (not a rare occurrence) this evening, and somehow we got on the topic of IP Relay.

For those who don't know, IP Relay is a free service provided for deaf people. The deaf person goes online and chats with a person who will then call the deaf person's friend. This person relays messages back and forth between the two parties. It's a pretty cool service, really.

One thing that I really don't like about this thing, though, is how many people like to use this for prank calls--I recently read that over half of the calls are pranks. That's crazy. But you know, kids will be kids... and so will 24 year olds, I'm sure.

As Kevin and I were talking about this, he told he actually got a call at work from IP Relay because one of the people he works with is deaf. Somehow I got the idea of how funny (although lame) it would be if somebody called them and gave them their own phone number to call... so the user would be talking to himself.

Well, I personally have never received one of these calls, and I was curious what it would be like. No, I didn't want to make a prank call... I didn't really even want to waste somebody's time... but my curiosity had to be satisfied. I got onto IP Relay and started typing in the number. Soon enough I got a phone call from Ohio, and I answered. They asked me if I had ever received one of these calls before, and since I knew how it worked I said yes. Well let me tell you... it was difficult to have a conversation with myself. After only a couple of lines back and forth, I got so flustered. The part on the phone was annoying, but the typing part was pretty simple.

But really... having a conversation with myself? That was so weird. It makes me wonder, though... are there actually people bored/lonely enough who actually DO have conversations with themselves over IP Relay? That would be sad. :( If you're one of those people, just know that you don't have to do that anymore. I'll be your friend instead. :P