Florida Relay Service

Florida Relay is the communications link for people who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf/Blind, or Speech Impaired. Through the Florida Relay, people who use specialized telephone equipment can communicate with people who use standard telephone equipment.

To call Florida Relay, dial 7-1-1, or use the following toll free numbers:

1-800-955-8771 (TTY)
1-800-955-8770 (Voice)
1-800-955-1339 (ASCII)
1-877-955-8260 (VCO-Direct)
1-800-955-5334 (STS)
1-877-955-8773 (Spanish)
1-877-955-8707 (French Cr)

Thousands of Floridians depend upon Florida Relay every day to make both personal and business phone calls. Here are examples of how the specialized telephone equipment and services work.

Text Telephone (TTY)
Allows a person who is deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf/blind, or speech impaired to communicate with anyone by phone through an operator (OPR) who reads the typed conversation to the hearing person and types the hearing person’s response back to the deaf individual.

Voice Carry-Over (VCO)
A Hard-of-Hearing person can speak directly to a hearing person. When the hearing person responds, the Operator (OPR) types back what is said. The person who is hard of hearing then reads the text messages on the VCO screen (or TTY).

Two-Line VCO
Allows customers with two phone lines and/or a computer to use one line for speaking directly to a hearing person while the other line is used to receive the hearing person’s typed responses.

VCO-Direct
This new VCO-Direct feature allows VCO calls to go to a group of agents specially trained for VCO calls thus making VCO calls much easier and efficient for the user.

Hearing Carry-Over (HCO)
Speech Impaired users who can hear can listen directly to the person on the other end of the line. The Speech Impaired user types in his or her message, which is verbally read by the OPR to the caller.

Speech-to-Speech (STS)
Allows speech impaired customers to have their calls processed by a trained Relay OPR familiar with speech patterns. The OPR then makes the call and repeats the words exactly.

ASCII Split-Screen
Allows customers to call the relay from their personal computer, which will display two split windows (horizontal or vertical). One window displays ASCII's user's text and the other displays the OPR's text.

Voice
Allows standard telephone users to make phone calls to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf/blind, or speech impaired.

800 / 900 Pay Per Call

Also, Florida Relay provides a toll-free 900 number 900-230-6868 which connects relay callers to any 900 or 800 Pay Per Call services. The caller is responsible for direct billing.