While you will quickly get used to the procedure during National Relay Service calls, they do involve some different protocols from ordinary phone calls.
Using text
When you have a phone conversation entirely using text you cannot use your voice to convey different meanings. As a result, a range of keyboard techniques such as the use of spacing, brackets and abbreviations have developed to give extra meaning and emotion to text conversations.
At the beginning of your call, remember to identify yourself by typing your name, as the person you are calling will not be able to recognise your voice.
If you need to talk directly to the relay officer during a conversation, remember to use brackets, otherwise what you say will be relayed. The relay officer will also use brackets when talking with you.
| Common abbreviations |
| GA |
Go ahead. When the other person sees this they know it is their turn to respond. |
| GA to SK |
You are ready to hang up. This is similar to changing your tone of voice to show you are ready to hang up. It allows the other person to say good-bye and hang up. You can also type "BYE TO SK" |
| SKSK |
Stop keying. It is usually typed as SKSK and the other person will respond in the same way. Do not type just SK as this is considered rude, like hanging up without saying goodbye in a voiced conversation. |
| Q |
Question mark. You can also use "?", "QQ" or "??" |
| XXX |
Erasing a typing error or part of a conversation. Can be used instead of backspacing |
| U |
You |
| PLS HLD |
Please hold |
| ASAP |
As soon as possible |
| XMAS |
Christmas |
| NBR |
Number |
| DR |
Doctor |
| THRU |
Through |
| TMW |
Tomorrow |
| MTG |
Meeting |
Suggestions when speaking during a relay call
Many relay calls involve at least one party to the call using their voice. Once again there are some good rules of etiquette to help the call go smoothly:
- Speak slowly
- Pause at the end of each phrase or sentence
- Repeat and spell difficult words, names, addresses and phone numbers
- Cover one topic at a time
- Speak no more than two to three minutes each turn
- Always say "go ahead" after each response
- Always end your call with "goodbye, signing off" or something similar
- Use "I"and "you" rather than "tell her". People like to be spoken to directly even though there is a relay officer involved.
- Don't speak directly to the relay officer, unless you are having technical problems.
