Captioned Telephone 2026: CaptionCall vs ClearCaptions vs CapTel vs InnoCaption, Compared on Who Writes Your Captions

Quick Answer: A captioned telephone shows a written transcript of everything the caller says, and for U.S. residents with hearing loss it is free: the federal TRS Fund pays the provider $0.95 a minute for machine captions and $1.45 a minute when a human assistant is involved (FCC, July 2026 to June 2027). The best captioned home phone for most people is the Hamilton CapTel 2400i, because it is one of only two services that let you choose human-assisted captions (the FCC names Hamilton and InnoCaption). Pick the CaptionCall 78T if you need the loudest audio, ClearCaptions if you want someone to install it at home, and the InnoCaption app for captions on your smartphone.

A captioned phone is the one piece of hearing technology that costs eligible users nothing, and it fixes the problem volume can’t: hearing that someone is talking but not catching the words. The catch is that the providers look interchangeable on their websites (“free phone, no cost to you”) while they differ in the things that decide whether calls actually get easier: who or what writes the captions, whether you need a landline, how loud the handset gets, and whether there is an app for your phone. We compared the four home-phone providers and three caption apps on those points, using provider spec pages, FCC orders and the TRS Fund administrator’s reports, checked November 6, 2026.

Captioned telephones, by the numbers

• $0.95 and $1.45 a minute: For July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, the FCC pays IP CTS providers $0.95 per minute for captions made only by automatic speech recognition (ASR) and $1.45 per minute when a human communications assistant is involved, plus $0.23 when that assistant earns at least $18.38 an hour (FCC order DA 26-646, released June 30, 2026).
• 64.2 million minutes in one month: The TRS Fund administrator, Rolka Loube, projected 64,229,714 IP CTS minutes for August 2026 and paid $71,106,587 to seven captioning providers that month, according to its August 2026 Fund Performance Status Report.
• About 4 in 5 minutes are machine-made: The FCC’s July 2024 compensation order found ASR-only captions rose from 43.5% of paid minutes in 2022 to 74.6% in 2023. Rolka Loube’s 2025 annual report projected 453.7 million ASR-only minutes against 117.7 million human-assisted minutes for July 2025 to April 2026, about 79% machine-made.
• No accuracy standard yet: In the same 2024 order, the FCC noted that its 2020 proposal to add caption accuracy and delay metrics to the rules “remains pending.”
• 37.5 million: About 15% of American adults report some trouble hearing, and 55% of adults 75 and older have disabling hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).

How a captioned telephone works

When you place a call on an IP CTS phone, the FCC explains, the call is connected both to the person you dialed and, over the internet, to a captioning service. In the original design, a trained communications assistant (CA) listens and re-voices the other party’s words into speech recognition software, and the text appears on your screen almost at the same time as the voice. Since a June 2018 FCC ruling, providers may also caption calls with automatic speech recognition alone, with no person on the line, and every certified provider is now authorized to do so.

You talk and listen as on any phone. The other person hears only you; they don’t need special equipment, and they don’t see the captions. Federal rules say the provider can’t keep records of what was said beyond the duration of the call.

Why that matters for your choice: a human assistant is a fallback for the calls software finds hardest, such as a strong accent, a bad cell connection or a doctor reading out medication names, while the FCC’s test data shows machine captions arriving faster. The FCC’s National Test Lab measured median caption delays of 1.0 seconds for Nagish’s ASR-only service against an aggregate 1.8 to 2.4 seconds for the other providers it tested, and word error rates of 2.1% to 9.6% for Nagish against 2.0% to 7.4% for the others in the same call scenarios (FCC order DA 24-12). Those are test-lab figures published with the providers’ 2024 certifications, not a ranking of today’s services.

Who writes your captions: the difference that matters most

The “Can you choose?” column for CaptionCall and ClearCaptions comes straight from the FCC: its July 2024 order says that among providers using both methods, “two providers (Hamilton and InnoCaption) allow users to choose the captioning method they prefer, while two other providers (CaptionCall and ClearCaptions) do not offer such a choice.” If machine captions keep garbling the people you call most, that one sentence is the best reason to pick Hamilton or InnoCaption.

Best captioned telephones at a glance

All of these are free to registered users. Product details below come from each provider’s own pages, checked November 6, 2026; none of the providers publishes a price, because there isn’t one for eligible users.

1. Hamilton CapTel 2400i: Best Captioned Telephone Overall

The 2400i wins on the one feature the FCC itself singles out: you decide who writes your captions. Start on automatic captions for speed, and switch to an assistant when a pharmacist, a fast talker or a bad connection defeats the software. The audiogram-matched tone setting is a second reason: most age-related loss is high-pitched, and our guide to hearing aids for high-frequency loss explains why treble matters more than volume. Hamilton also offers a free CapTel app for iOS and Android, and captel.com says CapTel phones can be bought directly for $75 through the distributor WCI if you would rather own the phone.

2. CaptionCall 78T: Best for Loud, Shaped Audio

Choose CaptionCall if loudness is the bigger problem and captions are a safety net. TIA-4953 is the same independent amplified-phone standard we explain in our amplified phone guide, and CaptionCall is the only captioning phone claiming it. Sorenson has run the service since 2010.

3. ClearCaptions Phone: Easiest Setup

ClearCaptions is the one to order for a parent who won’t set up anything themselves: a person brings the phone, connects it and shows them how it works. The trade-offs are English-only service and no way to ask for a human captioner. ClearCaptions says it has offered service since 2011 in all 50 states and 14 territories.

4. InnoCaption: Best Captioned Phone App

If you already live on your cell phone, InnoCaption gives you the one feature the home-phone giants don’t: a live stenographer on demand. Pair it with Bluetooth hearing aids and you can read and stream the same call; our best Bluetooth hearing aids guide covers which models stream calls from iPhone and Android.

5. Rylo and Rogervoice: Automatic Caption Apps for Other Languages

These apps make sense if the people you call speak a language other than English or Spanish, or if you want captions on an Apple Watch. If you mainly call doctors and pharmacies in English, a service with a human option is the safer default.

6. CapTel 840PLUS: Only If You Have No Internet

The CapTel 840PLUS is the last widely offered captioned phone that needs no internet: Ultratec says “both the captions and the voice parts” are carried over an analog phone line, through traditional captioned telephone service run by state relay programs. Some states hand them out free; Nebraska’s program lists the 840PLUS, 840i, 880i and 2400i, and South Carolina offers “a CapTel 840PLUS phone at no cost.” But analog service is shrinking: Wyoming ended it on January 31, 2026, after which those phones work “as a standard amplified telephone with no captions.” Check that your state still runs traditional CTS before ordering one.

The paperwork: who qualifies and the $75 rule

Every IP CTS user signs a self-certification on a separate form stating that their hearing loss requires captioned telephone service, that they understand a communications assistant may produce the captions, that each call’s captioning is paid for by a federal program, and that they won’t let unregistered people use the captions (47 CFR 64.611(j)). Providers must also send your full name, address, date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security number to the FCC’s TRS User Registration Database; a provider may serve you for up to two weeks while your identity is verified.

The rule text adds one more step. Where the phone is free or costs less than $75, it says the provider must also collect a certification signed under penalty of perjury by an independent professional who must be “either a physician, audiologist, or other hearing related professional” and was not referred to you by any relay provider. Equipment from a state or federal equipment program counts instead. Providers’ sign-up pages describe this differently: ClearCaptions says “no doctor notes or certifications are required,” CaptionCall describes a professional’s certification as optional, and captel.com says CapTel phones can be bought directly for $75 through the distributor WCI, exactly the rule’s threshold. The practical advice: expect to self-certify, keep a recent audiogram or a note from your audiologist handy in case you’re asked, and treat a state equipment program as a free route that settles the question.

Three more rules are worth knowing:

• No sign-up gifts. Providers may not offer you, or a hearing professional, any incentive to register or use the service (47 CFR 64.604(c)(8)). A gift card for signing up is a red flag.
• Captions are for you only. Every newly distributed phone must carry a label reading “FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS ANYONE BUT REGISTERED USERS WITH HEARING LOSS FROM USING THIS DEVICE WITH THE CAPTIONS ON.” Family members with normal hearing should use it with captions off.
• One button for captions. Each phone must turn captions on in one step, and its volume must adjust separately from the captions (47 CFR 64.604(c)(10)).

Who pays for “free”

Captioned phone service is paid for by the Interstate TRS Fund, which telecom and VoIP carriers fund through contributions on their end-user revenues: the FCC set the contribution factor for internet-based relay services at 2.276% for 2026-27 and the fund’s net requirement at $1.56 billion. The money follows minutes, not phones, which is why every provider is keen to install a free phone and why the FCC bans incentives. Rolka Loube’s 2025 report put providers’ average cost of an ASR-only minute at $0.6494 for 2025-26, against a rate of $1.05 that year; that gap is the business model behind the free hardware.

Captioned phone, amplified phone or hearing aids?

How to choose a captioned telephone

• Decide on human versus machine first. If you want the option of a person, only Hamilton CapTel (home phone or app) and InnoCaption (app) offer the choice, per the FCC.
• Check your line. All the current home phones run on home internet; only the CapTel 840i and 880i need a phone line as well, and only the 840PLUS works without internet.
• Match the sound to your hearing. Ask for the tone or frequency setting to be matched to your audiogram: Hamilton offers a custom audiogram setting and CaptionCall a Custom emphasis. Bring your latest hearing test results to setup.
• Plan for outages. No IP captioned phone works without power. Keep a charged cell phone or a line-powered corded phone for emergencies.
• Use one provider per phone number. You can switch providers, but the new one has to register you again in the federal database.
• Telecoil users: a captioned phone’s handset is hearing aid compatible, but a neckloop or your hearing aid’s telecoil program can make the audio clearer still.

When to see a professional first

A captioned phone works around hearing loss; it doesn’t treat it. See a doctor or audiologist promptly if your hearing dropped suddenly, is worse in one ear, or comes with ear pain, drainage, dizziness, or pulsing or one-sided tinnitus. Sudden hearing loss responds best to treatment within days. An audiologist can also confirm the level of your loss, which is useful paperwork for a captioned phone application anyway.

The bottom line

A captioned telephone is free for U.S. residents whose hearing loss makes calls hard, and the first question to ask a provider is who writes the captions. The Hamilton CapTel 2400i is the best captioned phone for most people because it lets you switch between automatic and human-assisted captions mid-call, runs internet-only, and offers 0 to 40 dB with audiogram-matched tone. The CaptionCall 78T is the pick for the loudest audio, with the only TIA-4953 claim among captioning phones; ClearCaptions is the easiest to set up, with a specialist installing it at home; and InnoCaption is the best app, with live stenographers on demand. Machine captions now produce about four in five captioned minutes, and the FCC still has no accuracy standard, so if the software keeps missing words on the calls that matter, pick a service that lets you ask for a person.

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