A device and method for providing captioned services to an assisted user using a captioned device linkable via a first communication link to a hearing user's device where the method includes the steps of, at a relay, receiving a request for captioning service from the captioned device on a second communication link, in response to the request, setting up the captioning service at the relay including receiving hearing user voice signals from the captioned device, providing the voice signals to a call assistant to transcribe into text and transmitting the text back to the captioned device to display, wherein the step of receiving a request may be prior to establishment the first communication link and wherein the step of receiving a request may be subsequent to establishment of the first communication link.