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Stay in touch - A guide to telephones and services for older and disabled people 2004 (view report contents)

Introduction

Your phone is more than a way of keeping in touch; it’s also a way of buying things, and a lifeline in an emergency. Technology is changing fast, too, offering much more than just voice calls or text messages. Many mobile phones now let you send pictures to your friends with a built-in camera, pick up your emails
or access the internet.

While some of these phone features are simply fun to use, others can be a real help
if you are older or have a disability. But the rush to add features to phones and make them smaller into the bargain has also made them hard to use for some people.
Telephone services are changing too, giving you a wide but often confusing choice: for example, you can get a phone service as part of a cable TV package or through a supermarket, without changing your phone number.

The first part of this report looks at the different kinds of generally available phone equipment and the features which may be useful if you have a disability. They range from the latest high-tech (and high priced) mobile products to more traditional phones which are cheaper and easy to use.

In the ‘Other telephone equipment' section there’s a summary of specialised equipment and in ‘Accessories & adaptors’ you can see examples of equipment which make using the phone easier. This is followed by ‘Buying a phone – where to go’ and ‘Useful contacts’. Finally, we summarise the fixed-line and mobile services you can choose from.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following organisations for funding this project: British Telecommunications, DIEL, O2, Oftel, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone Ltd.

Our thanks also go to all the telephone companies for their help in the compilation of this guide.

Report produced by: Ricability
Research: David Attwood, Ngaio Girdlestone
Design: Sarah Watson
Photography: Robin Beckham, BT Picture Library, Ginette Chapman, RNID

 

Report Contents

Introduction

Telephones

Other equipment

Buying a phone & phone services

Useful contacts

 

Fixed line Operators

Mobile Operators

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