Martin, I think you were lucky and got upgraded at the appropriate time! Having just spoken to Orange, The latest news seems to be that because there has been such an "outcry" over the loss of wild fire, there is a possibility that it may continue. Let's hope though that this is not the end of the story as far as Orange and Talks is concerned because this will be a far better solution. Sure wild fire is OK for what it does in my view, but on balance, and having been a user of both in the past, talks provides visually impaired people with much more functionality and flexibility than is available with wild fire as it stands and I feel quite strongly about that. There are all kinds of obvious reasons why this is the case which I won't go into now, but let's hope Orange will in the future offer to visually impaired people a package similar to Vodafone, whereupon a user can have an Orange phone with Talks pre-installed if that is what they want to do. Brian Hartgen E-Mail: brian@xxxxxxxxxxx MSN: brian@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: brianhartgen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Roberts" <martin.roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 3:10 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Orange and Talks > Hi all > > I have managed to get an upgrade from Orange. If you call the number 294, > and get a person who knows what they are talking about, they should be able > to help you. This is how I managed to get help. I have been upgraded to a > 6630 and it arrived in the mail today. orange customer services don't > appear to know anything about the situation as it pertains to the visually > impaired. It maybe hard to get the people who know about the situation, but > it is well worth trying. > > Taking in to account the above, I think they have only been offering > upgrades to people who get Braille bills as a friend of mine who also gets > Braille bills also got the upgrade. It is interesting that those who don't > get Braille bills aren't automatically taken care of. My Girl-Friend for > instance looks like she will get an upgrade, but that is through her > persistence with orange, and with out me she wouldn't have had the number to > call. > > In my view this has been very badly managed and is a panic move from orange > who fear the DDA. > > Martin Roberts > Blindness Sales & Support > HumanWare Europe Ltd > office: 01933 626000 > Mobile: 07940 788748 > E-mail: martin.roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Skype: mproberts > MSN: roberts_martin@xxxxxxxxxxx > www.humanware.com > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brian Hartgen" <brian@xxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 1:19 PM > Subject: [access-uk] Orange and Talks > > > > Hi > > In summary, last week Orange announced that its wild fire service would be > > withdrawn for a whole variety of reasons. As a result, a campaign web site > > was launched I think primarily to ensure that visually impaired people > > were > > adequately compensated for what has been a useful service for managing > > calls > > and contacts. > > > > According to an Orange spokesperson who was speaking on In Touch yesterday > > evening, if a customer of Orange is using wild fire, Orange will freely > > update the phone and "cover the cost" of a copy of the talks software. The > > phone will obviously be one which is capable of using the talks software. > > > > In my view, this is more than fair, and will obviously give people the > > full > > benefit of access to their phone at no cost to the user. My wife was a > > user > > of the wild fire service, and although I contacted Orange, we are not > > moving > > forward very fast at the moment. I was wondering whether anyone else had > > successfully agreed with Orange that their phone could be upgraded, and > > could maybe tell me: > > A. Is there a specific number you need to call in order to move this > > forward? > > B. Which phone are they upgrading customers to? > > Presumably there will be some information about this within the in touch > > fact sheet, but as of the time of writing this is not on the web site. > > > > Just thought I would pass this news along in case anyone did not know, and > > maybe someone could share their experiences as well. > > > > Brian Hartgen > > E-Mail: brian@xxxxxxxxxxx > > MSN: brian@xxxxxxxxxxx > > Skype: brianhartgen > > > > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- > > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] > > ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: > > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > ** and in the Subject line type > > ** unsubscribe > > ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the > > ** immediately-following link:- > > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] > > ** or send a message, to > > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq > > > > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] > ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > ** and in the Subject line type > ** unsubscribe > ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the > ** immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] > ** or send a message, to > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq