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25/11/2003
PhoneAnything has launched the UK's first web-over-phone service for the visually impaired. The new service allows the UK's 1 million blind and partially sighted individuals to listen to web pages and navigate web links using any landline or mobile phone. Until now blind and partially sighted individuals wanting to surf the net, shop or pay bills online have had to use expensive computer equipment. The web-over-phone service offers instant voice access to the internet for the cost of a local call.
Sighted individuals will also benefit from the new technology. According to recent research, around 50% of UK households do not have internet access. PhoneAnything's new service provides full access to internet web pages, in addition to voice access to mobile internet content (WAP), to anyone with a phone.
PhoneAnything's technology will also benefit organisations wishing to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. The Act requires all service providers to make reasonable adjustments to the way they deliver services to ensure disabled people can use them. PhoneAnything's web-over-phone technology will make an organisation's website instantly available to any blind or partially sighted user with a phone - organisations can license the technology and provide their website to visually impaired customers through specific phone numbers. The technology will allow businesses to reach the large number of visually impaired consumers in the UK cost-effectively.
Steve Tyler, Senior Strategic Manager for Digital Technology at the RNIB said, "The internet can transform the lives of people who are visually impaired. With PhoneAnything's new technology, visually impaired users can now browse the web and even carry out transactions online using just their phone, without the need for a costly computer or other technology. The RNIB is delighted that there is now an affordable and easy-to-use way for visually impaired people to get online.
"The RNIB has worked with PhoneAnything before developing phone based services to make a wide variety of information available to blind and partially sighted individuals. This new technology is a major step towards giving visually impaired users the same access to information as sighted people."
Stefan Haselwimmer, Managing Director of PhoneAnything said, "The internet is a potentially invaluable resource for blind and partially sighted individuals, yet a significant proportion of visually impaired people do not own a computer. We believe that our web-over-phone service offers a cheap and easy way for visually impaired people and anyone without a computer to access the net."
The web-over-phone service has been extensively tested by blind and partially-sighted users to ensure it meets the needs of these users. The web-over-phone service can be accessed by dialling the local rate number 0845 333 0845. There are no subscription charges to pay to use the service.
Key features of web-over-phone service
- Navigate standard internet pages (HTTP) and secure internet pages (HTTPS)
- Navigate web pages using the keypad. Users can skip through text items, select links and fast-forward through a web page
- Complete internet forms containing text fields, popups and radio buttons
- Bookmark web pages
- Increase or decrease the speed of the text-to-speech engine used to read pages
- Enter any internet address
About PhoneAnything
PhoneAnything delivers voice access to internet content through any telephone. It was the first company in the UK to launch a comprehensive phone information service (July 2001). PhoneAnything main phone service provides phone access to web pages, WAP pages, streaming audio and e-mail and offers truly mobile access to the internet from any phone.
In August 2003, PhoneAnything partnered with the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) to build a phone system for delivering TV listings and talking books to the visually impaired. In September 2003, PhoneAnything received a SMART award from the DTI to develop a phone-based method of delivering consumer information to the blind and partially-sighted.
PhoneAnything has extensive experience with visually impaired users, with a significant proportion of its existing phone users being blind or partially sighted.
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