Cingular Wireless' New Voice
Connect™ Offers New Freedom for Customers with Significant Disabilities
“Since Cingular's breakthrough “Dan” spot in the 2000 Super
Bowl, the company has a proven track record of industry leadership
with the disability community. This Voice Connect disability
exemption program is yet one more innovative example.” - Marcie
Roth, Executive Director, National Spinal Cord Injury Association
In the latest of their ongoing disability-inclusive diversity
policy that values all customers, Cingular Wireless announces the
launch of the Voice Connect™ exemption program for customer with
significant physical, cognitive and visual disabilities.
Voice
Connect is the carrier's new voice portal, allowing customers
to use voice commands to dial and to access a wide range of information
services including news, sports, horoscopes, lottery results,
stock quotes, weather reports, TV dramas, and movie information
via simple voice commands. Voice Connect is available to Cingular
customers whose disabilities restrict independent use of the telephone.
For customers with disabilities who complete the certification
process, the company is waiving the $4.99 monthly charge of this
new national service (usual airtime charges apply). According
to Jeff Schlueter, Executive Director with Cingular Wireless, “At Cingular we believe communication unlocks potential
in us all – whether we have disabilities or not. We are delighted
to provide the Voice Connect exemption program. We feel it will
offer our customers with disabilities a new freedom to access wireless
communication services. Voice Connect is a breakthrough in reasonable
accommodations that will increase productivity at work, school,
home and play.”
For customers with significant physical disabilities (such as
quadriplegia) that limit dialing ability, cognitive disabilities
(such as traumatic brain injury) that restrict the ability to sequence
numbers, and for blind and low vision customers, the Voice Connect
exemption program gives reasonable accommodation a whole new meaning.
Upon completion of certification and brief activation processes,
Voice Connect lets customers place calls by speaking the name or
phone number of the person they want to call, thus facilitating
hands-free dialing. Subscribers can set up their address books
by entering names in several convenient ways: by voice, via the
Internet at www.cingular.com/voiceconnect, or by synchronizing
the service with their Microsoft Outlook or Palm Desktop address
book.
According to Allan I. Bergman, CEO of the Brain Injury Association
of America, “We applaud Cingular Wireless for taking this initiative
that is mindful of customers with cognitive disabilities such as
acquired brain injuries who have difficulty with sequencing numbers.”
To apply for the exemption, customers with significant disabilities
should call Cingular's National Call Center for Disabilities at
866-241-6568.
Cingular's Voice Connect service is based on the Total Voice Dialer™ and
Total Voice Portal™ products offered by BeVocal, Inc., a pioneer
and leader in providing outsourced VoiceXML-based solutions. BeVocal
has worked closely with Cingular over the past year to improve
Voice Connect, making it even faster, more accurate and easier
to use for Cingular's subscribers with (and without) disabilities
nationwide.
In addition to Cingular Wireless Accessibility Task Force and
their award-winning “Dan” commercial featuring Dan Keplinger, critically
acclaimed artist with a disability, the company was among the first
to offer bills in Braille and large print alternate formats, sponsor
National Disability Mentoring Day, participate in the FCC's Consumer
and Disability Telecommunications Advisory Committee, and establish
a policy of partnering with only TTY-compatible phones to best
serve their Deaf and hard of hearing customers.
ABOUT CINGULAR WIRELESS
Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between SBC Communications
(NYSE - SBC) and BellSouth (NYSE - BLS), serves more than 22 million
voice and data customers across the United States . A leader in
mobile voice and data communications, Cingular is the only U.S.
wireless carrier to offer Rollover, the wireless plan that lets
customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Cingular provides
cellular/PCS service in 43 of the top 50 markets nationwide, and
provides corporate e-mail and other advanced data services through
its GPRS and Mobitex packet data networks. Details of the company
are available at www.cingular.com .  |
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