COMPANY NAME: Vodafone UK

CLICKHEAR COMMENT: On the 1st of January 1985 Vodafone made the first mobile call. This momentous moment was to transform the communications world. Since then Vodafone have gone on to being the largest telecommunications company of its kind globally with a customer base of over 100 million.

Their vision is based on continuing to understand the multiple benefits of mobile communications.

On the 4th of October 2002 they introduced the “Vodafone Talk By Text”, a new pay monthly price plan, to add to their ever growing products and services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people.

For just £19.99 a month, the ‘Talk By Text’ price plan includes a number of services which improve communications for people who have problems hearing a phone or who prefer silent communication.

These include:

• 300 text messages - a great form of communication for everyone, especially Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, enabling them to communicate on a par with their hearing peers without drawing attention to their disability.
  
• 100 minutes of WAP access, enabling people to have conversational texting using WAP chat via Vizzavi, and offering the latest mobile information and entertainment services.
  
• No inclusive voice calls - ensuring Deaf and Hard of Hearing people are not penalised by paying for something they use rarely, if ever.
  
• Attractive Respond Plus rates - enabling Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to receive voice messages which are answered by a professional operator and sent as a standard text message to a customers phone. ‘Talk by Text’ subscribers will only pay for the delivery of the text message whilst the inbound call will be free of charge, effectively cutting in half the cost of the Respond Plus Voice to Text answering service, so overall they finish up paying the same as their hearing peers.

Deafclicks like the vision of Vodafone ‘to remain at the front of innovative service developments in the field of mobile communications’ and are pleased to have formed this business relationship to help the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.