Your Accessibility Options

Innovators in VoIP have created different tools and features to make VoIP products more accessible and user-friendly for people with disabilities. This guide will explore the different options you can consider implementing to make using your SpectrumVoIP services more accessible for all users. 

Use Our Softphone App on a Mobile Device or PC

If you use a screen reader or magnifier program on a mobile device or PC, you can use a SpectrumVoIP softphone app on your preferred device so that you can utilize these programs alongside your SpectrumVoIP services. 

To learn more about the SpectrumVoIP mobile app that you can use, please contact our technical support team. 

Large Button Phones

Some users prefer to use desk phones with larger buttons to make dialing easier. 

If you own a desk phone that you would like to use alongside your SpectrumVoIP services, contact our support team to see if it is possible to use that model of phone alongside our services. 

If your preferred desk phone is an analog phone, connecting an Analog Telephone Adapter may be a viable solution. If the phone is a VoIP model, then our team can check if that particular phone is compatible with our platform. 

The 5 Button on Dial Pads

Most modern phones will include bumps to indicate the position of numbers on the phone's dial pad. The number key that most commonly includes a bump is the button for the number 5. It is standard for many keyboards and phone dial pads to have the 5-button located in the center of their number pads. 

Use Braille Stickers

If you own a desk phone that lacks bumps for locating numbers on its dial pad, then using braille stickers may be a great alternative. Some users order braille stickers or create their own using a braille label maker. 

These stickers can be placed on the buttons of a phone's dial pad. Creating custom stickers for speed dial buttons can be useful as well.

Invest in an Expansion Module

Expansion modules, also known as sidecars, can be connected to a desk phone to allow more speed dial buttons to be stored and used. Many operators will have the sidecar of their phone only store speed dials for their contacts so that they can avoid having to switch pages on the phone itself to locate speed dials. 

Using speed dials can help make calling contacts efficient and more accessible. If you have multiple speed dials you frequently use, consider buying and connecting an expansion module to your phone for storing them. Some users with low vision place braille stickers next to the speed dial buttons on their sidecars to make locating specific speed dials easier. 

Adjust a Phone's Display Settings

Modern desk phones that you may use have a backlit screen to make screens brighter and easier to see. If you have a sensitivity to light or a vision impairment, the backlight's brightness/level can be adjusted.

If you are using a desk phone with a graphical LCD, you can adjust the contrast of the screen to make the text on the screen clearer to read. Screens that use a color LCD screen may not have a setting for adjusting the Contrast of the screen; however, these phones may include settings 

Update a Phone's Delay for Automatically Dialing

Some phones have a setting that will automatically dial the numbers that have been typed in after a brief delay. This delay may be too short, which can be frustrating for users in the process of dialing. 

If you would like to have the automatic dial delay for your phone adjusted, contact our support team to have one of our support specialists assist you. 

Set Up Ringback for Parked Calls

Most modern phones have indicator lights that can be used for indicating the status of functions like holding calls, parked calls, and the status of users contacted by BLF keys. To make it easier to tell when a call is parked, ringback can be enabled. 

When this ringback feature is enabled, there will be a delay before phones will ring to indicate there is a parked call. When the call is accepted by a phone, the parked call will be transferred to that phone. 

If you would like ringback to be enabled for parked calls on your account, contact our support team so that a support specialist can help implement this feature. 

Set Voicemailboxes to Announce Caller Information

Some users may find it useful to have their mailboxes set to announce information about a voicemail message left. 
The pieces of information that can be announced include the following:

• The caller's caller ID information. 
• The time and date the message was left. 
• The duration of the message. 

If you would like a user's mailbox to announce any of the information listed above, contact our support team.