Quoting snipped-for-privacy@telecom-digest.org:
***** Moderator's Note *****[snip]
The Peek Pronto has gotten mixed reviews:
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> You can pay $16.67 per month if you use the quarterly plan, so that
> adds up to $200/yr instead of $180 for yearly payments. For that, you
> get email and text - but not IM - and the dubious pleasure of carrying
> around yet-another-tech-toy.
>
> In any case, I'd be very uncomfortable recommending so small a
> keyboard and/or device to someone recovering from a CVA: motion
> impairments are often compounded by insensitivity-to-touch and
> clumsiness, which would result in a lot of breakage. This device is
> intended for hard-core text addicts who don't like to talk, not for > stroke victims.
>
> Bill Horne
> Modeator
Actually, the Peek Pronto's unlimited mobile email and SMS costs only $15/month if you pay $180/year upfront. Not bad if you're speech-impaired and can't talk. It works over T-Mobile's network. Not sure if it roams on AT&T, but at that low flat rate I doubt it (judging from T-Mobile's previous practice of dropping customers who roamed too much on AT&T's network.)
As for the Peek keyboard being suitable for stroke victims, that depends. The Peek device has an excellent keyboard as far as layout and tactile feel, and it's larger than any Blackberry keyboard. Plus it's built like a tank. The proposed user in this case has successfully tapped out text on a virtual keyboard on modified Nintendo DS, so the Peek would be easier for him. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
My original question to the list remains unanswered: Do Telecom list members have any ideas for using Peek's email messaging to communicate with people who only have a POTS line and no computer? How about email-to-POTS speech translation? POTS speech-to-email? Do email-to-TTY/TDD Relay Service gateways exist? Other ideas?
-Ed