D7.1 REACH112 Project Evaluation: performance of all elements in the value chain

Total Conversation is the set of European telecoms standards which mandate video, voice and text in Internet Communications. The European Commission co-funded a service implementation of a full provision in five countries (2009-2012). The pilot has provided person to person Total Conversation, person to relay services (in video, in voice and in text) and person to emergency services – directly and through relay. REACH112 UK has been a complex operation covering actions to recruit and train users throughout the value chain, to deliver appropriate telecoms technology (for registration, communication, tracking and monitoring), to provide a real telecoms service and to evaluate users engagement against the targets set and to assess the performance of the system.
Data collected from users indicates that the developments are welcomed, life-changing and liberating. There is very little question in the minds of Deaf end users that these services are required. Other users such as relay agents and emergency service call takers have embraced the training needed in order to provide the service and have very positive feedback on its use.
A cost benefit analysis has been carried out which confirms that the costs of running such a service per person and per month, are not high and scale very well – as more users join, the per person cost reduces. In a true design-for-all environment, actual costs will be relatively small.
Taken as a whole the project has been met with great enthusiasm. It has overcome major obstacles. It has evolved with the technological environment and has produced mobile, ubiquitous solutions which enthuse and encourage the inclusion of this group of people who have hitherto had difficulty with voice telephony.