Staying (digitally) Connected

Information from Nick Ozouf at JET:

As you may be aware, just before Christmas, The Disability Strategy Group received funding to support Islanders who have a disability (including long-term health conditions) who would not have otherwise been able to afford to stay connected over the Christmas period and JET was asked to coordinate this project on behalf of the disability strategy groups.

With the help of the providers in the Island, JT, Sure, Airtel/Vodafone and Homenet/Newtel we were able to put this in place and we helped more than 50 people to stay connected over Christmas and into the New Year. We still have some of the original Government funding for this project available and after consultation we want to continue to try and help those people with a disability or long-term health condition to stay connected during this uncertain time.

We hope to be able to continue to provide sufficient data and local calls for those most in need for a period of another month.

There will be no restrictions on what the data should be used for, but examples can be:- 

• Video calls with support workers or virtual learning for work-based support
• Having credit to be able to call support services such as Connect Me, charitable organisations and parish and Government departments
• Staying connected with friends and family where they cannot physically meet
• Support for people who are shielding
• General leisure and streaming TV / films

How it will work

We have arrangements in place with the four main providers:

JT, Sure, Airtel/Vodafone and Homenet /Newtel

Each provider is doing things slightly different but in essence:

1. We will need to know if the person is on a pay as you go deal or a contract.
2. The name of their provider (JT, Sure, Airtel/Vodafone or Homenet/Newtel)
3. The person’s mobile number
4. Each provider will then be given the relevant phone numbers and they will then arrange for a credit to be automatically placed to that number.
5. The individual will then receive an automated text confirming the credit.

In the case of clients with contract phones there is a different procedure. Please contact Nicholas.ozouf@jet.co.je  or call on 01534 788973 for further details.

We can only accept referrals for this scheme from organisations or charities. We cannot accept individual referrals.

What we need from charities/organisations working with clients:

1. For you to identify and create a list of people (with a disability or long-term health condition) in most need of this assistance.
2. What provider they use either JT, Sure, Airtel/Vodaphone or Homenet/Newtel
3. Whether they have a contract or pay as you go phone
4. And the person’s phone number (except for Homenet/Newtel where we will just issue with a unique code). We do not require their name.
5. We will follow the procedures as explained above.
6. Once the credit has been issued the person will receive an automated text from their provider as confirmation, as is usual with Pay as You Go phones.

Nick at JET will be able to offer limited assistance with this, so it would be great if your service could assist people who require support.  

The credit is not be transferable to others and the providers will only credit the specific individual’s mobile telephone number.

This offer does not apply to landlines.

Please email Nick at nicholas.ozouf@jet.co.je  with your list as soon as possible.  

The all-important feedback and suggestions:

We want to know that the support we offer in this way is the most targeted and gives the best support.  This can assist us in reviewing whether we can continue to provide access to support in this way. 

• Does this make a difference to you?
• Anything we should do differently?
• Do you (or your clients) have the correct tech or phones to be able to make most use of the scheme?  Older phones cannot always support apps or video and some phones do not support the contact tracing app. Is this a major barrier?

We are limited to approximately 175 voucher codes so please only send the names of people who are really in need. We will try to distribute the codes fairly amongst organisations this way. I have provided you with a spread sheet to assist you (please only send Nick the list for JET for data protection reasons we do not want the names)

Thanks all, let’s hope we can make the current situation better for some folks!