Blind brother, zoom call-in, need better solution

[computerwiz]

So we have a blind brother in our hall, and to get him connected to our meetings, I call him & initiate a 3-way conference & then call Zoom's number and put my phone on hold/mute so he can listen in.

 

That works great and all, until he accidentally blocked my number.  And he's 3 hours away in a rehab facility, so I can't go fix it.  And so I'm using someone else's phone to call him, but other people can be....reluctant...to tie up their phone for a whole meeting.  

 

I don't like it either, but it's the only solution I have.

 

Anyone have a better idea of how we can get the brother connected to Zoom by calling him?  We could get a KH landline that supports 3-way...just no one would be able to call the Hall.  But that only happens maybe twice a year.  So maybe that's the answer...

 

Any other ideas?

 

[Tortuga]

Have you asked the rehab facility management if they have any provisions for religious meetings? They may assign a staff member to connect him to Zoom for each meeting.

[Myew]

To do it by calling him, the only option that I can think of is getting a VOIP that you can run from any spare device or a second cheap SIM/eSIM. Years ago when I tied into the meetings by phone through KHConf I used a Skype number (though it looked like the call was coming from my own phone number), it was around $3 a month.

Our blind brother calls in to the Zoom meeting on his phone or from his computer.
We also still livestream our meetings from Zoom to KHConf for a few who don't have reliable internet or are unable to use computers and only use the telephone. https://www.khconf.com/

Edited January 3 by Myew

[DarinS]

The branch does have a few suggestions on how to conduct or provide meetings for those who are blind or deaf

You could always contact your local branch and they will provide you a document or someone who specializes in that field at Bethel

 

Locally, we have a set up because we have ASL

But we have also used the Kingdom Hall computer with VOIP… voice over IP

Think WhatsApp phone calling from your mobile device

You could also have a secondary laptop connected to the Kingdom Hall Wi-Fi

You could leverage an iPad connected to the Kingdom Hall Wi-Fi and dial out using WhatsApp or Google voice

 

There are quite a few resources available leveraging technology….

 

But I would definitely speak to the facility. Sometimes they have a dedicated room and piece of equipment or a cart with dedicated equipment to help with video conferences even if you’re just using audio for patient to patient or patient to doctor or patient to religious meeting.

[Myew]

It looks like Skype Number is no longer available, but Skype to Phone appears to be $3/mo for USA. However, I'm unsure if it still needs to appear as if the call is coming from your phone number, which may still result in it being blocked. But maybe you can attach it to a friend's number.
https://www.skype.com/en/international-calls/United States

Edited January 3 by Myew

[Tortuga]

5 minutes ago, DarinS said:

But I would definitely speak to the facility. Sometimes they have a dedicated room and piece of equipment or a cart with dedicated equipment to help with video conferences even if you’re just using audio for patient to patient or patient to doctor or patient to religious meeting.

A rehab facility in my area is very helpful with religious meetings or visits. They understand that a strong religious and social connection is important for the patient, so they do what they can to ensure the patient is able to connect.

[computerwiz]

26 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

A rehab facility in my area is very helpful with religious meetings or visits. They understand that a strong religious and social connection is important for the patient, so they do what they can to ensure the patient is able to connect.

 

I wish I could trust that would be the case here, but reliability & dependability are severely missing around here, even in the congregation.

 

The brother who brought him into the truth moved and dropped this blind brother & gave no one a heads-up.  He had gone 2 months without any meeting.  Then the group overseer he was assigned to, whom I made sure I told....never contacted him for his meetings.  After another couple months, I took him into my group and found out all this, then I've taken upon myself to stay on top of getting him connected ever since.

 

Even if he got the facility to agree and stay on top of it, when he goes home, I wouldn't know.  Then he'd be in the same sad situation again.

 

His grand-daughter was supposed to help him unblock me from his phone on Christmas Eve.  Guess what....I'm still blocked!  I just don't trust other people to be dependable for things.    So I just used someone else's phone for the last meeting.

 

Skype

KHConf

VOIP

 

Good ideas...will have to dig into them.  

[Patience87]

5 hours ago, computerwiz said:

 

I wish I could trust that would be the case here, but reliability & dependability are severely missing around here, even in the congregation.

 

The brother who brought him into the truth moved and dropped this blind brother & gave no one a heads-up.  He had gone 2 months without any meeting.  Then the group overseer he was assigned to, whom I made sure I told....never contacted him for his meetings.  After another couple months, I took him into my group and found out all this, then I've taken upon myself to stay on top of getting him connected ever since.

 

Even if he got the facility to agree and stay on top of it, when he goes home, I wouldn't know.  Then he'd be in the same sad situation again.

 

His grand-daughter was supposed to help him unblock me from his phone on Christmas Eve.  Guess what....I'm still blocked!  I just don't trust other people to be dependable for things.    So I just used someone else's phone for the last meeting.

 

Skype

KHConf

VOIP

 

Good ideas...will have to dig into them.  

While I do not know why the others have failed our blind brother, I am grateful to you for caring so much for one of Jehovah's little sheep. I will give the others the benefit of the doubt that they had more pressing matters to attend to, but I did want to thank you for going above and beyond. I know many of us are very busy in this time of the end, but we still should not ignore our brothers and sisters or brush them off. Especially when helping them to just get to the meeting, even if only on zoom. We are being constantly reminded of this, so you are setting a good example that we all need to follow. Keep it up! 

[Qapla]

Not sure if this will help but they claim to have computers designed for the blind at affordable prices. You may have to contact them to see if it would allow a blind person to use Zoom

 

https://computersfortheblind.org/application/

 

[Pabo]

Have you thought of using a remote software app (eg Teamviewer, Splashtop, Logmein) that you can use to activate his Zoom on a device where he is located? 

 

I personally use Splashtop and I can have 10 devices that I can remotely access from anywhere as long as the device is on and has an internet connection. I have my mother's laptop, computer connected to our TV, the KH sound desk computer and one of my work computers one my list of devices that I can remotely connect to.

 

I had freaked out a LDC brother during one of our local LDC meetings when I sat with along the other brothers in the auditorium and controlled the images that he wanted to display from my phone.