Wifi Revolution

AT&T (News - Alert) will be providing free briefings to seniors on how to operate their mobile phones and on Internet cybersafety in various cities throughout the year.

 

Pilot briefings on mobile phones were reportedly hosted by OASIS, a national nonprofit educational organization for mature adults, with programming in at least 26 cities in the U.S.

 

Ken McNeely, president of AT&T California said that while the percentage of seniors (65+) using broadband at home nearly doubled from 2005 to 2007, they can fall victim to scams and other nefarious actions while online. Since more than four million seniors living here in California, AT&T decided to provide the collaborative educational programs like these.

 

AT&T teams in various states will use the OASIS model as a guide to reach out to other organizations and facilities that serve mature adults. During the pilots, AT&T volunteers provided one-on-one coaching to participants, answered their questions and helped them learn to use their current phones, regardless of which carrier they were using. Through this initiative, over 300 seniors have learned several functions of their mobile phones including basic inbound and outbound call techniques to text messaging functions.

 

Marcia Kerz, president of OASIS said in a statement that they are pleased to have launched this important and popular program for their members, who increasingly look to their mobile phones as a mode of communication with the outside world. She indicated that the participants responded very positively to the information they have learned.

 

AT&T will also hold its first cybersafety briefing for seniors on May 29, at an event hosted by the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged (NCBA) in Chicago. These briefings will eventually become available at various cities throughout the country.

 

The cybersafety briefings will cover the several topics including Spam and scams; Fraud and phishing; Identity theft; Privacy; Spyware; Social networking sites, including card games such as bridge and other activities.

 

 

 

 

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