In a survey conducted by Telenor, 44% of respondents said they plan to have less face-to-face encounters during the holidays due to the pandemic, and 50% of them consider it unlikely to meet their relatives, parents or grandparents living in a different household this year. It is the elderly who reduced their social interactions the most due to the pandemic. In the 60 to 69 age group, 64% reduced their number of direct contacts while this ratio is only 35% in the group of young adults (aged 18 to 29).
Online communication and digital devices help alleviate the consequences of isolation. Based on survey results, their use has been on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic and the older generation has become a lot more confident in the use of smart devices or e.g. online video chat applications. Nearly 30% of Hungarian internet users aged 60 to 69 chat more now than before the pandemic. With Christmas approaching, Telenor takes special care of the elderly and launches solutions tailored to their needs.
SOS Center helpline and Myki Spot: safety by the push of a button
The elderly may need immediate help in many situations when they cannot access members of their family. To address this need, Telenor has launched its nationwide 24x7 SOS Center helpline. The qualified healthcare staff of the SOS Center respond to customer calls on any day of the year – if an elderly person stumbles and falls, has difficulty to move, is lost or hears a suspicious noise in the house and wants the police to be called.
A useful gadget strongly recommended together with the SOS Center service or otherwise for the elderly and their family members is the MyKi Spot tracker including a positioning feature and an emergency SOS button. Slightly bigger than a box of matches, the gadget can be worn on a neck strap, on a belt or the shoulder strap of a bag. Users can set three emergency numbers automatically called by the device when the SOS button is pushed. At the same time, the called family member can see the position of the device remotely on the display of their mobile handset using the MyKi Spot app (available on Android or iOS). Using the gadget together with the SOS Center service offers an additional benefit: if the designated emergency contact doesn’t answer the phone when the SOS button is pushed (and the phone number of the SOS Center is added as an emergency number), the call is also transferred to the SOS Center where qualified staff provides assistance.
The SOS Center is available from Telenor for a monthly fee of HUF 990 without commitment using any mobile phone (but handsets featuring an SOS button are recommended). MyKi Spot is available with the Telenor Mini tariff plan. This tariff plan includes an unlimited number of calls to 2 numbers and 100 minutes of airtime within a HiperGroup for a monthly fee of HUF 1,990.
Two easy-to-use mobile phones with an SOS button and two special tariff plans for the elderly
As smartphones with a touchscreen are not ideal for many elderly users, Telenor is launching two feature phones with an SOS button. The classic-style Doro 7010 handset supports easy phone calls and messaging, while the clamshell-design Blaupunkt BS06 handset can also be used as a watch and a radio when placed in its charging cradle.
In response to the mobile usage habits of the elderly, Telenor has developed an attractively priced new Telenor Senior tariff that makes prepaid top-ups a thing of the past. When purchased in a HiperGroup without a handset, this tariff plan is available at a discount monthly fee of HUF 2,490. It includes an unlimited number of free calls within a HiperGroup, 50 minutes of domestic airtime and 50MB data.
For more details please visit: https://www.telenor.hu/csaladi-tarifak; https://www.telenor.hu/sos-kozpont; https://www.soskozpont.hu/telenor