Good morning everyone,

                My wife Mary began working from home in January. Until she's been using her Pack Mate for reading book files to be proofread. She's a Braille Proofreader with the Education Service Center Region 20. Thanks to our networking business we bought a Braille-Edge 40 from Hims Inc. and paid cash on the nail for it along with the executive case. When the deal was done we spent over $3000.00. Thanks again to our networking business we were able to skip the rehab line. Hims has been paid in full for this device and the executive case.

                In order to do her work more efficiently when she works here she wants to connect the Braille-Edge 40 to her laptop in order to read files directly from that computer.

                Yesterday we tried connecting the Braille-Edge 40 to the laptop and interface it with Jaws for Windows 2018. First we're not sure if the Braille-Edge driver is included in JFW 2018 or if we still need to install the driver on the CD that shipped with the unit.

                First we selected the "Braille-Edge" driver in Braille Options in JFW and added it to the list of Braille Displays and made the Braille-Edte the default Braille display. At no time did JFW prompt us to install the Braille-Edge driver leading us to believe that the driver shipped with Jaws 2018. We also restarted Jaws after adding the Braille-Edge so these settings would take effect as directed.

                After this process was completed Mary turned on the Braille-Edge 40 and attempted to put it into "Terminal Mode." She was able to select terminal mode but could not activate it using the commands given in the Braille-Edge 40 manual. We're not sure if the Braille-Edge 40 should have been turned on before or after JFW was restarted so Jaws would recognize it so Mary could begin reading her documents directly from the laptop.

                We attempted to contact both VFO and Hims for assistance with resolving this issue. VFO kept us on hold for ages and we gave up in disgust. When Mary tried calling Hims all she got was a recorded message. We have already had negative tech support experiences with Hims. Mary had some other questions. Instead of receiving a callback all she got from them was an E-Mail message giving her the steps to address the issue in question. At least VFO keeps their support lines manned with live agents who can be very helpful when you can connect with them. Considering what we spent with Hims wee expect the same level of service from any assistive technology company we do business with.

                Since Hims has an office in Austin and San Antonio is only a 2-hour drive from Austin there should be no problem for them to send someone down here to help us resolve this issue particularly since it's an employment-related matter. The only Braille-Edge user we know lives in Dallas. If there are Braille-Edge users in the San Antonio area that can assist us please contact us so Mary can have this situation resolved before she starts work when her spring break is over. Here is our contact information:

Peter and Mary Donahue:

Phone: (210) 826-9579

E-Mail:

Mary: braille@...

Peter: pdonahue2@...

                Here is where you Peel the Apple List members also come in. We need to pare the Braille-Edge 40 with our iDevices. We each have the iPhone 6+ and an iPad Air 2. If someone could tell us how to properly pair the Braille-Edge 40 with our iDevices that will be very helpful. It wouldn't hurt to have directions on how to pair it with the Mac should we decide to buy a Mac to avoid a situation like this in the future.

                We thought that the inability to reach tech support might have been due to their being at CSUN as that conference occurs in March. Further investigation indicated that CSUN doesn't begin until later this month. Hims should have never left itself volnuurable to being called out on the Internet. Having their phones manned with live tech support would have insured that this message would never have been posted to these lists particularly since we paid cash for the Braille-Edge 40 and the executive case. Had Mary been able to reach someone to help us resolve these issues over the phone or if necessary anon-site visit from Hims this message wouldn't be here today. When these issues are resolved we'll be fixed too. Thanks for reading. Here's hoping someone particularly someone from Hims will contact us to help us out. All the best.

Peter Donahue