Accessibility services.

On this page, you’ll find useful services for people with different abilities. This includes Emergency SMS, Directory enquiries, Voicemail, Interpreters!Live and Relay UK.

These services are designed to make communication easier for customers with accessibility needs. If you want to know more, you can contact our dedicated Accessibility team.

EmergencySMS.

The emergencySMS lets deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people send a text message to the UK 999 services. It’ll then be passed onto the police, ambulance, fire rescue, or coastguard.

If you need emergency assistance in the UK you can send an SMS to 999. The text will then be converted and passed to the appropriate emergency service.

You’ll need to register your phone by texting the word ‘register’ to 999 before using this service. You should then receive SMS messages about the service. Check out the EmergencySMS page for more information on how to register.

It's important to remember that from time to time things don't go according to plan. In exceptional circumstances, this service may not be available. So, until you get a reply to your emergency message, you should try other ways to contact the Emergency Services. Dial 18000 instead of 999 if you are a Relay UK user and using a textphone. Or simply tap the 999 button on the Relay UK app and confirm that you want to make an emergency call. You could also ask a neighbour, friend or passer-by to dial 999. Read more about Relay UK further down this page.

Don’t forget, as this is a UK-only service, it won’t work while abroad. If you’re in another country, please try other ways to contact the local emergency services. You could ask someone who is with you or a passer-by. In Europe the local number will be 112.

Directory enquiries.

We offer a free directory enquiries phone service to our disabled customers on 195. Before you can use it, you’ll need to register for Three’s Accessibility services and the 195 directory enquiries service by contacting us.

You won't be charged for calling 195 and you can ask for multiple searches for UK residential and business listings. If you ask the operator to connect you, once connected, your call will be charged at the standard rate for your price plan. Or it'll come out of your allowance. This applies if you’re a Pay As You Go customer with an Add-on too.

InterpretersLive! - the video relay service.

You can use InterpretersLive! to contact us through a sign language interpreter.

When accessing the service for the first time through a tablet or phone, contact InterpretersLive! for your free app invitation.

You’ll need:

• A Windows, Mac, Android or iOS device
• a webcam or inbuilt camera in your device
• a broadband upload speed of 1MB
• Adobe Flash Player.

InterpretersLive! will work on Google Chrome version 46+, Firefox version 45+ and Opera version 39+. If you’re using Safari 9 or Internet Explorer 11, download the plug-in when asked. You’ll only need to do this once, next time you’ll be taken straight to the call button.

If you want to talk to InterpretersLive! or are having problems with their service you can:

• Watch their troubleshooting guide or read it.
• Contact them directly.
• Follow their complaints guidelines.

Relay UK.

We support Relay UK, the national service for customers who need to make or receive calls in text, due to hearing and/or speech difficulties.

If you can’t speak or hear on the phone, or you prefer not to, Relay UK lets you have conversations by using the internet or a textphone. You can also download the Relay UK app onto your smartphone or tablet to use it on the go.

Text direct access prefixes are the codes you need to dial before dialing the number of the person you are calling. These are:

• 18001 for Text to Voice
• 18002 for Voice to Text.

To use this service when contacting Emergency Services, dial 18000 using your textphone.

How you use Relay UK depends on your needs. The options available are:

• Type and Read (for those who can’t hear and don’t use their voice).
• Speak and Read (for those who can’t hear but can use their voice).
• Type and Hear (for those who can hear but don’t use their voice).
• Speak and Hear (for those who have some hearing and do use their voice).

There are many different ways to use Relay UK. If you’ve got a landline or mobile phone you can use these for the voice part of the conversation. At the same time, you can use your PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet to also see the text if you choose to. Or you might have a smartphone which lets you use both the internet and the phone together. If so, you can hear, read and speak using the smartphone. These are just two ways you can use the service.

You can also now make calls to international numbers from the UK. To do this, just dial 18001 (from the phone you linked to Relay UK), followed by the full international number starting with 00. For example, 18001001 for a number in the USA or 180010049 for a number in Germany.

Relay assistants only speak English, so won’t be able to translate in calls between different languages.

For more details and for more information on the service and how it works, please visit www.relayuk.bt.com.

For full prices please check our price guides.

You can access your voicemail by dialling 18001 07782 333 123. Please note that the short code 123 will no longer work.

Emergency text relay.

To use the Text Relay service when contacting Emergency Services, dial 18000 using your Relay UK App or textphone.

Please note that this service is not designed for use outside of the UK as it only connects you to the UK Emergency Services. Other ways of contacting the local Emergency Services when abroad should be used instead, such as calling 112 (if in Europe) or the relevant local emergency services number directly if possible or asking someone with you or a passer-by for assistance in calling Emergency Services.