Anybody doing home based support in Portland Oregon?

[carmen617]

I help an old man remotely from across the country. He's starting to have memory issues and it's getting harder and harder to talk him through what needs to be done. Looking for someone local to him (SE Portland) to make the occasional fixit visit, things like getting him signed in to his Netflix account, reconnecting a security camera I set up for him last time I was there, or figuring out why his Android phone is stuck in airplane mode - it's just too hard to get him to press the right buttons via Zoom or over the phone.

If you are there, or know someone I might contact to do this stuff, please let me know!

 

[britechguy]

why his Android phone is stuck in airplane mode - it's just too hard to get him to press the right buttons via Zoom or over the phone.

Not answering your big question, but do be aware that remote control software for Android devices (and controlled either by another Android device or the PC) is widely available. I've got a client where I have to tweak Android stuff on her phone on occasion and we've used AnyDesk. I believe RustDesk also has an Android port, too.

I can consistently get her to activate the remote control app and then I can take it from there.

 

[carmen617]

Not answering your big question, but do be aware that remote control software for Android devices (and controlled either by another Android device or the PC) is widely available. I've got a client where I have to tweak Android stuff on her phone on occasion and we've used AnyDesk. I believe RustDesk also has an Android port, too.

I can consistently get her to activate the remote control app and then I can take it from there.

I have Splashtop SOS on his Android, but it doesn't do me any good when he can't get past it being in airplane mode, sigh.

 

[britechguy]

I gather he lives alone. Does he have any "regularly scheduled help" (e.g., housecleaner, meals on wheels) that shows up at his door?

In circumstances like the one you're in I've resorted to recruiting the 2 minutes of help I need from any source I can get it from. It is a grand PITA that it's in Airplane Mode and, thus, out of contact with the world at large.

One thing I can definitely recommend (and you've probably done it already) is to make sure that the Settings app is NOT on his home page(s). The fewer buttons conveniently available to push, toggles to throw, etc., the better in cases like this. I strip 'em down to the bare minimum for the things they state that they want or need to do with the phone. All else is hidden or, when possible, removed.

 

[carmen617]

I gather he lives alone. Does he have any "regularly scheduled help" (e.g., housecleaner, meals on wheels) that shows up at his door?

In circumstances like the one you're in I've resorted to recruiting the 2 minutes of help I need from any source I can get it from. It is a grand PITA that it's in Airplane Mode and, thus, out of contact with the world at large.

One thing I can definitely recommend (and you've probably done it already) is to make sure that the Settings app is NOT on his home page(s). The fewer buttons conveniently available to push, toggles to throw, etc., the better in cases like this. I strip 'em down to the bare minimum for the things they state that they want or need to do with the phone. All else is hidden or, when possible, removed.

Yes, he lives alone. No, there's nobody I can easily call. This isn't a client of mine, per se - it's an old on-line friend, and I have been helping him with tech issues for many years. I fly there once or twice a year, but it's getting to the point where I need feet on the ground rather than waiting for me to be able to show up. It's easy money for someone with normal computer and consumer electronics support skills.

He has a land line and an internet connection, but they both went down this weekend (external line problem) and I ended up having to send the police to do a wellness check because there was no other way to get in touch with him, and he had no idea why his Skype chat messages to me weren't getting through. The police officer was nice enough to try to get his cell phone working, but he couldn't get it out of airplane mode. It might need to be replaced, which is fine, but he won't be able to deal with that on his own. As it was, it took two days for CenturyLink to send a tech to fix the internet/phone issue, and so we are back in "normal" communication mode, but there are some residual issues, and I don't have time to fly to Portland for a few weeks.

 

[britechguy]

Not that I don't understand what you're trying to do here, as I've been in similar situations and asked here about techs in various areas.

But with specific regard to the smartphone, it sounds like he's got a landline that he can use when it's working, so sending the phone to you would be an option should you wish to exercise it. He's dead in the water with that as is, so it's going to sit until a tech can work on it whether that's you, very remotely but with device in hand, or not.

 

[carmen617]

Not that I don't understand what you're trying to do here, as I've been in similar situations and asked here about techs in various areas.

But with specific regard to the smartphone, it sounds like he's got a landline that he can use when it's working, so sending the phone to you would be an option should you wish to exercise it. He's dead in the water with that as is, so it's going to sit until a tech can work on it whether that's you, very remotely but with device in hand, or not.

Good idea, phone's on its way to me now. He keeps putting it into voice activated mode, happens when you hold the down both volume keys long enough to make the phone think that what you want. Of course, he's long pressing the volume keys thinking it's going to turn on the phone. Will try to see if I can disable that function.

 

[britechguy]

In general (and, believe me, I know based on the work I do for the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired) a long press of both volume up and down simultaneously activates TalkBack, the screen reader under Android. And unless you know how to use it, that's the last thing you want to happen.

If you look in Settings, Talkback you will likely find a toggle for the TalkBack shortcut, which is "Hold volume keys" by default. Make sure that toggle is thrown to OFF.

 

[carmen617]

Bumping this thread, as I am still looking for feet on the ground in Portland, Oregon. This time the CenturyLink outage has lasted for 4 days already, with an estimated repair date 3 days from now, leaving an 80 plus year old with health and memory issues with no internet or landline for an entire week. I am thinking it's time to switch to Comcast, but I need someone to install the modem and make sure all devices are connected. Anybody in the Portland area who can take this on?