I agree with the poster upthread that JAWS is powerful (and Kurzweil has been a standard for years), but in my experience it is also pretty complicated for a novice user.

Have a look at what the Trace R&D Center has to offer on the topic. In addition to developing accessibility standards and technology, they are an amazing resource for information on AT in general. They used to have a very good "information and referral" service, though I'm not sure if that's part of their mission now.

A couple of other good resource are ABLEDATA assistive tech database, and assistivetech.net.

If you live in the upper midwest and feel like shelling out a few bucks to have your mind blown by current trends in AT, make a point of attending the Closing the Gap conference in Minneapolis next October.

Probably this is more information than you were looking for, but it does make for interesting reading!

hth

I'm curious, why no mention _at_all_ of uscellular? Are they like the aol of phone companies?

They were the only provider available in my neck of the woods when I first signed up several years ago. The price is reasonable, coverage is pretty good (I have the unlimited roaming though, so I don't pay much attention), and they offer a blackberry if that's what you like.