A MOBILE phone company is helping more families to stay in touch following a change in its sales strategy.

Earlier this year, Orange began acting upon a survey which revealed that 80 per cent of people were only using ten per cent of their phone's capabilities. In May, the company launched its Learn initiative, which saw sales people across the country following training programmes to become phone trainers.

The trainers show people how to use the functions on their phones, and early findings from Orange shops around the region show that more people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are visiting stores to buy mobile phones or learn how to access functions and services.

"A lot more parents and grandparents are buying phones and using text messaging to stay in touch with kids who are going away to work or study," said Jamie Robson, a phone trainer at Orange's Darlington shop.

Linda and Brian Crosby, 61 and 62 respectively, used Darlington's Orange shop to find out how to transfer pictures from their photo phone to their home computer.

Mrs Crosby, from Welbury, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, said "We take pictures when we are travelling and we are creating a photo album on our computer."

Since the launch of the Learn campaign, Orange has helped 731 customers with phone e-mail and more than 200 customers with Wap (Internet access) services. More than 4,000 customers have had help with photo and sound messaging.

Maureen Dixon, regional public relations and sponsorship manager at Orange, said: "Clearly there has been a need for the Learn initiative. Society is changing and people are relying more on using mobiles to stay in touch."