Ed's Telecom Alert

Other VRS Providers Comments to the NOI
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Sorry I don't have time to do summarization of each, but thought I'll list that posted to the FCC on NOI. Here are the links to various VRS providers...average is 50 pages long. I hope I matched the link to right provider right. ;-] Those of you with brave soul willing to read all, [...]
Thu, Aug 19 2010

Convo Posts its Comments on FCC’s Notice of Inquiry
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Normally I would quote statements or offer a brief summary, but the NOI has well over 150 questions. So you all will need to read them. Some comments are easy to understand and some are not. There are little over 50 pages. Convo Comments As soon as other VRS providers submit their NOI comments, [...]
Tue, Aug 17 2010

Dept of Justice Releases Advanced Notice of Proposed...
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. This is really exciting. Dept of Justice wants to hear from you all on various accessibility issues from ADA. Accessibility of Web Info and Services "The Department of Justice (Department) is considering revising the regulations implementing title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA or Act) in order to establish requirements for...
Thu, Jul 29 2010

ICED Resolution
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. My apologies to those who already got this, but I thought worth posting for those who may have not seen that one. ICED Resolution Quote "Therefore we: Reject all resolutions passed at the ICED Milan Congress in 1880 that denied the inclusion of sign languages in educational programs for Deaf students; Acknowledge and sincerely [...]
Thu, Jul 29 2010

Misc FCC News
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Here are misc news of happenings recently – short ones. 4 Petitioners Motion "An extension of time is necessary and in the public interest to allow interested parties to gather information, conduct meaningful dialogue concerning the intertwined and dynamic issues presented with respect to video relay service (“VRS”), and to allow commenter ...
Thu, Jul 29 2010

FCC Rejects SVRS’s Request for Stay of VRS Rates
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. From previous FCC announcement. "Sorenson filed a Motion for Stay of the effective date of the 2010-2011 VRS compensation rates and rules. Sorenson asked the Commission to continue providing VRS compensation pursuant to rates and rules in effect on June 30, 2010, pending review of the Order by the court of appeals. Sorenson also [...]
Mon, Jul 12 2010

FCC Notice Of Inquiry
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Ladies and Gentlemen, this NOI is very important and MOST certainly will have a far-reaching impact on defining exactly what VRS is and the rationale for compensation rates for VRS providers. This NOI will be exhausitive undertaking for sure. FCC quote:"In this Notice of Inquiry (NOI), we take a fresh look at the Commission's video relay [....
Wed, Jun 30 2010

FCC Adopts Interim Rates for VRS
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. The Interim Rates for VRS are finally out... Basically the FCC Order rejected the NECA's proposed rates and adopted the following interim rates for VRS. Rates New Tiered Rates: Tier I $6.24Tier II $6.23Tier III $5.07 Past (current) Tiered Rates were: Tier I ...
Tue, Jun 29 2010

Canada Assoc of the Deaf Submits Comments
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks... CAD – not unlike NAD – submit its comments along with Sign Relay Canada on FCC's ruling that no call centers outside of USA shall provide VRS for USA. CAD Comments Comments indicate that despite more than 8 years of lobbying by CAD, and other organizations as well as individual, Canada still does not have VRS. [....
Tue, Jun 08 2010

Letter to FCC from Congress Folks
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks... Check this out. Got this letter from an aide of a congressman of which I appreciate. 29 HR Reps Letter Quotable Quotes: "We note with concern that the Commission intends to shift from the long-term compensation method it adopted unanimously to a "cost plus" method which may not account for the real costs of provi...
Thu, Jun 03 2010

Broadband Access for Disabled Bill May Pass in 2010
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. Check this link out... Access Bill Quotable quote: "Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) announced that a piece of legislation guaranteeing broadband Internet access for disabled Americans will hopefully become law in 2010." Read the blog and then let your state Congress persons know that you want this bill to be passed.
...
Thu, Jun 03 2010

FCC’s Declaratory Ruling, Order, and Notice of Proposed...
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. This one has a short window of opportunity to comment. 14 days after federal publication which I think will be next week for Section V – A, Section V – B and V -E5, then 21 days for all other issues. I would love to know why each different deadline dates for each sections? I [...]
Fri, May 28 2010

Debt Report on Sorenson
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. In view of all the news regarding VRS rates and especially on SorensonVRS. This link was intriguing and clearly related to the VRS rates. It shows history way back to 2005 to recent May 2010. I am not sure what type of report it is; looks like a report analyzed and submitted to debt holders [...]
Thu, May 27 2010

Accessibility and Innovation Forum
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. This time is different issue, but still FCC related. Most certainly we need offer feedback on this important project. A&I Forum Message Quotes: "..plan to (1) launch a clearinghouse; (2) announce guidelines for the Chairman's Award for Accessibility and Innovation; (3) expand blog coverage of ongoing accessibility efforts in t...
Tue, May 18 2010

Additional VRS Providers Comments
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Here are more comments from other VRS providers. It is interesting to see how several VRS providers differ in their analysis of NECA rates. Keep in mind, however, that FCC has listed what are allowables and not allowable cost items for estimating reimbursement rates. I will just list just a few not allowable cost items (not [....
Mon, May 17 2010

FCC Comments on Health of VRS
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. FCC asked me to post this message to you all and I am happy to do that. For anyone who knows TRS, Karen Strauss is a well known advocate for "functional equivalence" for deaf/hoh. Joel Gruin clearly is a top dog in TRS issues. So read the message and know VRS will not collapse. eyes [...]
Mon, May 10 2010

New VRS Rates & Comments From VRS Providers
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks, As usual here is the disclaimer: I own Edsalert and also a co-founder of Convo so take the post for what it is. If you don't recognize me; my apologies. It was an accident. I usually give haircut by using 1/4" clip on a hair buzzer. As I was cutting my hair and [...]
Thu, May 06 2010

FCC Workshop On Expanding Disability Access
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. The title of workshop is "EXPANDING DISABILITY ACCESS WITH WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES". Quotes: * Mobile communications access issues facing people with disabilities and the disparities in technology access.* Ways in which new technologies can offer opportunities to meet the communications access needs of people with disabilities.* Techn...
Tue, Apr 27 2010

NECA Spring TRS Filing Presentation
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. Yours Truly attended one of the biannual meetings of Interstate TRS Advisory Council meeting at the National Harbor, MD on April 8, 2010. The meeting was an eye opener and I am happy to post the presentation by the NECA. Read the presentation carefully as it will ultimately impact y'all. NECA Presentation It explains...
Tue, Apr 13 2010

NECA Recommendations For New Contribution Factor
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc submits a revised cost for TRS Contribution Factor (telephone companies that pay into Interstate TRS Fund). Be warned, though, that this is report that only CPA loves. ;-] Quotes: "Actual demand for interstate relay services, particularly Video Relay Service ...
Wed, Mar 31 2010

Captioning on BlackBerry?
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. And it is free. So media folks have no excuse to say technology problems. "..today announced a new version of its popular do-it-yourself caption-authoring tool for digital media.." "..which can be used to create closed-captioned videos formatted for playback on BlackBerry® smartphones. As before, authors can continue to writ...
Mon, Mar 29 2010

Folks, Tom Chandler who has worked in the FCC 7 1/2 years...
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks, Tom Chandler who has worked in the FCC 7 1/2 years as Chief of Disability Rights Office (DRO) wrote his farewell letter. Today – March 26, 2010 is his last day with FCC. For those who may raise eyebrow on what the heck DRO is. DRO is the responsible department for overseeing relay services which [...]
Fri, Mar 26 2010

Inslee Letter to FCC
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Looks like Congress folks have noticed the recent FCC ruling. Five members of Congress has written a letter to the FCC regarding FCC's recent ruling on VRS. Inslee and Woolsey Letter Other congress folks on the signature: Eliot Engel, Mary BonoMack and Barbara Lee. Quotables: "The Commission's decision on how minu...
Thu, Mar 18 2010

Karen Strauss Now New Deputy Chief of Consumer Bureau
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Read the public notice. Finally FCC hires someone that at least understands TRS very well; after all she wrote a book on TRS. Deputy Chief Strauss Notable quotes: "Ms. Strauss will focus on disability issues, among other things, and will help the Commission to implement the components of the National Broadband Plan that ...
Fri, Mar 12 2010

FCC March 10 Panel Meeting
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Check this out: FCC Panel Meeting "This conference will bring together government officials, consumers with disabilities, industry groups, and academics to discuss how to fulfill Congress' vision that all Americans, including people with disabilities, share fully in the benefits of broadband." Also this: "The conference will explore the role of...
Sun, Mar 07 2010

FCC Ruling on VRS Staff and VCO Calls
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. I guess I need to make habit of saying the following remark first. Disclaimer: I am owner of Edsalert, and I also am a co-founder of Convo so take this post for what it is. That aside. FCC just now released ruling on problematic issues. FCC Ruling Quotable quotes: "First, we emphasize that VRS calls made by [...]
Thu, Feb 25 2010

Numbers Informative: IP Relay and VRS
Ed's Telecom Alert Yo Folks... Check the growth, but particular pay attention to 2008 and 2009 years. Upwards then slowly downwards. The end of Sept 2009, according to NECA website was 7,831,011 VRS Growth Got from NECA's reports the following: Projection vs Actual meaning what NECA projected based on historical data and its best analysis. ...
Sat, Feb 13 2010

FCC Enforcement Advisories
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. FCC is launching a new announcement regarding enforcement rules and such. Enforcement Advisories Quote: "The Enforcement Bureau will periodically release Enforcement Advisories, which are designed to educate businesses about and alert consumers to what's required by FCC rules, the purpose of those rules and why they're important to consumers, as ...
Thu, Feb 04 2010

Consumer Group Submits Petition to the FCC
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks... Consumer Groups – National Assoc of the Deaf, Telecomm for the Deaf and HOH, Assoc of Late-Deafened Adults, Inc., Deaf HOH Consumer Advocacy Network, Calif Coalition of Agencies Serving Deaf/HOH, Hearing Loss Associaiton of America, and America Assoc of the Deaf Blind – submits petition to the FCC. Basically Petition is asking the FCC to...
Fri, Jan 29 2010

Howard College Honors Two Deaf Persons
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Once a while I digress completely to different issue. This is one. HC Names Two Buildings to Deaf Persons Quotable: "The Howard College Board of Trustees gave special recognition to Dr. Douglas and Beatrice Burke by naming buildings on the SouthWest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf (SWCID) campus in their honor.." Dr. Douglas had passed away, and...
Thu, Jan 28 2010

All.. An ex-parte letter from Minority Media and...
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. An ex-parte letter from Minority Media and Telecommunications Council expressing concerns not unlike we deaf/hoh have. Minority Ex Parte Quotable quotes: "The Commission should ensure that net neutrality rules are neither written nor applied in a manner that adversely affects the participation of minorities online and in society." "..ensure tha...
Tue, Jan 26 2010

ADA Explained and (?) Apply to VRS?
Ed's Telecom Alert All... Hopefully this will help give clarity to what the [bleep] is going on with problems of VRS industry and federal governments (mainly FCC, though). Check this out... ADA Explained Title I covers employment. Does that mean companies/businesses who have deaf/hoh should pay for Interpreters to do conference calls? The problem ...
Tue, Jan 26 2010

VRS Industry Speaks Out
Ed's Telecom Alert All... Along the same topic on non-reimbursable minutes. Read on.. Four VRS Provider Ex Parte CSDVRS Ex Parte The underlying message is that the price of inaction may prove to be too great for most of VRS providers then ultimately VRS users suffer as result. eyes open & thumbs up, Ed Long Links:4 VRS [link] CSDVRS Ex Parte [link...
Thu, Jan 21 2010

Restrictions on VRS Features
Ed's Telecom Alert Hello everyone Quick disclaimer. I own edsalert and also a co-founder of Convo. So accept my vlog for what it is. I want to share with you all of a disturbing trend that the FCC had adopted restrictions of certain VRS features without actually releasing Public Notices that restrict these features for VRS industry. FCC [...]
Wed, Jan 20 2010

NAURC Letter to Congress Folks
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. This one is an interesting letter addressed to selected powerful congress people. NAURC is the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; in other words, Public Utility Commission, Public Service Commission, and any state regulatory agencies that overlook telephone, electricity and other utilities. Not all states agree with NARUC̵...
Sat, Jan 09 2010

Captioned Telephone Mandate Recommendation
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Captioned Telephony and VRS are one of the few features left that are not "required" by the TRS regulation. The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee has released a recommendation that Captioned Telephony be required so all states will have to comply and provide this valuable service for hard of hearing persons. If my memory serves me...
Wed, Jan 06 2010

VRS Projection/Actual
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Self explanatory.. VRS Projection/Actual eyes open & thumbs up, Ed Long Link: [link]
Wed, Dec 23 2009

Video Interpreter Ex Parte Presentation
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks... I see a few comments and emails here and there that basically said where are comments from groups of interpreters?Well..got this intriguing ex-parte presentation from a group of video interpreters with the name of "Video Interpreters United". Quote: "Most of the members of VIU are Communications Assistants i.e. Video Interpreters (“VIs&...
Tue, Dec 22 2009

Petition To Indefinitely Hold Porting Equipment Waiver
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. This is a CSDVRS Petition to the FCC to indefinitely hold waiver of CPE (video phones in this case) not to be portable to another VRS providers citing infeasible and technical difficulties. "..this porting requirement is unduly restrictive and burdensome to the VRS industry and cannot be readily accomplished". CSDVRS Petition Basically, CSDVRS...
Mon, Dec 21 2009

Public Workshop On Internet Access
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. This is seriously an important one! Although not specified for deaf/hoh/speech disabled persons, it does impact people with disabilities. So STRONGLY suggest you follow this, and encourage Movers and Shakers from the disability world to file comments or participate in these round of workshops. You, Gentle Readers, should likewise file ...
Mon, Dec 21 2009

FCC VRS Reform Workshop
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. On December 17 FCC coordinated a VRS Reform Workshop from 2 to 5 pm. By the way, I attended and so did most of VRS providers. The audience was mostly VRS representatives. I wore a tie which impeccable Jeff R complimented and suspected wife bought it for me (he was right). What must he think [...]
Thu, Dec 17 2009

Enhanced 911 System via Cell Phones
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. Wish all of states from USA would adopt that... Enhanced Cell Phones "..the next phase of the enhanced 911 system, residents will be able to text their 911 with their emergency" Keep in mind that emergency procedures are mostly controlled and financed by county, not by state or federeal. Texas, for example has a state emergency agency, bu...
Mon, Dec 14 2009

FCC Ruling on 800 #
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. The link will show you the full blown order by the FCC on 800 number. FCC Ruling Bottom line is FCC will waive its own requirements for 4 months regarding 800 # for VRS. "we [FCC] waive, on our own motion, for a period of four months, that portion of the Toll Free Clarification Public Notice [...]
Sun, Dec 06 2009

VRS 800 Issue
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. Many of VRS users are confused about 800; the 800 that are tied to 10 digit phone numbers are legit, and those 800 that are not tied to 10 digit phone number are not allowed. Huh? Generally speaking the majority of VRS users think "who cares? I just want the system to work!" So here [...]
Sat, Dec 05 2009

FCC Announces Workshop for VRS Reform
Ed's Telecom Alert Attention Everyone! FCC will hold a workshop on Dec 17 from 2 pm to 5 pm at the FCC's headquarter at Washington, DC, located at 445 12th St., SW. Workshop is primary for public and the purpose of workshop is to gather feedback from the public on the following list: One: VRS should be a [...]
Fri, Dec 04 2009

Federal Jursdiction over IP Services Sought by TechAmerica
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. This is an interesting letter as VRS Industry as well as a number of shakers and movers of deaf/hoh communities share the same vein of philosophy as this Tech America. Letter of Tech America were signed by: A T&T, Google, Microsoft, National Association of Manufacturers, TechAmerica,Telecommunications Industry Association, T-Mobile, Verizon, and VON ...
Fri, Dec 04 2009

FCC Still Support VRS
Ed's Telecom Alert Hello everyone! Since I became part of Convo Team, I have become very involved with activities of Convo. Now that the affairs of Convo have become bit more settled plus all the recent happenings – see the links below the comment, I will be more involved with Edsalert. Be aware that I own Edsalert and [...]
Wed, Nov 25 2009

Purple’s Request for Clarification
Ed's Telecom Alert All.. One word: wow – that was unique petition for rulemaking to clarify relay regulations by Purple – a VRS provider. Purple is arguing that some of the VRS practices should be allowed based on functional equivalence in terms of access. I will only highlight a few selected issues, do a very [...]
Thu, Aug 27 2009

Petition by CSDVRS
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. CSDVRS is petitioning FCC to initiate rule-making on regulation of provider representatives and their marketing practices. Basically, CSDVRS is claiming that a few VRS providers would use their marketing practices where their representative would threaten to take away their video phones if they do not use provider that gave video phones to VRS users, [...]
Thu, Aug 27 2009

Workshop: Broadband Oppty for Individual w/ Disability
Ed's Telecom Alert Folks.. Quote: “The goal of the workshop is to promote an open dialogue between the FCC, people with disabilities, advocates for people with disabilities, service providers, and other groups that have a stake in the future of broadband and its accessibility for people with disabilities.” Unquote. Those of you who cannot attend in person, can attend webinar. [...]
Thu, Aug 20 2009