Ed’s Telecom Alert

All..

A little background is needed to help better understand how subsidization for relay service works.    The TRS providers who have been approved to receive reimbursement rates will on a monthly basis submit conversation minutes to the FCC.  Conversation Minutes means conversation between deaf and hearing persons; the start up and wrap up times with relay agents or video interpreters are not counted as conversation minutes.    FCC will pay relay providers from Interstate TRS Fund based on the total conversation minutes accured for a month.  

The Fund Administrator collects funds from all identified telecommunications carriers.  When a carrier does not pay, they can face penalties from the FCC.  This link shows that happening to one company.

This is good to know that the FCC is not letting companies "get away" with it by not paying into Interstate TRS Fund. The TRS Fund is what is paying for all Internet-enabled relay service and Interstate relay calls (traditional tty).   

FCC Penalizes A Company for non payment

International Telecom Exchange is being penalized for two reasons:   not responding to the FCC’s requests in a timely manner and second not paying into TRS Fund.  

The link provides additional details on this.   Kudos to the FCC for doing that! 

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed
RT Admin.

All..

New service for persons with speech disabilities.   Not exactly free, about 10 cents per min.  

http://www.mysitris.com/

This is where a person with speech disabilities can use a program on website to convert pre-typed message/phrases into voice. Persons with speech disabilities can list as many messages/phrases they can use to select to convert into voice for the called party. Cool program as it allows the person to choose male or female voice, control the pitch of voice, etc.  

Check also:

http://www.speechtospeech.org/stirispr.html  Dr Bob Segalman is father of Speech-To-Speech (STS).   Here he gives a tip that by utilizing both STS and SITRIS, the conversation thus becomes more efficient where persons can either speak for himself, or choose SITRIS to speak for the person.  

The combination, I think, is an ideal cuz it offers persons with speech disabilities a choice to speak for themselves or let the program speak or do a combination.   If he or she speaks for himself and called part did not understand, then can use SITRIS to do the talking by selecting pre-typed text message. 

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed
RT Admin. 

 All.

 Ach, USA is a slow poke when it comes to speed of Internet worldwide.  

USA Lagging Behind

The link shows USA has avg of 2 megabits per second (Mbps) when compared to Japan that enjoys a whooping 51 Mbps, South Korea 45 Mbps, and Canada 7 Mbps.  

Article shows fast Internet affects business opportunities, and, of course, for us deafies - fast is best for video conference for a good quality. 

Read on and grimance. 

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed
RT Admin. 

PS: definitions on MBps and its related topic check these out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_internet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbit/s