82 for RETAIL
71 for FREE.

It is obviously not a runaway race.

Poll vote will stop at the end of July.

We’ll see what kind of total it will be. Of course, this is not a true sampling of all, but it does give us a pause and wonder..

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed B

Understood and thanks for ur thoughts. They’re appreciated.

One comment to ur last paragraph. You’re right “..compensation tends to change the dynamics..”. The way I see it, though is that there are now 11 VRS providers and two or three more coming up. So far none of them have filed for bankruptcy. or closed the shop. This tells me VRS providers ALREADY have plenty of incentives to stay in VRS business. What we’re seeing is flurry of new video phones from VRS industry; I am pretty sure it is because of the very nice reimbursements rates. Woes or whines from VRS providers do not tell the true story; simply by looking at the business side of it tells the story – at least outlying part of it and none of them close shops. Maybe it is “not yet”. I don’t know, but not happening now.

Even tho VRS has been around a while, it is still in its infancy so we all – VRS providers, consumers, and government – are going thru growing pains. The recent Rule and Order from the FCC bears that out. Eventually, I’m sure we’ll find a happy balance down in the future- I hope “NEAR” future though.

We truly are in exciting times!

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed B

First, the big part of the reason why we have free VP in the first place is because the relay companies have incentive to give us the VP for free. The more people who have VP, the more the interpreters are utilized. The higher utilization means that they get paid for providing more service by the FCC. I see no reason why VP cannot be free under those circumstances. In another words, I believe that free VP, and all of its “rules” of usage is a symptom of the fact that the FCC is paying them by the minute for providing interpreting service.

Another symptom is…they don’t have much of an incentive to encourage or help hearing people call deaf people directly using their VP. The thing I don’t particularly like is — to combat that symptom, we are setting up laws and regulations saying that the VP companies have to allow their VP to be used by other companies. That is yet another layer or rules, making the law a bit more complicated.

Now, I don’t know a good solution to this…but what I’d like to do is maybe rethink how the VRS provider is compensated for their service. Any form of compensation will tend to change the dynamics of how the market will respond, and in some cases cause things that we don’t want. The question is are we really better off because of it?

I got quite a few private emails asking me why I did this poll. This issue always has been an issue for me, but I became curious when I started receiving complaints from grassroots folks about these free VPs. Not many though. To actually receive complaints because of free VPs was in itself unusual so I decided to try this poll. So far poll seems to bear that out.

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed B

Disclaimer, of course, is who the subscribers are. Most if not nearly all are interested in TRS issues so they subscribe edsalert. What about the teeming masses of grassroots folks who do not give a damn about the underlying issues of TRS? Even so, I thought it was insightful. The comments were particularly valuable.

Daryl, your suggestion of state association/clubs distributing VP to earn points is intriguing. I will have to think about that. Regardless, it shows that there are possibilities. There are, of course, ethical considerations one needs to consider before taking on any of new ideas.

Keep comments coming; they are valuable.

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed B

I did not vote either because I want to support both free and retail VP options.

Hmmm…

Purchasing videophones would mean that the startup menu will, like TTYs, be generic and acceptable by organizations who must be neutral such as the public government agencies and various equipment distribution programs, to name a few.