HamiltonVRS Bows Out of VRS Industry
2 12 2008All..
Well, well..looks like HamiltonVRS will no longer be involved in the VRS world. Check out the link..
Birnbaum Interpreting Service (BIS) had contract with HamiltonVRS and not too long ago they parted their ways. BIS now has contract with CSDVRS. So I guess that played a part in HamiltonVRS’s decision to get out of VRS industry.
Hamilton Relay, however, will continue to provide other features of relay service as the letter sez. Good luck to you, Hamilton Folks.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed B
I never like the Hamilton Relay Service. The relay operators often were very rude like overtaking my relay conversation or cutted me off without leaving any message.
I did give the clear instruction before dialing the number. I explained that I rather bypassed the recorded message and left the phone message immediately. Guess what? I was cutted off without any explaination.
I did use the Hamilton Relay Service few times and never liked it!
RLM
Bad interpreters worked for HamiltonVRS belong to BIS so CSDVRS will be your hatred in turn. haha
RLM,
Actually ALL VRS providers have their share of “bad” interpreters. VRS providers are scraping the bottom of pool to get any interpreters they can find. ALL VRS providers have very good interpreters – and maybe I’m optimistic at extreme level, but I think most of VIs are passable.
I just hope that if not all, then at least most have good training program.
This raised another issue that I’ve been debating on doing a vlog. Should VIs be certified or not? Be on the lookout for that…
Ed B
Oh boy, every VRS is not perfect. I am not happy with every VRS service and I don’t expect them to be perfect as Gods and Goddesses! LOL! Humans always make errors and they keep practice, practice, practice to be best as close as to be “Perfect-like” they could be.
I give them A LOT of credits for their efforts. Praise every one you can. I believe in giving everyone a chance. (Do treat them as you wanted to be treated. Give them chances as you want them to give you chances, vice versa!) So, please give VRS companies a break, they do their best they can. It’s great thing to have many VRS services that I can choose without being forced. If I don’t like, I switch to next VRS. I will do again if I don’t like it. If I like one VRS, I stay. Same thing you do with Sprint, ATT, Vonage, Alltel, TMobile, etc.
As long as VRS is accessible for all of us, They provide us the best service they can. Thanks to ADA. Thats all matters.
Hey, Hamilton VRS, Thank you for your great service, your dedication, your effort, your energy and your time to Deaf Community. I admire your bravery and courage to provide the services that Deafies can have. Thank you and Good Luck to all of you the staffs at Hamilton VRS. Happy Holidays to you all.
Cheers!
First of all, I should be more clear with my sayings.
I called the Hamilton Relay Service thru the Communication Assistant (CA), not terps. They mismanaged my relay calls more than four times.
RLM
ahh that mean there are shortage of asl interpreters? hint? I can’t help but already noticed VRS have terrible interpreters.
In my dream, in the near future, FCC can pay to Deaf users who talk with Deaf people at home for personal use. I feel enough for FCC’s paying to VI’s. Actually, I am tired of hearing ppl (VIs, street terps, and hospital VIs) who have fancy level than Deaf ppl. Where are Deaf ppl? Like CDI. They are small numbers and required to become a certfied one. Why not having different ones instead of CDI? They aren’t fancy yet
Curious, does FCC oversee the VRS providers regarding quality of interpreters?
Let me know. Thanks!
Deb M,
No. The FCC does provide language in regulation, but does not actually oversee quality of video interpreters. Theoretically, one could file complaints with the FCC on low-quality interpreting from VRS. A single complaint won’t do the trick. A large number of complaints from zillion VRS users will get FCC’s attention.
Ed B
Ed
Thanks for your clarification. Hmm, this is something we, deaf community need to unite together to form a petition and send out emails to people to add their names to petition that might do the trick to get FCC attention.
What do you think? Taylor did that by creating peitition asked FCC to force Sorenson to open directory and seems to have succeed.
Deb M,
If you mean petition that VIs should be certified or not? Let me do a vlog on this of which I will do pro and cons, and then see what you folks think of it. OK?
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed
I wanted to clarify the initial announcement made re: Hamilton VRS bowing out of the industry…..
BIS did have a contract with Hamilton Relay VRS until April 30, 2008 but does not have a contract with CSDVRS. BIS VRS is a stand alone company processing calls for revenue just like Sorenson, HOVRS and the other competitors in the industry today. We all want a “Piece of the Pie”…. therefore BIS VRS was established on May 1, 2008 and has been growing ever since.
As for the comment re: “Bad interpreters worked for HamiltonVRS belong to BIS so CSDVRS will be your hatred in turn. haha”…. I think it’s rather unfortunate that in a small technological industry that is attempting to “bridge the gap” with an even smaller industry, Sign Language Interpreting, that people can hold such a small and negative perspective on what is built to benefit them in the long run. Even though there are a plethora of Video Relay Services at the disposal of the Deaf/HOH/Speech Disabled communities, there is a shortage of “qualified”—NOT certified— interpreters to fill every seat in every call center. I hope that the optimistic portion of the Deaf Community realizes the work and acknowledges the strides of interpreters, administrators, tech teams and engineering teams to make Video Relay Service possible. After all, without interpreters we would all be out of a job!
“No. The FCC does provide language in regulation, but does not actually oversee quality of video interpreters.”
All I know is that Purple does oversee quality of interpreters. They have NQA (National Quality Assurance team) that oversees the quality of the service (interpreters included). Maybe, that explains their top-notch service.
LF,
BISVRS may be a stand-alone VRS provider. When I think of stand-alone, I think in terms of compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund. According to the NECA report, BISVRS is not one of the VRS providers that receive the fund – so they probably got their compensation through an existing VRS provider that is eligible to receive compensations from the Fund or through a state TRS program.
That said, it does not mean BISVRS is “less than” a VRS provider. BISVRS provides full service.
Without knowing the details, I cannot say exactly what kind of financial arrangement BISVRS has with other VRS provider or state TRS.
BISVRS is a deaf-owned. It is always good to see a deaf person managing and running VRS.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed