Ed’s Telecom Alert

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FCC is seeking to refresh the record on petition to mandate captioned telephone relay service. Below link is about that:

Refresh Mandate on CTS

Group of Organizaiton Petitioning

Above link is a petition by a group of national and state organizations that captioning telephone relay service should be required feature and that Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Relay Service should be approved. It is a well-thought out. FCC had problem with it in the past because of proprietary issue. This issue was addressed in the above link.

Supplement to Petition of CTS

Above link discusses the petition and whether CTS should be mandated or not.

Following companies commented.

Ultratec Comments

ATT Comments

Sprint Comments

Purple Comment

Calif PUC

In the past, as a state regulator I had concerns of proprietary issue. However, this CTS provides a service that is much needed in the public. I would encourage FCC to mandate the service with the understanding that quality of service be monitored very closely – not by state, but by federal. States would be stuck with a fixed price and would not be competitive, thus quality of service should be borne by federal.

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed

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FCC requested I post this:

I copied and pasted into this. Also, I’m trying out a new way of posting to edsalert.

If this gets messed up, grin and bear it please.

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed
+++++++++++++
Note: the warrants specified in this, you can scroll back to find the warrants within edsalert posts.

Quote:

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Office of the Inspector General will be hosting an informational meeting to discuss the VRS issues and practices described in the FBI Arrest Warrants (attached).  The meetings will take place during RID in Philadelphia on Sunday, 8/2 from 6:30pm-7:30pm and on Monday, 8/3 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm in Conference Room 303 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown (interpreters will be provided).  These staff will also be available by appointment in Philadelphia on Sunday, 8/2 from 3:00pm to 6:00pm and Monday, 8/3 from 8:00am to 12:00pm to speak confidentially to individuals wishing to discuss or report potentially fraudulent VRS activity (interpreters available upon request). 

If you would like to make an appointment for 8/2 or 8/3 (or at any time afterward) to speak confidentially in-person or on the phone to FCC Inspector General staff regarding any first-hand, personal knowledge you have about the specific issues mentioned in the warrants, or about any other types of activities on the part of a VRS provider that you feel may be fraudulent please contact Jay Keithley at 202-391-6369 (cell) or Jay.Keithley@fcc.gov. 

Please forward this information to anyone you think might be interested.

Thanks.

Traci Randolph, CI/CT, SC:L
Federal Communications Commission
Disability Rights Office
Unquote

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http://www.tsd.state.tx.us/outreach/edsalertlive (this one is website explaining Live Webcast and to click to a live webcast is inside the website)

On July 21, starting 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM, there will be a live webcast on Internet. The link to connect to a live webcast is inside the above link: where it says ustream.tv. Click on that at the appointed time, you will see Dr David Coco and myself discussing various topics regarding VRS.

This is a live broadcast which was intended for persons involved with education, however, it is a public so everyone can watch the live broadcast. David wanted to reach school people and explain issues with VRS and he thought that a live webcast would best reach them. Cool idea. Again, the discussion is open to everyone to watch.

Jot the time and date down.

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed B

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Julius Genachowski is now the new FCC Chair as of June 29, 2009.   Read the links to get to know him bit better.  

Article on New FCC Chair

Wikipedia on Genachowski

Jay Rockfellar’s Challenge to new FCC Chair

Above link with quotable quotes; from Rockefeller:  "..needs to “fix” the agency because it has “shortchanged” consumers,"   Another quotable quote from same person:  "“Prove to us that the FCC can put consumers first.”  

Hey, does not these quotable quotes look familar lately?  Lately we see lot of that in edsalert, and from wonderful commentators!

Another quotable quote from Genachowski is “a commitment throughout the agency to principles of openness, fairness, fact-based decision- making.”

Julius Genachowski’s email address is: Julius.Genachowski@fcc.gov

Be sure to send him a congratulatory email and add your anecdtoes on how wonderful and liberating relay services have been.   What you can say about VRS is that you’re glad to see that the FCC is finally going to clean up the mess and look forward to having VRS return to consumers.   Do it in your own words, though – has better impact than form letters.   Form letters are counted, while personal ones are read and counted.  Big difference there.  Don’t worry about your English.  

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed