Ed’s Telecom Alert

All..

Greg Hlibok, one of the moderator, started by saying VRS is celebrating 10th Anniversary – first started in Texas in 1995 and grew to what it is now.   He said a few VRS providers have distorted what VRS ought to be, and did things illegally, so FCC wanted to seek ways to reform VRS if any and how by asking the panelists a set of pre-arranged questions.  

All..

PS: Full link:  http://www.wapt.com/news/21922547/detail.html

All..

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 that stated that toll free numbers and ten-digit geographic numbers should not be directed to the same Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) in the iTRS Directory.."

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-2543A1.pdf

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 are several very interesting ex parte letters on 800 number.  What I did below was give you quotes from each commentators.   Strongly suggest you click to the links to get full story.  I started with FCC announcement and then rest from others. 

From FCC:

"BUREAUS GRANT WAIVER OF IP TRS  TOLL FREE NUMBER CHANGES

The FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Wireline Competition bureaus issued an order today temporarily waiving a requirement regarding treatment of toll-free numbers by Internet telecommunications relay service providers as clarified in an August public notice released by the Commission. To avoid a possible service disruption, the bureaus issued a four-month waiver of a portion of the "Toll Free Clarification Public Notice" that stated toll free numbers and 10-digit geographic numbers should not be directed to the same uniform resource identifier in the Internet-based TRS numbering (iTRS) directory. Providers who have removed toll-free numbers are directed to reinstate those numbers to the iTRS directory (Consumer and Government docket 03-123, Common Carrier docket 98-67, Wireline Competition docket 05-196)."

TDI Ex Parte Letter

"We discussed the interest of the Consumer Groups (defined below) in working with the Commission to develop a means to reduce toll free number use and to eliminate toll free number abuse in general.."

"..confirm that the Consumer Groups support a notice and comment rulemaking proceeding designed to achieve the following objectives:

"Development of a plan to significantly reduce the use of toll free numbers by Video Relay Service (“VRS”) users.

"Any plan must also include a reasonable period of time for comprehensive consumer outreach and education — to be conducted by providers and the FCC — to transition consumers away from using toll free numbers and toward using geographic 10-digit numbers, similar to what happens when there is a change of area code."

"..the Consumer Groups support direct ownership of toll free numbers by consumers rather than providers as well as number portability of toll free numbers."

SnapVRS Ex Parte Letter

"Whether calling out or receiving calls, VP200 customers with their 800 numbers removed from the iTRS database are not connecting point to point with Snap!VRS Ojo customers; these calls are instead being automatically diverted to VRS."

"…these calls are instead being automatically diverted to VRS. Snap!VRS explained that the majority of customers who experience these diverted point to point calls do not complain about it because of their being accustomed to long-standing and wide-spread interoperability challenges and because many of them mistakenly believe that the devices themselves are the problem rather than understanding it as a systemic issue. "

Purple Ex Parte Letter

"When an individual calls another person’s toll-free videophone number from an alternate provider’s video phone, the iTRS database will not recognize the number being called."

"If, on the other hand, a customer using a videophone (such as the Sorenson VP-200) calls a toll free videophone number that is managed by the same provider, the call will connect successfully as a point-to-point call. This is due to the fact that those toll-free numbers are still being maintained in the default providers’ proprietary routing database similar to the old proxy number system."

"This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that Sorenson Communications continues to violate FCC Rule Section 64.604(b)(6) by refusing to transmit Caller ID to the extent possible. The commission needs to require providers to utilize standard Caller ID fields to further facilitate the exchange of phone numbers."

CSDVRS Ex Parte Letter

"..how this action by Sorenson has undermined point-to-point calling capabilities for deaf users calling a Sorenson number from a non-Sorenson videophone. In such instances, the calls cannot be completed and this is causing mass confusion amongst consumers. Conversely, Sorenson-to-Sorenson videophone point-to-point calls function smoothly insofar as Sorenson retains the 800 numbers in an internal database, thereby creating a closed network."

"..we have 3 people going to multiple cities in our outreach effort to educate the consumers on local numbering (thank you neca funding). These are one to two hour presentations. Since November 12′" the entire meetings are dominated by the above issue and confusion. Our presenters themselves have a very hard time understanding what in going on and why "the phones are not working right"

Of course, ultimately FCC would rather hear from you – VRS Users.   What do you want?   Let FCC know.  

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed

PS:  In case the shortcut to link does not work, here is the long link for each.

SnapVRS
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020350761

Purple
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020350491

TDI
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020351013

CSDVRS
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020350234