Ed’s Telecom Alert

Folks,

After talking with several relay veterans, I thought I’ll share our intriguing discussion regarding ten-digit ph nbr that the FCC will require come Dec 2008.   Also couple of comments to the recent vlogs will be included as well.

Obviously, we hope that the vendor workshop that the FCC mentioned in its Rule and Order would help resolve some of these following issues.  These are "what ifs" kind of thoughts. 

• If one has multiple-VP of same manufacturer in the same household, will the TN be assigned to all of the VPs?  Will all of them flash at the same time when they ring? 
• If one has multiple-VP from different manufacturers (i.e. MVP, OJO, VP-200) in same household, will it be possible to have same TN for all of the VPs, and all will flash at the same time when they ring?
• Will hearing person(s) with good signing skill that has a VP  be able to get a TN so deaf/hoh can call them?
• Will web camera with computer be assigned TN? 
• If the person has VP-200 (owned by SorensonVRS), and he/she choose, oh say, Viable, as his/her preferred VRS provider, will SorensonVRS be able to track person’s phone calls?
• If person’s preferred VRS provider is constantly busy, will other VRS providers have their own 800 number (instead of IP address) to offer? (Should be, but I ask that anyway.)
• Will Pagers/Laptop that use IP Relay get its own TN?  If so, how does it work if traveling?  How will pager/laptop access emergency center while traveling - will emergency dispatcher know where the person is?
• During a wide-spread emergency, like tornado hitting a city, or hurricane, or even - heaven forbid - terrorism, and calling the preferred VRS provider for emergency only produce busy time, can he/she call other VRS provider?  Will data or profile be shared among VRS providers so any VRS provider can handle emergency VRS calls?
• If resident only has one VP, and it breaks down, and had to wait for new replacement for weeks, and an emergency situation comes up, who should be held liable for that if any?  

Folks, if you have other issues that you feel should be considered, feel free to share.   

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed B

All..

I got a private email asking me if there is any circumstance that I would support VRS working from home.  Also, a few private emails that don’t I trust interpreters?  Let’s think on it. The issue is about ironclad confidentiality and this must be met; it is not enough to say "I trust this person".  Trust has nothing to do with that.   I trust most, if not nearly all interpreters and I know they cede to code of ethics very well.  Then what is the problem?  It has to do with reasonable doubt.   So the question begs on how to remove the reasonable doubt?  

If done from home; then it would need to be a room with one door. The room would need to be soundproofed as well so family or dogs won’t react to noises by video interpreter.   Perhaps a cubicle within the room.  There would need to be at least two remote camera that is locked to two sites and "on" all the time; one to video interpreter so the quality assurance control can be maintained remotely if needed and one to the door to ensure no one comes in and out and can be viewed remotely by HQ.      

There would need to be a software program or some kind of foolproof system set up where if need to get support from the HQ. For example, to replace video interpreter (time up or get tired or something), or to provide support.     Emergency procedure needs to be well thought out to maximize the speed of processing an emergency call. 

Would I go for that?   My answer is only if the interpreter pool is at VERY critical point.   I do not think we’ve gotten there yet, and I think there are other viable solutions that are better met - such as sharing of pool of terps by a few VRS providers, or even VRS providers working with other VRS providers in utilizing their pool of terps, etc.  

Comments, anyone?

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed

Gentle Alert Readers..

I felt humbled and, at the same time, proud that edsalert broke 10K hits for the first time.  The final count of hits for May was 13,516.  Edsalert started last November, 2006. The average was between 8K and 9K. 

Edsalert is mostly about regulations and all, which I thought was a major boring stuff, so I wanted to thank you, Alert Readers, for hitting on edsalert - pardon the pun as often you all did.  

It will be hard to match the month of May for subsequent months as we saw lot of regulations that are controversial came up in the month of May.    I will be traveling a bit between now and August - all work related, so will not be able to do as much for the summer.  

As matter of fact, tomorrow I will be flying to Florida for a conference meeting with state relay administrators who have same account with Sprint Relay and with Sprint Relay folks to go over mostly internal issues between Sprint Relay and state relay administrators.  I will not be back until Friday (June 8). 

Again, I wanted to thank you all for your subscription and, especially, to these folks who take the time to comment.  Some of the alerts produced flurry of interesting comments.

eyes open & thumbs up,

Ed
RT Admin.