Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) endorsed T-Mobile’s r...

to the deadline by rolling out 2 handsets found HAC-compliant, granting the waiver for 2 models that unexpectedly failed the HAC test. The FCC in June required Tier I carriers to offer 4 HAC-compliant handset models for each air interface, or 25% of all models, by Sept. 16. T-Mobile said last week (CD Aug 30 p10) that 2 of 4 1900 MHz band handsets expected, based on preliminary data, to meet the U3 rating had failed. “This is the 2nd surprise related to testing performed according to the ANSI C63.19 standard that has led to a request for a waiver of the HAC rules, the first being Cingular’s,” SHHH Assoc. Exec. Dir. Brenda Battat said. Earlier this month Cingular -- the largest GSM carrier -- sought a waiver of FCC HAC rules in the 850 MHz band. T-Mobile and Cingular are the only 2 national GSM carriers. Speaking for hearing-impaired persons, SHHH called T-Mobile’s 60-day extension request “reasonable.” But SHHH said it “disagrees” with T-Mobile’s proposal to wait until it has all 4 handset models inventoried and all collateral materials in place before rolling out compliant handsets. “Even though we recognize that rolling out 2 models followed later by 2 more models might make distribution more complicated, consumers will at least have 2 models of phones to select from by the deadline rather than none and that is in the public interest,” SHHH said. SHHH and the Hearing Industries Assn. (HIA), a hearing aid manufacturers’ group, urged the FCC to hold manufacturers accountable, and at least require them to report on progress toward compliance. SHHH backs T-Mobile’s and Cingular’s waiver requests because “we see they have been caught… It appears that the carriers have very little leverage with their vendors in getting what the law requires,” the group said. HIA urged the FCC to scrutinize the waiver requests. The agency should “call in the manufacturers of GSM handsets to find out first- hand whether they have been diligent in redesigning their products to comply with the HAC rules,” HIA said. Meanwhile, ATIS urged the FCC to adopt its proposals for addressing challenges affecting wireless devices operating below 960 MHz (low band). Long term, ATIS said, there’s “a need to establish a dedicated RF emission measurement limit for low band.” There’s “no discernable difference in user experience between M1/M2-rated low band wireless devices and M3/M4-rated high band (above 960 MHz) wireless devices,” ATIS said. Short term, ATIS urged the FCC to: (1) Accept the high band HAC rating as the overall rating for all GSM dual band wireless devices. (2) Clarify C63.19-2005 so “the reference to ‘peak power’ actually refers to ‘average peak power during the transmit interval,’ which is more predictive of hearing aid usability.” The recommendations were backed by the full HAC Incubator at its Aug. 23 meeting. Participants included Cingular, LGE, Motorola, NEC America, Nextel, Nokia, Research in Motion, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint and T-Mobile.