The FCC should clarify whether certain video relay service provid...

by VRS providers that it believes may violate FCC bans on providers contacting customers to get them to use more minutes. The FCC restricts that practice because the government reimburses providers for telecom relay service minutes through the interstate TRS fund. In one questionable scenario, NASRA said, a VRS provider signs up with an organization or club whose members could use VRS, then includes the club’s name in a VRS service pitched to those users. In return, the provider pays the club a sum perhaps based on the resulting VRS call volume, it said. In another situation, the provider hires deaf people as telemarketers for its sales department, requiring that they use the company’s VRS service to make the calls, NASRA said. “By employing full-time telemarketers who use their VRS products, providers exponentially increase their minutes of use,” it said. In a related scenario, some independent marketing companies have made deals with VRS providers under which the provider pays the marketer to use the VRS provider’s service, the group said. It cited some VRS providers’ referral programs, under which a company rewards users with free video phones for recruiting users. “Consumers have reported that in addition to soliciting new members, they must also use the [provider’s] VRS service” to get the phone, NASRA said. Such practice increases “unnecessary” minutes used, it said.