Telecom relay service companies need more money from the interstate TRS fund to improve outreach to people with speech problems, said Commissioner Monica Martinez of Michigan’s Public Service Commission. In a letter Wednesday to acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps, Martinez said TRS fund reimbursement rates are “failing to keep pace” with the need to educate potential speech-to-speech users. “Although the program potential is immense, without outreach and training, many Speech Disabled citizens with a need for STS telecommunications are not accessing the technology on a regular basis,” she said. “Without adequate reimbursement, companies are not able to offer multiple training sessions to STS users, lessening the probability that affected persons will use the technology.” Lawrence Brick of Pennsylvania’s TRS advisory board asked the FCC, in a comment filed Tuesday, to explore ways to reach out nationally to those with disabilities. “Because of the diversity among those with speech impairment and because the causes of speech impairment are so varied … these speech impaired people do not share a strong bond of support like members of the deaf community who share a common bond because of similar experiences, culture, language, and coping strategies which brings them together to advocate as a group,” Brick said. “Because of such diversity among those with speech impairment, it is critical to find ways to reach out to them, perhaps via the medical establishments, speech therapy clinics, hospitals, etc. to educate them” about speech-to-speech relay technology.

A major transition this summer may leave thousands of Americans without service, and it has nothing to do with digital TV. Starting July 1, deaf consumers using Internet- based telecom relay service will no longer be reachable through the proxy numbers they've used for years. But despite education efforts, many TRS users still don’t realize they need to register a local 10-digit phone number, said executives of relay companies and consumer groups we polled. “There are a lot of consumers who are still confused and experiencing problems getting a telephone number,” and they're facing new problems once they do have one, said CEO Sheri Farinha of the NorCal Center, a consumer group.

To speed responses to emergency calls from users of telecom relay service, the FCC should allow video and Internet-based TRS providers to give communications assistant ID numbers to public safety orally, APCO and the National Emergency Number Association said in a letter to the FCC Tuesday. Commission rules require providers to send the IDs through the automatic location database, but public safety answering points can’t receive the information without making expensive changes to their systems, the groups said. The changes may also add to the costs of providers and 911 equipment vendors, they said. The FCC can avoid raising costs by removing the automatic-transmission requirement, APCO and NENA said. “Oral transmission of CA ID information can occur without any delay to emergency call processing and at no additional cost to PSAPs or providers.”

The FCC is working on an American Sign Language video to help teach the deaf how to get 10-digit phone numbers for Internet-based telecom relay services, said a spokeswoman for the Consumer & Governmental Affairs bureau. The video will appear on the commission’s Web site, but the spokeswoman declined to say when. An FCC official told us the project is on the “front burner.” Consumer groups for the deaf have urged the commission to do more outreach. The groups say marketing-filled education efforts by TRS companies have confused consumers (CD March 30 p8). One of the groups, Telecommunications for Deaf and Hard of Hearing is “optimistic” that the FCC will finish the clips “within the next several weeks,” Executive Director Claude Stout said. “The videos will be extremely helpful as we would get the information neutrally from the FCC. Some providers are doing a good job producing their own video clips. But they also market their brand” relay services “as they explain how to get a 10-digit number or how to make an emergency call.”

The FCC extended until June 29 a waiver of a telecom relay service rule requiring traditional TRS providers to automatically and immediately call an appropriate public safety answering point upon receiving an emergency 711 call placed by an interconnected VoIP user (CD April 8 p10). In an order late Wednesday, the Consumer & Governmental Affairs bureau also sought comment on “remaining technical, operational, or other issues” preventing traditional TRS providers from identifying the correct PSAP when they get such a call. The bureau also asked how often conventional TRS is used to make calls though interconnected VoIP, “particularly the incidence of such calls for purposes of obtaining emergency assistance.” Comments will be due three weeks after the order appears in the Federal Register, replies 10 days later.

The FCC must do more outreach to deaf consumers on how to get 10-digit phone numbers for Internet-based telecom relay service, said consumer groups NorCal and Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In a Friday ex parte filing, the groups said many deaf people “are unaware of numbering implementation or are confused by information they are receiving from various TRS providers.” Providers have been doing the bulk of education, but frequently insert their own marketing pitches into workshops, the groups said. The FCC can help by posting a video message in American Sign Language on its Web site about requirements for number assignment, they said. The consumer groups also expressed concern that consumers in rural areas aren’t receiving geographically correct phone numbers, even though FCC rules require them. The commission should issue a public notice reminding TRS providers of the requirement, the groups said. They asked the agency to hold a technical workshop with TRS providers on how best to handle callbacks to 911 callers from public safety, because they said TRS providers are having difficulty developing methodologies.

Telecom relay service provider CSDVRS lost some call data when it upgraded its computer systems to support 10- digit numbers, the company said in a Monday letter to the FCC. Bugs in CSDVRS’ new software prevented it from capturing 5-10 percent of the total reimbursable minutes on the calls, the TRS provider said. So it can receive full compensation from the interstate TRS fund, CSDVRS wants the FCC to grant the company a limited exception and advise how to proceed. CSDVRS has fixed most of the problems, and the bugs “have been on a steady decline since December,” it said.

Some telecom relay service providers may be improperly rounding up conversation minutes reimbursed by the Interstate TRS Fund, the FCC said late Tuesday. “When recording the actual conversation time of each completed call, the decimal representation of the seconds should extend to the tenth of a minute,” the FCC said. “Providers may round up only in those circumstances where the number in the hundredth place is 5 or greater.” When reporting total monthly minutes to the National Exchange Carrier Association, carriers should add all call times together and then round to the nearest whole number, it said.

The FCC should permit hearing consumers to get 10-digit numbers for video relay service phones, said the National Association for the Deaf and five other consumer groups. In a petition last week, the groups asked the FCC to reconsider a provision in a December order excluding hearing users (CD Dec 23 p3). VRS provider GoAmerica agreed in a separate petition, asking the FCC to additionally reconsider a rule about the handling of public safety call backs. Phone numbers have been available to deaf users since Dec. 31.

The FCC should expand Interstate Telecom Relay Service fund support to include TRS calls involving multiple communications assistants, interpreters and technologies, said AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Sorenson Communications, GoAmerica and five other TRS providers. In a Wednesday petition for declaratory ruling, the companies said federal funding for that kind of call is needed to meet Congress’ functional equivalency goals. But the petition may have to overcome concerns on Capitol Hill that the TRS fund is already too large.