The FCC has issued an order on 800/866 numbers. The FCC has directed that if anyone wants a 800/866 number for their videophone, they will have to pay for it on a monthly basis.

This means those of you who have 800/866 number as your primary number, if you do not want to pay for it, you must use your local number to receive calls. In about a year’s time, if you do not change to a local number and do not pay for your 866 number, you will not be able to receive calls on your videophone.

The FCC (and Dr. Z) in the past has indicated that something like this would be forthcoming and it has happened.

What should you do?

If you already make and receive calls using your local number (not 800/866), you do not have to do anything.

If you use your 800/866 number for others to call you, you must within a year give your friends, relatives and others like your doctor, your local number so they can reach you.

Why is the FCC doing this? They want to be sure that deaf and hard of hearing people receive functionally equivalent communication service, just like hearing people. In this case, hearing people have to pay for their use of 800/866 numbers, so the FCC is saying that deaf and hard of hearing people then have to pay for their use of 800/866 numbers. The copy of the order can be found at this link.

Please take the time to change your 800/866 numbers to local numbers. ZVRS customer service can help you if you wish, by sending an email to help@zvrs.com (click the … to avoid mail spam) or calling ZVRS on VP# 866-932-7891. 

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclaimer: Dr. Z is currently the Vice-President of Marketing at CSDVRS, LLC.