Author Archives: pbravin

How Things Have Changed! 4G LTE, Wifi, Hard Wired (blue wire)

Yes, technology never stays the same. The ground under you keeps changing and this is true for things like wifi, 4G LTE and so on.

For the past several months, when it comes to mobile, Dr. Z has made video calls using LTE and it is a much more reliable thing than wifi. The scenario was different over a year ago when wifi seemed the way to go–until LTE coverage got better.

But, we have to think of a few things: there is usually a limit (or cap) on LTE usage. So, when making LTE calls via Z5 or Facetime, you have to keep an eye on data usage. With wifi, this is not an issue, but with wifi, the signals can be unreliable or too low for video communication. If you do a speedtest with wifi and it’s good, then go for it. But if the wifi signal is too low for video communication, then LTE is the way to go. Be mindful that if you have an iPad without LTE, you are pretty much limited to wifi.

In the home, wifi signals are usually much better, so using an iPad in the home, you should be in pretty good shape. The situation is different when using iPad in public wifi areas.

In public, using an iPhone is usually better for video communication.

Basically, a blue hard-wired ethernet connection is usually the best, but they usually cannot be connected to mobile devices.

This situation may change in the next six months–we never know, with the way technology bounces.

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #138: VRS and the FCC – What is Coming Down the Pike?

This is a quick summary of what is happening at the FCC with respect to VRS and handled by the folks at the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) and other parties in the FCC.

As for VRS–there is a lot of things that are happening and a lot of this is still underway:

– rate cuts – they are still happening with cuts happening every 6 months; meaning less money for VRS companies to make their products better–
– speed of answer – the FCC is mandating very unreasonable requirements for answer time. This matter is of concern with ALL VRS companies. They have met with the FCC and asked for relief. The new requirements go into effect July 1, 2014. To date, the FCC has not acted on this and the VRS companies need to know because the new requirements require them to staff 20% to 25% more interpreters.
– neutral platform – the FCC has issued a RFP (request for proposal) for development of a neutral platform to be developed. We need to be sure the final product is deaf and hard of hearing friendly and meets our needs. As of now, there is no feedback mechanism yet for input of deaf/hard of hearing parties to any of the development efforts.
– interoperability–scream! scream! scream! and it’s still falling on deaf ears. No pun intended, but we have made it known to the FCC that we are NOT functionally equivalent when it comes to interoperability.
– marketing practices in the industry – scream! scream! scream! and it’s still falling on deaf ears (no need to mention who is who–we know who)
– new registration requirements – still waiting for action–the new rules have us concerned about privacy matters

There are a lot more matters floating around but the above is what is at the top of the consumer list.

Thanks for listening.

It is time for us to have our freedoms back once and for all. Functional equivalency is the key.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclaimer: Dr. Z (Philip Bravin) is currently the Vice-President of Business Development at CSDVRS, LLC.

Most Popular Websites for News? Sports? – Get Info Here!

Sometimes we tend to look at the same websites for the info we have become comfortable with, but we might miss out on other sites that are popular. So Dr. Z dug deep and he found a good website which tells us which websites for different categories are most popular based on the number of hits for each.

www.ebizmba.com is the name of this website

For news-here’s the link

For sports-here’s the link

For celebrity gossip-here’s the link

For technology-here’s the link

For recipes-here’s the link

For a listing of all other subjects-here’s the link (look to the right box for the list on that website)

Enjoy!

So easy so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Deaf and Hard of Hearing People Have a Tower of Babel with Video Communication Today!

“Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
—Genesis 11:4–9[2]

There is a petition going around circulated by Jon Ziev that urges the FCC to deal with the lack of interoperability in video communication. Here’s the link.

Dr. Z wants to commend Jon for taking this initiative. As of today, 832 people have signed on. We need to do more! Sign UP as Dr. Z just did just now! (link)

Ironically, in the United States today, hearing people can pick up their phone and call anyone without having to worry which software they need to use.

Deaf and hard of hearing people are stuck, we have to identify the software first before we make a call. If our friend or relative doesn’t have that software, we have to download it to make the call possible.

In the VRS world, we are pretty good at interoperability among the major players, with the possible exception of Sorenson. As the Gallaudet study indicates, there are still issues with interoperability today. Here’s the link to the Gallaudet study. More info can be found on this link as well.

We can’t use Facetime (Apple) to talk to Hangouts (Google). We can’t use Skype (Microsoft) to talk to Z5 (ZVRS). We can’t leave messages on the nTouch (Sorenson) videophones. That’s what the petition tries to point out. That is a Tower of Babel for us deaf and hard of hearing people.

Let us hope that the FCC takes up this issue and make us a unified community. This is starting to divide us as the Biblical verse indicates.

Thank you for listening.

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Getting Ready for Summer–2 Weather Apps that Dr. Z Likes

Summer is around the corner. School will be out in a few weeks and everyone starts traveling. When we all travel, weather is always a concern. Dr. Z has been using 2 weather apps made by the same company. One is a downloadable app called Dark Sky which is a bit pricey – at last look it costs $3.99. (link)

The other app is a FREE web app which means you don’t have to download it, but use the Safari browser on your iPhone, iPad or Chrome on Android and enter “forecast.io”. It comes back with a weather summary of where you are at the time you enter the link. You can also enter a different place and it will tell you of the weather at that place. (link)

It also makes creative use of images and maps showing what the weather is like at a specific time. Interesting!

Enjoy the coming summer and safe travels!

So easy so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Have a Hearing Relative or Friend Who Can Sign? No Problem! Z5H is Here!

Know what? One of the most common requests from our customers is the ability to chat with their hearing friends and relatives using Z5 Mobile or Z5 Desktop. It is a common request from schools and universities where there are many hearing people who can sign.

Z5H allows a deaf person to call a hearing person directly without going through a video interpreter. The deaf person does not have to do anything. The hearing person has to download Z5H using this link. When they download and register which is a simple process–communication takes place!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Purple Fined $12 Million by the FCC–That’s Not Good News for the TRS/VRS Industry!

Today, the FCC made an announcement that it plans to fine Purple $12 million for some practices that did not comply with their rules. The text of the FCC announcement can be seen through this link.

The more waste, fraud, and abuse that takes place, the more rules and actions the FCC will impose. This is a threat to the TRS/VRS industry. This is why the FCC is looking into things like the neutral platform where it will have more control and oversight over the VRS industry. Of course, there are some players like ZVRS who do their best to be as ethical as possible.

Needless to say, this is an unfortunate development.

UPDATE: Dr. Z has received info that this may be misleading because it was not a VRS matter but a TRS matter. However, it needs to be made clear that TRS and VRS are funded from the same pool of money that the FCC receives from telecommunications providers. Having said that, any form of irregularity does impact the fund and as a result affects the oversight of TRS and VRS.

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Apps for iPhone/iPad–Are the Apple Apps the Best? Maybe?

Some people seem to think they’re stuck with the default Apple apps on their iPhone or iPads. Business Insider (a news website) has a listing of alternate apps that do a better job than the Apple apps. Dr. Z uses a few of these, such as Fantastical 2 (calendar) and Dark Sky (weather). Some of the apps are free and some are paid apps.

Here’s the link to the Business Insider post. (link)

Enjoy!

So easy so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

A Good Web Resource for iPhone and iPad! iMore!

Dr. Z has websites he checks from time to time in order to be on top of things. One of them is iMore. iMore focuses on the iPhone and iPad and is Apple oriented.

While it covers apps, it also has other information and has a store where good deals can pop up from time to time.

For MORE info, here’s the link to iMore.

So easy so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

A Great Case for Your iPhone (Perfect for Z5 Mobile Video)

Dr. Z has been using a great case for his iPhone and it works splendidly when used as a stand for video communication using Z5 Mobile.

He loved it so much that he got one for his wife. He learned about this case from Joel Barish, who runs Deaf Nation and travels very extensively. Thank you Joel!

This case has a built-in kickstand and it is part of the protective cover and works both in portrait and landscape mode.

It is available for the iPhone. Dr. Z has not used it for his iPad, but they offer models for the iPad as well.

You can order this case from the following link (link to case website) (Dr. Z gets no commission!) You can also order it from Amazon.

So easy so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development