There has been a lot of filings on the FCC website related to VRS. A lot of white-label providers are filing applications for certification.

Why?

The FCC has decided that in order to provide VRS services, a provider must be certified. It is not good enough to be a subcontractor to a certified VRS company. Many of these subcontractors or affiliates are called “white-label” providers. The “white-label” providers are not certified so after October 1st or thereabouts, they will not be allowed to provide VRS services unless they are certified or waived by the FCC temporarily to provide VRS services.

A certified provider must employ (and not contract) with interpreters and they must own, or lease the platform they use to provide VRS services. There are other requirements for certification.

So, by October 1st or around that time, you may or may not be able to access some of your VRS providers. Dr. Z wants you to be aware that it is a possibility.

If that happens, you will need to call a certified VRS provider such as ZVRS to make a call. ZVRS is not the only certified provider–there are others out there.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

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.

The FCC has issued an order (link to order) on certification of VRS providers. This order has raised some eyebrows and the FCC indicates it is doing this to reduce the incidence of abuse and fraud as much as possible.

For those providers who have been previously certified by the FCC will need to be re-certified again at the end of their certification authorization.

The FCC will no longer recognize those providers who have been certified as “common carriers” by the FCC or through their states. They will need to be re-certified by the FCC as a VRS provider.

In order to be certified or re-certified as a VRS provider, the provider MUST employ all interpreters who work as video interpreters. The FCC will not allow any contracted interpreters or use of interpreter agencies as subcontractors. All interpreters must be employees.

In addition, the all centers that interpreters work out must have a legitimate lease or ownership which must be verified by the FCC at their request. Also, anyone who owns more than 10% of a video relay provider must document proof of such ownership and all video relay providers must provide to the FCC a list of all executives and significant employees. All of this is subject to verification by the FCC.

All current uncertified VRS providers must apply for certification by the FCC provided they meet the above requirements in order to provide VRS service. Those providers cannot contract out any resources–they must own or license any resources needed for operating a VRS service.

There’s a lot more in the fine print of the order. The order will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register which usually means 45-60 days from last Friday, when the order was issued.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Google +

Facebook with Skype Video

Upcoming Announcements from Apple (iPhone 5)

Amazon Tablet

After the summer is over, we are bound to see how the sand is shifting in the VRS industry–not only with the new developments above–but with the providers rolling out new and exciting stuff…ZVRS, included!

Stay tuned.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

The FCC has extended the current VRS rates into next year until they have come up with a funding mechanism to pay for VRS.

One of the things they are now looking at and is under discussion is changing the reimbursement to VRS providers from a per minute basis to a per customer basis. That could mean VRS providers will be paid a flat fee per customer served, without regard for the number of minutes each customer uses the service.

This represents a possible major change in how VRS is provided. Is this a good idea? Is this going to be fair? Will this affect the quality of service for deaf and hard of hearing consumers? This requires some thought and further discussion.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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