FCC Information on TRS/VRS
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 On Monday, June 10, 2013 the FCC after several years of study, issued an order and proposed new rules regarding how VRS should be structured and managed. The order and proposed rules run over 100 pages of fine print. Dr. Z took the opportunity to read through the document.
It has some good things and some things that require further thought and discussion.
Basically, it makes it possible and better for smaller VRS companies to be able to compete in today’s unbalanced VRS playing field, with Sorenson dominating 80% of the market. The more competition we have, the better VRS will be for deaf and hard of hearing consumers. But some of the rules have cause for concern. The FCC is going to give some work on VRS to third parties. We must be sure those third parties have insights and expertise on the deaf and hard of hearing community and be sensitive to cultural and communication issues. Dr. Z will look into this some more in the next few weeks and express his thoughts.
BOTTOM LINE: VRS is here to stay. The FCC has a mandate under the ADA to insure deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens have functionally equivalent communication access.
Dr. Z cares about your communication access.
Disclaimer: Dr. Z (Philip Bravin) is currently the Vice-President of Business Development and Outreach at CSDVRS, LLC.
 It is time to be free and get out of the habit of making calls just from your living room and your TV. Why do you stop cooking, then walk over to your sofa to make a call with a remote…that’s not freedom! Freedom is when you make a call from anywhere in your house with a simple touch of your fingertips.
How do you do it? Simple, get an iPad with Z5 installed and a cool stand and you can call from your kitchen just like Kurt, our favorite deaf chef!
And your bedroom, and your basement and your living room recliner and.. and… and…that’s freedom of choice of places to make calls! And your TV is available for you to view TV programs.
Today you can get an iPad free with a Z-20, go to www.zvrs.com and find out!
Come and try us at ZVRS!
Try Z5, you will like it!
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
What is “Freedom of Communication”?
It is the ability to communicate and make video calls anywhere, anytime, even in your home.
How is this possible with ZVRS?
Contact your regional outreach manager or your local ZVRS representative and ask them how.
With a Z-20, you can replace your current Sorenson nTouch by plugging it in and we will transfer your phone (address) book–all the contacts over for free.
On top of that, you will get a free iPad with a stand with Z5 software loaded on it. It does not need a wire (except when you recharge it). You can use the iPad to make video calls anywhere in your home with a wifi connection.
What more is there to ask?
Why are we doing this? We want to provide you with a better solution–and also if we didn’t do it, our friends at Sorenson will continue to bother you in the wee hours to get their stuff in to your home and you will be stuck with a remote control to do video. (See Editorial #131).
Come and try us at ZVRS!
Remember–you can use the same phone book for all your devices—no need to re enter or restyle your phone book…do it once…and all’s taken care of!
Try Z5, you will like it!
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
The deaf community and the FCC are confused.
Sorenson is telling the FCC to please not cut rates or VRS will never be the same.
That’s because Sorenson is creating this mess.
While crying to the FCC not to cut rates and at the same time, behind the FCC’s back, Sorenson is giving away iPad’s, laptops and TV’s to consumers in an attempt to port them back. This has nothing to do with functional equivalence, but a pure attempt to steal customers from other providers. The other providers have no choice but to try to do those things to keep their customers. This giveaway is costing Sorenson money and at the same time, they’re telling the FCC not to cut rates–this is in effect using public money to subsidize the free equipment they’re throwing away at customers. Does this make sense?
The whole thing is insane–this has nothing to do with VRS as a service. Dr. Z hopes the FCC is listening. Public money for VRS needs to focus on VRS as a service–certified interpreters, quick answer time and interoperability should be the focus, not free stuff.
Thanks for listening.
Dr. Z cares about your communication access.
Disclaimer: Dr. Z is currently the Vice-President of Business Development and Outreach at CSDVRS, LLC.
When hearing people call other hearing people and they can’t answer right away, it goes to their voice mail. It doesn’t matter if its AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. Anyone can leave voicemail.
For us deaf people, we can’t leave videomail on Sorenson devices if we use a non-Sorenson device. All the other providers except Sorenson can leave messages without problems. Sorenson is preventing us all from being equal with hearing people or making us second class citizens. This is not functionally equivalent. All ZVRS phones and software can receive and leave messages without problems, but we can’t leave messages on Sorenson devices.
The FCC has received complaints on this and let us hope they’re listening and doing something to make Sorenson do so.
Thanks for listening.
Dr. Z cares about your communication access.
Disclaimer: Dr. Z is currently the Vice-President of Business Development and Outreach at CSDVRS, LLC.
Everyone is amazed at the new Z5 products…only 1 or 2 clicks are needed to make a call.
People ask Dr. Z as to which devices the Z5 runs on…
Here’s the list…
Z5 Mobile
- iPad
- iPhone (4S or newer)
- iPod (models with a front-facing camera)
Z5 Desktop
- any Mac with front facing camera on monitor or webcam, including laptops (MacBooks)
- any PC with front facing camera on monitor or webcam, including laptops
Download and off you go…so easy so simple!
Our Android version won’t be ready for a few months—but you can download Z4 for the Android.
Remember–you can use the same phone book for all your devices—no need to re enter or restyle your phone book…do it once…and all’s taken care of!
Try Z5, you will like it!
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
The FCC is going to issue some orders and some new processes related to VRS any day soon.
Providers and consumers have been knocking on the FCC’s door to present their cases and mitigate any effect the new orders and processes may have on VRS as a service as we know it. This is like a ping pong game, with people looking at the ball going back and forth–VRS reform is going to happen, like it or not. The last thing we want to happen is to have it change VRS as we know and appreciate it.
Bottom line–the rules must dictate what is best for the consumer. What does this mean?
–freedom of choice of devices, without getting stuck with a device that one cannot use or communicate with other devices
–freedom of choice of software, with address books being portable (able to move) from one provider to another
–freedom of obstruction–without worrying if a call gets blocked, gets a black screen (full interoperability)
–freedom to make a call anywhere, anytime
–freedom of being tied to a remote control unit
–freedom of choice of providers, picking the provider that provides the best features and interpreters
This is ZVRS’s position-meaning you can go into a store and get the device you want and go ahead and make a call with a provider that has the best interpreters and features, so easy, so simple. Why go through the hassle of having a provider set it up for you and have them control what features and what you want on your device. This is a free country–we are FREE people, we should do what we want, not what others tell us what we should do!
Heres a link to the FCC’s postings–read on–(link)
Dr. Z cares about your communication access.
Disclaimer: Dr. Z is currently the Vice-President of Business Development and Outreach at CSDVRS, LLC.
Everyone is amazed at the new Z5 products…only 1 or 2 clicks are needed to make a call.
Try Z5, you will like it!
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
 The best video communication software for VRS and point-to-point–Z5 Desktop for Mac and PC!
It is available now!
Dr. Z has worked closely with the team developing and putting together the product. They carefully identified user behavior and needs and put that into the product! The best products out there always take user needs into account and that is what the team at ZVRS did. There is a video of how the Z5 Desktop and Z5 Mobile were developed by a team of deaf developers. (link to video).
The Z5 Desktop is a beautiful piece of design and engineering.
Take a look at the Z5 Desktop web page to learn more (link).
To enjoy a video related to the Z5 Desktop, click (Z5 Desktop Tutorial)
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
The best video communication software for VRS and point-to-point–Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad!
Making a video call using a remote? That’s really out of date and old-fashioned. Remotes are on their way out. Every home has several remotes and more and more people are using their smartphones or iPads to control their TV and using their smartphones or tablets to make voice or video calls. That leaves us deaf and hard of hearing people still using remotes! That’s the Dark Ages!
It’s time to be ahead of the game! Currently, our Z5 software runs on the iPad and the iPhone and you do not need a remote to make a call. Just press an icon or link once or twice with your index finger or thumb and you are on your way!
It’s time to go modern–throw away your remote and use your fingers on the Z5 Mobile!
Leave the Z5 Mobile on all the time and use it to make VRS calls, point to point, FaceTime and send text messages from just one contact list, without a REMOTE!
For more information on the Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad, click this link.
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.
Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!
Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development
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