PRESENTATION Karen Peltz Strauss Eliot Greenwald Consumer & - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
TRS ADVISORY COUNCIL PRESENTATION Karen Peltz Strauss Eliot Greenwald Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau TRS Advisory Council September 15, 2016 Annapolis, Maryland Roundtable Communications needs for Deaf Persons with Mobility
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Panels included:
Accessible Communications for Everyone (ACE)
Ways to achieve functionally equivalent TRS for DPMD Developing recommendations to address the
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Emergency Communications Subcommittee
TRS Access to Non-Emergency N-1-1 Services On February 23, 2015, as proposed by the
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Relay/Equipment Distribution Subcommittee –
VRS 911 call handling recommendations:
Disability Rights Office (DRO) and Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) work with Association of Public Safety Communications (APCO) and National Emergency Number Association (NENA) to develop an Implementation Guide for Mandatory Minimum Training Standards for 911 call handling for all VRS CAs
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Relay/Equipment Distribution Subcommittee –
VRS 911 call handling recommendations:
DRO and CGB support development of Best Practices for
911 call handling and processing for VRS CAs
FCC take steps to ensure that annual 911 training is
required for all VRS CAs, including a refresher course for veteran CAs
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Relay/Equipment Distribution Subcommittee –
Recommendations for IP CTS quality metrics:
Verbatim and accuracy standards Speed standards Delay standards Testing to determine compliance take place at least
monthly
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Relay/Equipment Distribution Subcommittee –
Recommendations for IP CTS quality metrics:
Clarify that the 10 minute time period required for CAs to stay
person they will be captioning
FCC solicit information from consumers and providers regarding
how IP CTS may benefit from the introduction of HD voice, RTT, and other technological improvements
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
CVAA
Authorized $10 million annually from the Interstate TRS Fund
To support programs approved by the FCC For the distribution of specialized customer premises equipment Designed to make telecommunications services, advanced
communications services, and access to the Internet accessible by individuals who are
Deaf-blind, as defined in the Helen Keller National Center
Act and
Low-income, which is defined for this program as 400% of
the Federal Poverty Guidelines
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
History
In 2011, the FCC established the National Deaf-Blind
The pilot program began on July 1, 2012 We are currently in Year 5 of the pilot program, which
On August 4, 2016, the FCC adopted rules to convert the
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
How the Pilot Program operates
The FCC selected and certified one entity in each of the 50
The FCC allocates $50,000 to each of the 53 certified
States with larger populations are allocated larger amounts of
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
How the Pilot Program operates (con’t)
The FCC also set aside $500,000 per year for the Perkins School
for the Blind to coordinate nationwide outreach
Certified programs distribute specialized and off-the-shelf
equipment, separately or in combination, as long as it meets the needs of the deaf-blind individual, and makes communications services covered under the program accessible
Types of equipment the program has distributed:
Computers, laptops, tablets, deaf-blind communicators, braille
devices, smartphones, amplified phones, alerting devices, and various software applications
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
How the Pilot Program operates (con’t)
Funding covers the reasonable costs of: The equipment distributed, warranties, maintenance,
State and local outreach efforts, individual assessments of
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Highlights from the Permanent Program rules: what’s new:
Extends the program to Guam, Northern Marianas, and
Adds administrative and financial management experience to
Requires entities to disclose potential or actual conflicts of
Will certify programs for periods of five years
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Permanent Program rules: what’s new (con’t)
Requires an outgoing program to take certain steps to ensure
Reduces funding for national outreach Allows certified programs to be reimbursed for pre-approved
Allows certified programs to use up to 2.5% of their annual
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Permanent Program rules: what’s new (con’t)
Allows certified programs to be reimbursed for
Establishes program performance goals and directs CGB to
Authorizes the development of a centralized database that
Requires submission of a copy of each certified program’s
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Permanent Program rules: what’s new (con’t)
Requires certified programs to retain records for five years Requires CGB to assess program performance during the
Adds new consumer attestations for compliance with
Establishes procedures for filing informal complaints with
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
November 25, 2015 – IDT filed a petition for rulemaking
Requests intrastate revenues to be included in the
Requests elimination of rule requiring that VRS costs be
December 18, 2015 – Public Notice seeking comment
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
November 23, 2015 – Wireline Competition Bureau
VTCSecure – contractor building VRS reference platform MITRE – contractor performing TRS research for FCC To access TRS Numbering Directory to extent necessary
Both operate under detailed contractual obligations to
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
July 6, 2016 – VTCSecure filed petition for waiver
To permit providers of direct ASL customer support
To clarify that VRS providers are required to support the
July 18, 2016 – Public Notice seeking comment
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
August 24, 2016 – CGB granted 2-year temporary waivers to
Providers must allow users to select their own long distance
telephone carrier
Providers must offer the same billing options (such as collect, calling
card, and third party billing) as traditionally offered by wireline telephone companies
Conditioned on providers not charging for long distance In 2014, FCC eliminated these requirements for iTRS
Intend to address issue on a permanent basis
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
June 30, 2016 – CGB adopted rates for July 2016 –
Interstate traditional TRS - $2.6245 per minute Interstate STS - $3.7555 per minute Interstate CTS and IP CTS - $1.9058 per minute IP Relay - $1.30 per minute subject to possible true-up VRS rates previously adopted by the Commission (to be
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
November 3, 2015 – FCC released a Further Notice of
Rates
A proposal to modify in part the four-year compensation
rate plan for VRS adopted in 2013, by adopting a limited- duration compensation rate freeze applicable to VRS providers with 500,000 or fewer monthly minutes
Speed of Answer
A proposal to amend the speed-of answer rule to require
80% of all VRS calls to be answered within 45 seconds, measured monthly
It is currently 80% of calls within 120 seconds
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
November 3, 2015 FNPRM also seeking comment:
Speed of Answer Alternatives to the current policy of withholding an
A siding scale approach An incentive approach with additional
A streamlined waiver process
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
November 3, 2015 FNPRM also seeking comment:
Speed of Answer
Whether to modify how to calculate speed of answer in
terms of defining when a call is answered to conform to
is placed, and not put in a queue or on hold
Deaf Interpreters
Whether to permit compensation for a deaf interpreter in
addition to a hearing interpreter for certain users
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
November 3, 2015 FNPRM also seeking comment:
Skills-Based Routing
Provider proposal for a trial of skills-based routing The merits of skills-based routing How to define types of calls for skills-based routing Additional costs from skills-based routing How to structure a trial of skills-based routing The length of the trial The type of data that should be collected
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
November 3, 2015 FNPRM also seeking comment:
At-Home Interpreting
Whether to permit interpreters to work at home at any
time
Safeguards needed for at-home interpreting
Assigning Ten Digit Numbers to Hearing People
Whether to assign ten digit numbers to hearing people for
the limited purpose of making direct (point-to-point) video calls to and from other VRS users
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
March 3, 2016 – FCC released Report and Order to
Provides limited rate relief to providers with 500,000 or
$5.29 per minute from July 1, 2015 (applied retroactively)
through October 31, 2016
$5.06 per minute from November 1, 2016 through April
30, 2017
$4.82 per minute from May 1, 2017 through June 30, 2017
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
March 3, 2016 VRS rate order
Maintains rates adopted in 2013 for other VRS
Tiers I and II (first 1 million monthly minutes)
$5.06 per minute July 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015 $4.82 per minute January 1, 2016 – June 30, 2016 $4.44 per minute July 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016 $4.06 per minute January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
March 3, 2016 VRS rate order
Maintains rates adopted in 2013 for other VRS
Tier III (monthly minutes exceeding 1 million)
$4.06 per minute July 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015 $3.87 per minute January 1, 2016 – June 30, 2016 $3.68 per minute July 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016 $3.49 per minute January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
August 4, 2016 – CGB released a FNPRM on VRS
August 2015, the VRS Task Group of the SIP Forum published
the VRS Provider Interoperability Profile
July 2016, the Relay User Equipment (RUE) Forum published
the Interoperability Profile for Relay User Equipment
FNPRM seeks comment on tentative conclusion that these
standards meet the FCC’s objective of facilitating interoperability and portability for VRS, and should be incorporated by reference into the FCC’s rules
Comments due September 14, 2016
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
VRS issues still pending from the FNPRM
VRS rates beginning July 1, 2017 Whether to transfer responsibility for handling 911 calls to a
Whether to prohibit the use of non-competition clauses in
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
April 7, 2015 – CGB suspended InnoCaption’s
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
June 17, 2016 – CGB released on Order reinstating
Order waived certain elements of the emergency call
Send to the public safety answering point (PSAP) The provider’s name and callback number ID number for the CA handling the 911 call Initiate the reconnection of a 911 call if one or both legs
are disconnected
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Background
In 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit
The FCC may not require consumers to pay $75 for IP CTS
equipment
It is permissible for consumers to have a choice of obtaining
third-party certification or paying $75 for equipment
The FCC may not require that IP CTS phones be set to default
with captions off
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Issues pending on remand from the court:
Users who have registered since the court decision went into
effect have not been required to obtain either a third-party certification or pay $75 for equipment. Question pending is whether to require third-party certification of new users as well as users who have registered since the court decision went into effect
Since the court decision, IP CTS phones are required to have a
button, key or icon to easily turn captions on, but there is no similar requirement to turn captions off. Question pending is whether to require a button, key, or icon to turn captions off
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Issues pending from the FNPRM accompanying the
Whether to restructure the rate methodology Whether to prohibit the use of phones which require
Whether to require a default of “captions on” for 911 calls
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Issues pending from the 2013 FNPRM:
Whether to migrate IP CTS to state TRS programs Whether to centralize registration and verification of IP
Whether to adopt mandatory minimum requirements for
Whether to require provider websites to have notifications
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Other pending IP CTS issues :
Updating 911 calling rules for web and wireless IP CTS With traditional IP CTS, the 911 connection is provided by the
underlying telephone or VoIP provider
Rules governing web and wireless IP CTS were adopted in early 2008
before iTRS providers were part of the North American Numbering Plan
Question is how to update the rules, now that there are easier and
better ways to connect users to 911
Whether to make permanent the alternatives to providing the last 4 digits
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Pending IP Relay issues:
Enhanced registration, certification and verification
Per call validation procedures Application of the centralized TRS-URD to IP Relay,
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Pending IP Relay Issues:
Alternative ways to restructure IP Relay, such as
Selecting the provider or providers through a competitive
bidding process or
Making IP Relay a mandatory service and turning over
administration to the states, similar to what is now done for traditional TRS and STS
Restructuring the ratemaking methodology Determining the needs of deaf-blind users and how to
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Pending IP Relay Issues:
Permanent elimination of “guest user” procedure for calls to 911 June 2012 order prohibited guest users except for calls to 911 In 2014, to address “swatting,” rules were waived for 1 year to
permit providers to refuse to handle 911 calls by guest users
In June 2015, waiver extended until FCC addresses the issue on
a permanent basis
When to disconnect an idle call – what is the appropriate wait time Whether to prohibit more than 2 simultaneous calls by the same
user
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Pending STS Issues:
Establishing a nationwide STS outreach program Registration, certification, and verification requirements for
The inapplicability of certain TRS mandatory minimum
The minimum wait time – 60 seconds – that should be
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Pending STS Issues:
Minimum STS CA training standards Requiring providers to allow STS users to create profiles Video Assisted STS (VA STS), a form of STS where the user
IP STS, a form of STS where the user is connected to the CA
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland
Voice telephone: (202) 418-2388 Email: karen.strauss@fcc.gov
Voice telephone: (202) 418-2235 Email: eliot.greenwld@fcc.gov
September 15, 2016 TRS Advisory Council Annapolis, Maryland