Ryan Croke is learning.
Ideas about videophone technology, especially as it affects the American Deaf community.
June 11, 2007
September 16, 2006
The iSight mystery revealed
In response to my two questions** posted earlier this week, I have confirmed (thanks to the help of your comments) that there are at least 2 companies through which VRS calls can be completed using the Apple iSight web cam.
Hands-On VRS (HOVRS) -- through AOL Instant Messenger (IM) video chat.
(Plus, check out this video about the HOVRS Mac-only widget.)
LifeLinks VRS -- through SightSpeed.
With both options, you have to add VRS interpreter "addresses" to your buddy list/phone book. The process for doing that in LifeLinks is more time consuming.
For non-Mac lovers, IM and SightSpeed do support some non-iSight web cams and are fully compatible on PCs.
As for my second question (about calling IP-based videophones like the VP-100 or i2eye with an iSight), I have not found a way to do it, but I am holding out hope that it's possible.
**
1. Are any Video Relay Services available to those with the Apple iSight?
2. Can the iSight be used to place a call to an IP-based videophone?
September 15, 2006
Polycom Via Video II
Does anyone out there use this product, or know someone who does? How is it? I'd love to know more about it from a consumer's perspective.
It retails for $480 here, but I found it for less (though not by much) on Froogle.
If it's stable and compatible with the VP-100/200, there just might be a market for it among residential video telephone consumers.
September 12, 2006
Calling all Mac lovers...
(No, not Mac & Cheese ... Macintosh!)
2 questions:
1. Are any Video Relay Services available to those with the Apple iSight?
& 
???
2. Can the iSight be used to place a call to an IP-based videophone?
& 
???
I will post the answers when I find out! First one to solve this mystery for me has my total respect, and maybe a prize.
VRS choices!
I'd like this list to become a helpful resource for VRS users.
Your ideas are appreciated.
Your ideas are appreciated.
| Service Provider | Notes on numbering protocols, etc. | Deaf/HoH-initiated | Hearing-initiated |
 | Users can call from videophones or webcams (by using Microsoft NetMeeting or VSoft's AT&T XpressVRS software) | ATTVRS.TV | 888-877-9998 |
| HQ in Flint, MI | CACVRS.TV | 866-500-9662 |
 | Offers customers personal "1-800" numbers to route hearing-initiated calls directly (through CSD VRS) to deaf users; also offers 5-digit extension numbers, usable with CSD VRS. | CSDVRS.TV | 866-410-5787 |
 | Not yet in service, but approved for VRS by the FCC; runs i711.com (IP-based text relay) | N/A | N/A |
 | Uses Birnbaum Interpreting Service | CALL.HIPVRS.COM | 866-498-4777 |
| HQ in CA, Corporate HQ in DE; Users can register for HOVRS extension numbers; VRS contractor for AT&T and Washington state TRS since 2002 | HOVRS.TV | 877-467-4877 |
 | Owned by MCI-Verizon; hearing-initiated calls not permitted | TV.IPVRS.COM | N/A |
 | Started as Healinc Telecom; HQ in NY | 69.18.207.166 | 877-744-6111 |
| Canadian company; runs myrelay.com; contractor for California state VRS | N/A | 800-423-1642 |
| Uses Motorola Ojo | N/A | N/A |
 | GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC became Sorenson's majority shareholder in Sept. '05; offers customers 10-digit proxy numbers for p2p VP-100 calls and hearing-initiated Sorenson VRS calls; Partnership with Gallaudet Interpreting Service; Users can call from VPs or webcams (by using Microsoft NetMeeting or Sorenson EnVision software) | VP-100/200 only | 866-327-8877 |
 | Under contract with GSA for to provide VRS for Federal employees; CSD provides interpreters and call centers | SPRINTVRS.TV | 866-410-5787 |
September 11, 2006
Thesis ...
FINAL.doc
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September 10, 2006
need for speed
If you use a videophone, what kind of internet connection do you have?
What is the minimum frame rate *you* need for a clear conversation?
Minimum frames per second required for understanding sign language or lipreading:
July 26, 2006
NAD taking action on numbering
3 videos with Kelby Brick, NAD's Director of Law & Advocacy:
(The fourth image is a link to the NAD Videophone Numbering Web page.)
Another VRS provider?
What's the story on LifeLinks? Is their service approved by the FCC? (Click the pic below to visit their site.)
"...used by only 10 percent to 15 percent of deaf people."
Popular video relays for deaf raise some concerns
Greg Livadas, Staff writer
June 6, 2006
Continue reading ""...used by only 10 percent to 15 percent of deaf people."" »
July 25, 2006
Critical meeting on videophone numbering
The ATIS VoIP subcommittee met July 13 to discuss ways to deploy a centralized videophone numbering network for VRS users. Sprint and Sorenson have contributed technical proposals to this subcommittee (similar to their numbering comments to the FCC), but mostly Sprint's proposal was discussed.
"Points noted" at the meeting:
Continue reading "Critical meeting on videophone numbering" »
Comments on Snap's waiver request
From WASHINGTON WATCH (A publication of the NECA Washington DC Office)
Edited By Deborah Long and Robert Falkner
The following oppositions have been filed in response to the request of Snap Telecommunications for a limited waiver of the [FCC's] Video Relay Service interoperability requirements.
Interoperability's consequences
In response to this message, which is programmed to appear when VP-100 users dial non-Sorenson relay providers, Hands-On VRS filed this complaint with the FCC. It draws the following comparison:
"...Imagine if AT&T distributed a telephone to the public which intercepted calls destined for other long distance providers, stated that AT&T could not vouch for the quality of the telephone transmission, and asked if the caller still desired to make the call. The Commission would not stand for this. Yet, that is exactly what Sorenson is doing here..."
In response, Sorenson filed these comments.
As always, your comments are welcome.
July 20, 2006
Mandatory minimum requirements
7/24 UPDATE:
VRS... Standards are part of the FCC's regs promulgated for TRS and are available at 47 C.F.R. § 64.601 - 64.605. The Minimum Standards are set forth at section 604. These regs are subject of course to FCC and court interpretation and supplementation through various orders ...
You can get copies of the regs (and any other federal regs) pretty easily at this website:
47 C.F.R. § 64.604 after the fold...
July 18, 2006
VRS Numbering FNPR comments
[BRIEF REVIEW OF VIDEOPHONE NUMBERING AS A REGULATORY ISSUE]
In response to the California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing's Feb. 15, 2005 Petition for Declaratory Ruling on Interoperability, the FCC released this Declaratory ruling & Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPR) on May 3, 2006. (Click here for the FCC press release.)
The "Declaratory ruling" part forbids video relay service equipment providers from blocking user access to competing service providers (effective July 1, 2006).
In the "FNPR" part, the FCC requests comments about two topics:1. the feasibility of a national videophone number database; and 2. whether video protocol standards (e.g. H.323, SIP) should be required for VRS providers.
[VIDEOPHONE NUMBERING UPDATE!]
On Monday (July 17), seven VRS providers, one advocacy organization (TDI) and one consumer had responded directly to the numbering component of the FNPR. Here they are:
User (Kent Munro)
In response to the California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing's Feb. 15, 2005 Petition for Declaratory Ruling on Interoperability, the FCC released this Declaratory ruling & Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPR) on May 3, 2006. (Click here for the FCC press release.)
The "Declaratory ruling" part forbids video relay service equipment providers from blocking user access to competing service providers (effective July 1, 2006).
In the "FNPR" part, the FCC requests comments about two topics:
[VIDEOPHONE NUMBERING UPDATE!]
On Monday (July 17), seven VRS providers, one advocacy organization (TDI) and one consumer had responded directly to the numbering component of the FNPR. Here they are:
| CLICK BELOW FOR THE COMMENTS OF... | ...SUBMITTED BY... | SWEET MUGS |
| AT&T | Davida Grant |  |
| CSD | Karen Peltz-Strauss |  |
| Hands-On (HOVRS) | George Lyon | 
|
| Sorenson | Gil Strobel |  |
| Sprint-Nextel | Michael B. Fingerhut | |
| TDI | Eliot Greenwald | 
|
| Verizon | Sherry Ingram | |
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