In Deaf Blogs: Video Relay Service Rates Frozen

Ed Bosson, the deaf blogosphere's telecommunications watchdog, has posted news that the Federal Communications Commission is freezing Video Relay Service rates. His blog post includes a link to a FCC Word document with all the details, including actual dollars. Prior to this announcement, there had been discussion in the deaf blogosphere that the FCC might reduce the rate(s).

How will this affect video relay service providers? Recently, I was at a deaf trade show of sorts and ran into someone who owns a business providing accessibility services. This person told me that his company had to go into the business of offering video relay services to stay afloat. This made me realize that video relay service rates were apparently so lucrative that it was spurring the creation of more and more video relay services - at a cost to the people who pay telecommunications surcharges that fund relay services.

There had been quite a bit of blogging on this in the deaf blogosphere. One blogger, Amy Cohen Effron, posted clear graphics and graphics with highlights showing the rates and how much money is involved. The numbers are stunning. In addition, the numbers show stark differences between video relay services and traditional relay services.

Related article on About.com: Internet Relay Services