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Sprint and Relay Texas Build on 16-Year Relationship to Provide Communications Services to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals | Nachrichten |
Building on a successful, long-term relationship, Sprint(NYSE:S) will continue to provide assistive communications services toindividuals within Texas who are deaf or hard of hearing or have aspeech disability. Through a competitive bid process, the PublicUtility Commission of Texas awarded Sprint with its fourth consecutivefive-year contract. As a result of the long-standing history, many ofthe telecommunications relay services (TRS) standards used within theTRS industry today are largely due to the vision from the deaf andhard of hearing community in Texas, as it was the first state to offerSprint Relay services. Sprint delivers approximately 700,000 minutesof assistive communications services each month in Texas.
Through the new contract, effective Sept. 1, 2006, Relay Texaswill continue to provide TRS including Spanish-to-Englishtranslations, Captioned Telephone (Captel), video relay service (VRS),Sprint IP and IP Wireless.
Sprint also operates two relay service centers in Texas, locatedin Austin and Lubbock, and together they employ more than 300 Texans.
"It's almost impossible to envision our community without SprintRelay Services," said Claire Bugen, superintendent of Texas School forthe Deaf. "Sprint Relay of Austin is so much more than a qualityprovider of telecommunications relay services to the state of Texas;they are a valued community partner and strong advocates of improvedservices for deaf and hard of hearing Texans."
For the past 10 years, Sprint has worked with the Texas School forthe Deaf to sponsor a Walk event to raise funds for serviceorganizations that assist the deaf and hard of hearing community. Thewalk has become one of the leading events to benefit the community andhas raised a total of more than $150,000 since 1996.
"The State of Texas was Sprint's first relay contract, and thiscontract award will represent 21 years of service, the longestcontinuous relationship between a TRS provider and a state in theUnited States," said Mike Ligas, director of Sprint Relay. "SprintRelay is honored to continue to be entrusted as the provider of RelayTexas to assist those who are deaf and hard of hearing to communicateeffectively with family and friends and for business purposes."
Sprint Relay Portfolio of Services
Sprint has nearly 16 years of experience in providing relayservices to persons who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind orhave a speech disability to communicate with hearing persons on thephone. Sprint's experience in the field assures users of Sprint Relayreceive quality service no matter what type of Relay service they areusing. Relay service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,with no restrictions on the number of calls placed or call length. Formore information, visit www.sprintrelay.com.
Sprint's TRS is accessible throughout Texas by dialing 711 or oneof several toll-free numbers. Texans who are deaf, hard of hearing ordeaf-blind or have a speech disability will continue to receiveseamless communication with hearing persons on the phone through TRS,which involves a relay operator serving as an intermediary for phonecalls between a deaf user and a hearing party. The TRS operator speakswords typed by a deaf user on a text telephone (TTY) or via theInternet and relays the hearing person's spoken response by typingback to the deaf user.
CapTel Service (Captioned Telephone), developed by Ultratec, Inc.,is available for those who are hard of hearing or have experiencedhearing loss later in life or deaf individuals with good vocalizationskills. CapTel allows nearly simultaneous voice and text captioningvia a special, CapTel-equipped phone using a standard telephone line.The captions are displayed on the CapTel phone's built-in screen sothe user can read the words while listening to the other party'svoice.
Sprint also offers Video Relay Service (VRS), which uses a similarprocess but enables the deaf user to communicate in American SignLanguage through a video interpreter via a computer or televisionmonitor equipped with a Web camera or videophone instead of typing.This allows for a much more natural-sounding conversation with thehearing party. Texans may access VRS through www.txvrs.com,www.sprintvrs.com, or with a D-Link videophone (used with televisionmonitors) by entering the IP address 'sprintvrs.tv'. This service iscurrently funded by the Interstate TRS fund.
Sprint IP Relay is a free service that combines TRS with the easeand ubiquity of the Internet, allowing users to make calls from any PCor selected Web-enabled Internet wireless devices without having touse traditional TTY equipment. Sprint IP Relay users also have theflexibility of using AOL Instant Messenger to access Sprint IP Relay.To connect using a website, go to www.sprintip.com. To connect usingAOL Instant Messenger, send a 10-digit number to the screen nameSprintIP. Both access methods will connect the caller to anexperienced Sprint Relay operator.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of communicationsservices bringing mobility to consumer, business and governmentcustomers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing,engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including tworobust wireless networks offering industry leading mobile dataservices; instant national and international walkie-talkiecapabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internetbackbone. For more information, visit Welcome to Sprint.
Building on a successful, long-term relationship, Sprint(NYSE:S) will continue to provide assistive communications services toindividuals within Texas who are deaf or hard of hearing or have aspeech disability. Through a competitive bid process, the PublicUtility Commission of Texas awarded Sprint with its fourth consecutivefive-year contract. As a result of the long-standing history, many ofthe telecommunications relay services (TRS) standards used within theTRS industry today are largely due to the vision from the deaf andhard of hearing community in Texas, as it was the first state to offerSprint Relay services. Sprint delivers approximately 700,000 minutesof assistive communications services each month in Texas.
Through the new contract, effective Sept. 1, 2006, Relay Texaswill continue to provide TRS including Spanish-to-Englishtranslations, Captioned Telephone (Captel), video relay service (VRS),Sprint IP and IP Wireless.
Sprint also operates two relay service centers in Texas, locatedin Austin and Lubbock, and together they employ more than 300 Texans.
"It's almost impossible to envision our community without SprintRelay Services," said Claire Bugen, superintendent of Texas School forthe Deaf. "Sprint Relay of Austin is so much more than a qualityprovider of telecommunications relay services to the state of Texas;they are a valued community partner and strong advocates of improvedservices for deaf and hard of hearing Texans."
For the past 10 years, Sprint has worked with the Texas School forthe Deaf to sponsor a Walk event to raise funds for serviceorganizations that assist the deaf and hard of hearing community. Thewalk has become one of the leading events to benefit the community andhas raised a total of more than $150,000 since 1996.
"The State of Texas was Sprint's first relay contract, and thiscontract award will represent 21 years of service, the longestcontinuous relationship between a TRS provider and a state in theUnited States," said Mike Ligas, director of Sprint Relay. "SprintRelay is honored to continue to be entrusted as the provider of RelayTexas to assist those who are deaf and hard of hearing to communicateeffectively with family and friends and for business purposes."
Sprint Relay Portfolio of Services
Sprint has nearly 16 years of experience in providing relayservices to persons who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind orhave a speech disability to communicate with hearing persons on thephone. Sprint's experience in the field assures users of Sprint Relayreceive quality service no matter what type of Relay service they areusing. Relay service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,with no restrictions on the number of calls placed or call length. Formore information, visit www.sprintrelay.com.
Sprint's TRS is accessible throughout Texas by dialing 711 or oneof several toll-free numbers. Texans who are deaf, hard of hearing ordeaf-blind or have a speech disability will continue to receiveseamless communication with hearing persons on the phone through TRS,which involves a relay operator serving as an intermediary for phonecalls between a deaf user and a hearing party. The TRS operator speakswords typed by a deaf user on a text telephone (TTY) or via theInternet and relays the hearing person's spoken response by typingback to the deaf user.
CapTel Service (Captioned Telephone), developed by Ultratec, Inc.,is available for those who are hard of hearing or have experiencedhearing loss later in life or deaf individuals with good vocalizationskills. CapTel allows nearly simultaneous voice and text captioningvia a special, CapTel-equipped phone using a standard telephone line.The captions are displayed on the CapTel phone's built-in screen sothe user can read the words while listening to the other party'svoice.
Sprint also offers Video Relay Service (VRS), which uses a similarprocess but enables the deaf user to communicate in American SignLanguage through a video interpreter via a computer or televisionmonitor equipped with a Web camera or videophone instead of typing.This allows for a much more natural-sounding conversation with thehearing party. Texans may access VRS through www.txvrs.com,www.sprintvrs.com, or with a D-Link videophone (used with televisionmonitors) by entering the IP address 'sprintvrs.tv'. This service iscurrently funded by the Interstate TRS fund.
Sprint IP Relay is a free service that combines TRS with the easeand ubiquity of the Internet, allowing users to make calls from any PCor selected Web-enabled Internet wireless devices without having touse traditional TTY equipment. Sprint IP Relay users also have theflexibility of using AOL Instant Messenger to access Sprint IP Relay.To connect using a website, go to www.sprintip.com. To connect usingAOL Instant Messenger, send a 10-digit number to the screen nameSprintIP. Both access methods will connect the caller to anexperienced Sprint Relay operator.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of communicationsservices bringing mobility to consumer, business and governmentcustomers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing,engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including tworobust wireless networks offering industry leading mobile dataservices; instant national and international walkie-talkiecapabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internetbackbone. For more information, visit Welcome to Sprint.