Your employer let you use VRS at work?

[Oddball]

I recently had a talk with IT techie about VP/VRS today. He will talk with his boss and my manager about it plus he will take it with IT team to install VPs into my cubicle.. not just for me, just for all of RCDs and state coordinator. I already notified state coordinator via email about my recent conversation with IT techie today. Hopefully, people at Trenton move their asses to install Sorenson VPs ASAP.

Ofc, I know that my manager is interested in getting VP for me, but it is up to Trenton to do it for us, RCDs. Sighs.

I prefer to use VRS over internet relay services.

 

[navyman]

You didn't know that? Didn't you recognize that Sprint VRS interpreters, CSD VRS intepreters and FedVRS intepreters are all the same interpreters? I use Sprint VRS a lot, and when I call a Federal agency, like the FCC, I use FedVRS. They are the exact same interpreters! Are you sure you have the correct information in your profile? If someone calls your personal 1-800 number, an interpreter must answer within 120 seconds, for 80% of all calls.

I've always been aware that CSDVRS, SprintVRS and FedVRS are all interchangeably used. However, it appears that I am required to have a separate profile for CSDVRS from that of FedVRS. I have my own personal CSDVRS 800 ph nbr which I love because it makes it a lot easier for hearing people to make the call without remembering or having to provide secondary information. However, the FedVRS ISDN number requires an extension to be provided. This is a different number than the FedVRS internet-based phone number.

The program attorney I was previously referring to claimed he got no answer all day long, and that was through the FedVRS ISDN phone number which he must use to contact me. IP-based FedVRS/CSDVRS/SprintVRS VI's cannot make ISDN calls.

The FCC ruled that, after January 1st 2007, all VRS must answer 80% of their calls within 120 seconds (two minutes), including abandoned calls. If you are unable to have 80% of your calls answered within 120 seconds, that is an FCC violation. This doesn't apply for FedVRS, since that is not FCC mandated, but it does apply for Sprint VRS and CSD VRS. You can use Sprint VRS and CSD VRS ISDN connectivity at work, and if you are unable to connect to an interpreter within 120 seconds, 80% of the time, you can report that as an FCC violation. More importantly, you can report that you will report the violation to CSD customer service, the Sprint Relay Account Manager for your state (if your state is serviced by Sprint Relay) and Sprint Relay Account Manager Mathew Gwynn. That will definately get them to move on the issue.

CSDVRS and SprintVRS's ISDN phone numbers do not work. I don't believe they are valid numbers anymore. FedVRS has its own unique ISDN number, and it leads to an answering station located, I believe, in Austin, TX. This is part of the reason why I have not considered CSDVRS and SprintVRS part of the picture at all. However, it is clear that for IP-based VRS calls, any of the three vendors are capable of taking the call.

 

[navyman]

Natick, Massachusetts

By the way, I just got an award length service with Federal Government for 25 years. Whoa ! I do not know if I will continue work other 5 or 10 years.

I plan to request VRS access at your workplace to my supervisor during the meeting next week. If that vrs relate to work to make the phone calls. They may approval as for my position, I do not use much make a phone calls because I used alot of emails to correspondence with other collegaues.

Hi, thanks for answering where you work. I only have 14.5 years of service, so you are way ahead of me

If your coworkers who do same work as you have telephones on their desks, you are entitled to what the law calls "comparable and functionally equivalent" telecommunications access. This means your employer should gladly provide you VRS access. You use email to communicate with others probably because its the only real way to do so without VRS. Once you get VRS, you'll be able to do both email and telephone calls just like your hearing coworkers. Emails are not always the best way to communicate about certain things. Sometimes you need a fast answer from someone...and email doesn't do well in many cases like that.

Good luck on your request and keep the forum informed of how it was addressed by your employer!

 

[navyman]

I recently had a talk with IT techie about VP/VRS today. He will talk with his boss and my manager about it plus he will take it with IT team to install VPs into my cubicle.. not just for me, just for all of RCDs and state coordinator. I already notified state coordinator via email about my recent conversation with IT techie today. Hopefully, people at Trenton move their asses to install Sorenson VPs ASAP.

Ofc, I know that my manager is interested in getting VP for me, but it is up to Trenton to do it for us, RCDs. Sighs.

I prefer to use VRS over internet relay services.

What is an RCD? Is that what you are? Who's your employer? It sounds like you work for a NJ state agency, am I right or wrong?

Good luck with getting your Sorenson VP. You are very lucky to possibly get a VP-200!!!

 

[navyman]

*bump* Anyone care to share about either having VRS or being deined VRS at their work place?

 

[VamPyroX]

There's always a security issue with anything that has sound or video recording.

NTID has that problem.

Some of the video phones are set to auto-answer and their lens cap off... intentionally or unintentionally.

We had to post signs all over the dorms reminding students to make sure that the lens cap was on when their video phone was not in use due to students taking advantage of the auto-answer feature and peeping.

I've even heard of cases where a student would visit another student's room, secretly set the VP to auto-answer, and remove the lens cap before leaving. They later call that room and no one knows they're being spied on.

 

[ZiNg31]

My former work does not allow to use Video Phone at work... there are 6 deaf people working there. They did offer TTD only. I notice they have highspeed everywhere.

 

[navyman]

My former work does not allow to use Video Phone at work... there are 6 deaf people working there. They did offer TTD only. I notice they have highspeed everywhere.

What is your former work (employer)?

As some of you know, I'm a Federal employee and have had the same problems convincing my agency to allow VRS. I am learning that Sprint, which is the contractor for the Federal Video Relay Service, is working with their subcontractor for VRS to set up a gateway to allow ISDN videophones to connect to IP-based VRS. This has the potential to allow MANY Federal Deafies to use VRS when they otherwise might not be able to because ISDN connectivity is inherently safer (in other words, completely separate from agency's IP network). The sad news is that we still will not be able to receive IP videophone calls (aka point-to-point) from other Deafies or family members calling from home, for example.

 

[navyman]

There's always a security issue with anything that has sound or video recording.

NTID has that problem.

Some of the video phones are set to auto-answer and their lens cap off... intentionally or unintentionally.

We had to post signs all over the dorms reminding students to make sure that the lens cap was on when their video phone was not in use due to students taking advantage of the auto-answer feature and peeping.

I've even heard of cases where a student would visit another student's room, secretly set the VP to auto-answer, and remove the lens cap before leaving. They later call that room and no one knows they're being spied on.

Considering the normal mischeviousness of college-age students and hormone levels in college males, this scenerio does not surprise me at all! The funny thing is its an entirely different kind of security issue than the normal network security excuses that employers like to blurt out.

 

[shel90]

We have VP at my work...got them set up last year.

 

[navyman]

We have VP at my work...got them set up last year.

Where and who do you work for? You're a teacher, right?

 

[deafaussie]

Interesting thread. I noticed most of the discussions relates to the Federal Relay and Federal government agencies. I am in the private sector, working for Kaiser Permanente. About 2 months after I was offered to work here. My managers, HR, IT Security, IT command center and other departments had their back backwards to have my secured gateway to the internet provisioned.

HOVRS was more than happy to provide their destination IP addresses for their call centers, allowing me to gain secured gateway access from my workstation directly to the Internet. I had tried getting IP's from Sorenson, they declined claiming its security. Oh yeah right!. We have security here too and its a two - way street to make it work.

Now, Im able to use with HOVRS anytime and can able to receive calls here. It is my understanding that we have about 25Mps down and 15Mps up. Way overkill for my VRS access but its nice to have.

 

[navyman]

Interesting thread. I noticed most of the discussions relates to the Federal Relay and Federal government agencies. I am in the private sector, working for Kaiser Permanente. About 2 months after I was offered to work here. My managers, HR, IT Security, IT command center and other departments had their back backwards to have my secured gateway to the internet provisioned.

HOVRS was more than happy to provide their destination IP addresses for their call centers, allowing me to gain secured gateway access from my workstation directly to the Internet. I had tried getting IP's from Sorenson, they declined claiming its security. Oh yeah right!. We have security here too and its a two - way street to make it work.

Now, Im able to use with HOVRS anytime and can able to receive calls here. It is my understanding that we have about 25Mps down and 15Mps up. Way overkill for my VRS access but its nice to have.

You are very fortunate to have the kind of support from your private employer to get you VRS. This is unfortunately the exception rather than the rule. When I first requested VRS access at work in June 2005, my employer would not discuss VRS, and instead insisted on us Deafies in the Navy to use the TTY because that's all the law obligated them to do. I was fortunate that my supervisor was willing to find the money to get an ISDN-based VRS system set up at my desk...very very expensive compared to IP-based VRS to the tune of about $11,000 for the monitor and the connections. Right now, HOVRS, the subcontractor to Sprint for FedVRS, is working out the bugs on ISDN-based FedVRS. Slowly, but surely, many of the Dept of Defense Deafies may eventually get VRS, that is, if they can convince their own agency to invest in the vastly overpriced ISDN equipment.

Not surprised that Sorenson would not release the IP addresses...they have an LDAP server system that they want to keep proprietary because that's how they retain a monopoly over the phone numbering system that many Deafies find useful for calling other Sorenson VP users.