G'day Everyone!
I"m sorry I am late on this, but I'm MORE angry than a bull in a china shop! Just few weeks before the federal trial that involves the deaf that attempted to defraud the FCC of money, the FCC has already decided to punish the VRS providers and the Deaf Community!
The info: www.sorensonvrs.com/savevrs
What you must do: choose one of the 3: email, mail, or fill out the form and what that means is that FCC is accepting public comments. YOU MUST GET INVOLVED NOW! If the FCC's proposal is adopted and it cuts the services of the VRS despite the ADA law, we, the deaf, are getting shafted here.
Who's to be majorly blamed? John Yeh and his cronies! If you forgot his crimes:
http://thedeafsherlock.blogspot.com/2010/01/breaking-news-john-yeh-is-named-in.html
http://thedeafsherlock.blogspot.com/2010/02/another-two-more-vrs-execs-plead-guilty.html
Right now, John Yeh and his defendants ought to be hanging their heads in shame for what they have just done to all of us. How could they do this to us? The FCC is using their new rule to punish us because of the crimes done by John Yeh and his defendants. Should we have to bear John Yeh and his defendant's crimes here? NO!
I say let's rise up. I POST A CALL TO ACTION! IT'S TIME FOR ACTION! SAVE SORENSON VRS! Let the FCC know they can't do this just because of John Yeh and his cronies. Tell the FCC to stop their proposals. Give John Yeh and his defendants their day in court on May 24th. But tell the FCC to get involved with the Federal government trial. If FCC is looking to be paid for supporting VRS industry, then tell the FCC to SUE Mr.John Yeh and his defendants! They're the very ones at the center of it all.
Get moving everyone! We don't have much time!
Semper FI!
5 comments:
The costs that the NECA/FCC is collecting and analyzing are only a fraction of what is actually being spent for the all the services for VRS. The cost of a 24x7 network, infrastructure and support personnel is not covered in the costs reported to NECA. To support the user base that now exists is millions for this level of service. This is not as mature as it needs to be and is still under development which means that we should be supporting more money to beef it up. All VRS providers are facing this problem.
There are other costs not collected as well like HR, Accounting, IT, workforce management and other administrative costs. The government needs economy of scale to drive all the costs down in the VRS industry to keep the public happy. The bigger the VRS providers are the more they can provide lower costs. This means we should be giving a high enough rate across all tiers to maintain this momentum. Yes, there needs to be profit gained from reducing overhead costs, otherwise companies will not be motivated to reduce costs. My recommendation is to keep the rates for operating the VRS service the same as they currently are in tier III. The other rates need to be raised to encourage competition and to cover increasing infrastructure and administrative costs as sapling VRS companies try to grow.
The bottom line is the NECA/FCC management in the past didn't and doesn't understand the VRS business well enough to collect all the costs involved. This has led to a bogus estimate of how much it actually costs to run the VRS business. Unfortunately, this blunder under the past administration is leaving this administration in a he said she said way to set the rate. This has led them into a critical point in time where the recommended rates will destroy the very service they have successfully built. I have no confidence at all in the cost numbers collected by NECA. From what I know, making the current rate decision will do exactly what Ed is reporting above.
I would propose 50 cents per VRS minute across all tiers and ear mark it to development costs.
The costs of point to point support infrastructure or maintenance personnel is not covered at all in the NECA costs. Sorenson and other providers maintain this out of their own pockets. This is essential for VRS to have but is not included in the costs submitted. It costs millions to support it on the scale where all Deaf Americans can us their VPs and other video communication methods. Because these costs are not included Deaf support teams who support point to point activity will be the first to go, they are a flat cost that is not being included. Some providers have already made cut to their Deaf support staffs. If the rates go as proposed this will happen to everyone in the industry. When Sorenson says that the rates are below their costs these are a part of the costs they are talking about.
We need more innovation for employment accommodations. There are many good jobs that could done by Deaf with videophones and VRS. For new innovation, I would propose a new grant based fund of 50 million over the next 5 years for improving this areas and accommodations for employment.
We have an opportunity until 5/14/2010 to unite and press our points to the FCC. Constant drops in the rate will eventually lead to no innovation and lower quality services or no services at all. Are we completely satisfied with what we have now? why accept a cut anywhere?
Deaf Sherlock; It is ok to be angry, however, finger pointing is not going to help us. We need to come together and contact FCC.
There is another possible reason that the proposed fee has been cut. The TRS fund may already be shrinking because voice over IP providers do not have to pay into the TRS fund. HR 3101 and S. 3304 would correct this.
FCC is punishing VRS? That's a wild assumption. FYI, factual sources have pointed out that most VRS company will not be bankrupted due to the new rates. They just might not be able to do more. As it stands right now, many smaller VRS companies such as Convo, ZVRS, etc are breaking even. Since when is VRS company supposed to make profits off TRS funds? If they have a product that sells, that is where their profits should come from, not the funds.
Can you explain this a little more, Jamie? Thanks. ;-)
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