VRS and IP Relay Registration Requirement Delayed

June 2009

Editor: If you're a VRS or IP Relay user, you hopefully are aware of the requirement to register with the provider of your choice to receive your very own 10-digit phone number. That requirement had been set to become effective on June 30, but has been extended to November 12. I know that sounds like a long ways off, but, if you use those services, I urge you to get registered now!

The notice announcing the extension is at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-1323A1.pdf

You can get additional information about this development at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/trs.html

Here's the notice that the FCC sent out on June 12.

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In the interest of informing you as soon as possible, attached is a just-released FCC order extending from June 30 to November 12 the deadline by which users of video relay and IP relay services will have to have registered for ten-digit numbers in order to be able to complete non-emergency calls. The extension is being granted to allow additional time for outreach to consumers, as well as to address any unresolved technical issues associated with the transition to ten-digit numbering. We have also attached a Consumer Advisory that explains the transition in more detail.

Persons with hearing and/or speech disabilities who use VRS and/or IP Relay are reminded, if they have not done so already, to complete the process of registering with the VRS or IP Relay default provider of their choice as soon as possible, and no later than November 12, 2009. As part of the registration process, a VRS and/or IP Relay user must register his or her physical location information (Registered Location) with a default provider and, in exchange, obtain a ten-digit geographic telephone number. After November 12, 2009, all VRS and IP Relay users must be registered with a default provider in order to place a non-emergency call through any VRS or IP Relay provider. In addition, after that date, VRS and IP Relay providers will no longer complete calls to a user's former "proxy" or "alias" number that may have been previously obtained from a provider.