TRS Immigration: Walking the Internet Trail

This workshop was part of an afternoon session entitled "Quality of Service Revisited: On the Road to Functional Equivalency in TRS". The presenter was Burt Bossi, a District Manager with AT&T's TRS.

This conference has used the great Western migration into gold territory as an analog of the development of access for people with hearing loss. I would like to extend that analogy to develop the concept of IP Relay.

Imagine a monument with two towers; one is the internet, the other is relay. They grew independently, and the question is, "When do we connect the two towers?" The design was such that the weight would close them in and eventually add a last piece to complete the arch. We need FCC approval to add the last piece - the keystone.

Jumping Off

California was the first state to ask for IP Relay as part of its TRS service. Voice over IP (VOIP) means VCO will also be available. Microsoft XP [Ed: Microsoft's next operating system] has VOIP built in. We also need to look at full motion video for the Video Relay Service (VRS). The states are "choosers"; they're the ones who decide which relay service people in their state will use. AT&T has an online report engine, so states can see how our service does every day. The internet allows us to very easily move data.

AT&T recently finished a 12-week IP Relay trial; at that point we had to turn the service off, because there is currently no reimbursement model. But we learned a lot from that experience. The product is ready and waiting for FCC approval.

What's the Holdup?

IP relay has not had an easy entry, primarily because the internet is separate from the telecommunications industry. Part of the problem is that the telecommunications industry recognizes geography, but IP doesn't. On the internet, physical location is unimportant.

The billing issues alone are huge. Imagine an IP Relay service that is open to all providers, and all states accept all providers. This means the states could be getting up to 20 bills each month [Ed: estimated number of IP Relay service providers]. Also, each provider must send out 50 bills. This assumes the states are paying the bill, not the NECA.

Staging in "Kioskville"

Back in early 1990s, AT&T had payphones with large color screens. Now AT&T is taking the public phones out and replacing them with kiosks that contain multimedia entertainment. Locations want the kiosks to be ADA compliant. There are currently 400 kiosks in place; by the end of the year, there will be 1000. The screen has a simple browser to connect to the internet. The browser has space for advertising, which the provider can sell. A user can have a voice or TTY call going, and surf the Internet at the same time. The cost is 25 cents a minute.

Staying Healthy on the Trip.

AT&T has embraced this technology, because we know what the customer wants

Following Crude Directions

Many pioneers stopped and settled along the way, just like users may want to settle down with a particular technology. We need to be accommodating to the desires of our customers; we can't force them to use a technology they don't want. When you need to encourage a difficult transition, you can use torque or grease; grease is easier.

Helping Along the Way

Our job is not complete when we finish our system. Our job is to reach for the future, but maintain backward compatibility. Much as the Mormons left people at the obstacles to help the folks coming later, we need to be sure that we make it easy for our users to reach their goals. We expect telephony and IP relay to coexist for awhile. We as providers must do both.

Knowing When We've Arrived

How do we know when we've achieved our service goals? Here are some clues:
1. Ubiquitous Access - Relay will be accessible any time and anywhere, without special equipment. We expect the number of internet access points to exceed the number of POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) points in 5 years. This is a strong argument in favor of IP relay. California led the way with the inclusion of multiple relay vendors, but the 711 issue is throwing a wrench in that plan.
2. Consumer Choice - The consumer will be able to choose the service that best meets his needs.
3. Higher Quality - Everyone knows about 85 and 10 - Earlier we were required to answer 85% of calls within 10 seconds - averaged over a month. Now it's averaged over a day. That's a much tougher rule, and it represents higher quality service. But there's no rule saying that a particular customer can't be in the queue for five minutes.

Wrapup