The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Washington, is urging people with hearing and/or speech disabilities who use Video Relay Service (VRS) and/or IP Relay to register with their chosen VRS or Internet Protocol (IP) Relay default provider as soon as possible—but no later than the June 30 deadline.

VRS and IP Relay are methods of Internet-based Telecommunications Relay Service.

To register, VRS and/or IP Relay users should provide their physical location information (registered location) to a default provider and, in exchange, obtain a 10-digit geographic phone number. After June 30, all VRS and IP Relay users must be registered with a default provider to place a nonemergency call through any VRS or IP
Relay provider. 

After the deadline,VRS and IP Relay providers will not complete calls to a user’s former proxy or alias number, which may have been previously obtained from a provider.

To guarantee delivery of accurate location information to responders in an emergency, VRS and IP-Relay users must provide updated location information to their default provider any time it changes. 

For more information and background on this issue, read the FCC consumer advisories at:

www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/trstendigit-reminder.html
www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/trstendigit.html
www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/trstendigit-user-meaning.html  

[Source:  An advisory from the Federal Communications Commission]