GATINEAU – The communications needs of most Canadians are met with land-line telephones (still) and wireless plans. But if you’re a deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing Canadian (DDBHH), wireless video is essential. It offers mobility and efficiency, but of course video consumes a lot more data than voice.
So, when the CRTC determined the gap in the wireless service market was low-cost data-only service, or skinny wireless, and asked the big wireless companies to file new prices and capacities, the deaf community paid attention.
First, for them, the voice portion of any package is hardly useful, neither is voicemail service. So, data only and the video it can deliver really fits their needs.
Some carriers offer rebates for people with disabilities, but they are not evenly offered across the country and not all members of the community are aware of these as indicated in a survey filed with the Commission by the Deaf Wireless Canada Consultative Committee as part of its intervention into the proposed LCDO packages (upon which Cartt.ca has previously reported).
For instance, according to the filing, Telus and Rogers DDBHH subscribers may use the SRV Canada VRS app without counting its use against any data with their “unlimited SRV Canada VRS access offerings. (VRS services allow a DDBHH person to communicate by video using sign language to an interpreter who translate for the end user. This way, they can order pizza without the pizza place to have special equipment.)
The DWCC proposes that ALL WSPs across the country offer this service, but they also argue that DDBHH video communication needs are not met only by this particular app. The DDBHH community also uses other apps such as Facetime, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Glide and Marco Polo to communicate in sign language (either live or recorded). These apps consume copious amounts of data and this in and of itself remains a huge concern.
The same survey mentioned above indicated that 54% of the respondents required between 2 to 6 GB per month to satisfy their then current wireless communication needs. 2 GB is equivalent to 6 hours of FaceTime usage.
However, the proposals filed by the carriers do not begin to address the requirements of the DDBHH community
As one of the survey participants commented: “I would like to see data plan prices go down and affordable for Deaf, Deaf-blind, Hard of Hearing who are low-income. Because I pay high price for my data plan and I feel data plan is expensive and not equal to hearing people.”
What DWCC proposes is that all WSPs offer the following three accessible plans to allow DDBHH to use data-intensive video communication apps other than SRV Canada VRS:
a. 10 GB for $40
b. 15 GB for $55
c. 20 GB for $70
They also propose further, better, efforts in promoting those offerings towards the DDBHH community.
The response from the major carriers is due on June 28th and it could be they will reject these propositions because they do not meet the criteria set by the CRTC in TNC 2018-98 which was to “be available to all consumers (i.e. not limited to a means-tested subset of low-income households)” but the Commission will have the final word.
