[KonTiki]

lraed74 i understand but what i am after is whether this is something for the people not hearing impaired to be bogging down a system designed to help others that do need it. In other words, yes advertise it here but please use your head, I know we all try to load and test almost everything that is free or available to test. This however should not be tied up, it is wonderful resource for those in need for the rest of us, lets take the word that it works in blackberry and stand back clear.

[lraed74]

True, I probably should of started this thread out differently. Sometimes I just think people know what the Relay is but forget at times.

[KonTiki]

Well I think Guess can do something about it if he deems it necessary by just deleting the thread altogether I believe that by now the people that may have needed the information may have gotten it so there is no need to get newer people that come in and dont want to read through the whole thing contribute to jamming the system. It is a necessary and useful system and the fortunate amongst us that donot need to use it (like some turkey above suggested to use it to get around paying on phone calls)should not then make it less useful to others that do need and rely on it. I am sorry but I have stated my peace. Good service in the original posting lraed74, just an unfortunate bunch who want to spoil it.

[lraed74]

Maybe Mark could add it to his 'Advantages for the Deaf' section...so the information isnt totally lost with deleting the thread?

[dofficer]

Well, where can we discuss for improvements or have questions for IP-Relay for Blackberry? I thought this forum is a good place to start with.

[Mark Rejhon]

Originally Posted by KonTiki

lraed74 i understand but what i am after is whether this is something for the people not hearing impaired to be bogging down a system designed to help others that do need it. In other words, yes advertise it here but please use your head, I know we all try to load and test almost everything that is free or available to test. This however should not be tied up, it is wonderful resource for those in need for the rest of us, lets take the word that it works in blackberry and stand back clear.

This thread is going to stay. I am not going to remove the thread.

Why bother using relay - if non-deaf want to try relay, they can test it via the website at www.ip-relay.com / www.relaycall.com / www.sprintrelayonline.com (amongst others) doesn't block access to anybody. The BlackBerry version is no different.

It's all taxpayer funded and free to everyone in the United States (or people who want to call somebody in United States). The US government pays the companies (i.e. MCI, etc) something like $1.50 subsidy per minute of relay phone call. Not sure of the exact figure, but in that ballpark. So companies like MCI, AT&T, Sprint and others compete and innovate on relay services, so it can be profitable for these companies. Overall, it has generally benefited the deaf more than hurt the deaf, because this subsidy gives a huge incentive for companies to provide interesting services for the deaf. Look at the website: www.ip-relay.com - They now even provide neat services such as free webcam video interpetor relay service using sign language, to help you place phone calls, for example. At no cost to the deaf American -- all paid for by the American taxpayer.

Yes, the relay services are frequently abused by the non-deaf, but there is not much that can be done about it except to let the services apply incremental improvements without sacrificing accessibility to legitimate deaf callers (For example, most of them now already block Nigeria IP addresses, thank goodness). Even switching to a registration system is not a feasible idea for the services at this time. Universalness of access and avoiding red tape for deaf people are stated as big concerns - keep it easy to access by the deaf. Also the flip side, the companies do not want to reduce profits by limiting access (as bad ad this may be). If you want to complain, complain to FCC about relay service. If you want to debate the topic, there is a lot of other more appropriate venues such as http://www.alldeaf.com or http://ip_relay_scams.aimoo.com or your appropriate representative in your government to complain about the abuse of relay services.

Now please stay on topic of testing the software - I am more interested in user experiences. (Whether you are deaf or not, they all use the honour system). For the BlackBerry relay, it is MCI's job to decide who gets to access their service.

This thread is not for talking about who should be allowed to access the services - there are other forum on the Internet more appropriate for this. It can get very political and there are a lot of arguments about abuse of ip-relay, but they do not belong in this thread.

I am not deleting this thread.
Now back onto topic of user experiences of this software.

(Note: I am deaf - www.marky.com/hearing)

[Mark Rejhon]

Originally Posted by dkf747

Yikes, you guys know this service is for Deaf people right? If you tie it up when you don't need it the service will become usesless.

It's actually more complicated than that. The companies just simply earn more taxpayer money, and hires more opeators to handle the extra capacity, so they don't quite discourage it. It is the taxpayer that needs to complain - but here is not the correct forum to complain.

At the moment, the American government presently turns a blind eye to regular curious American folks who are interested in occasional use of IP-Relay (they're more concerned about scammers abusing the service, see http://ip_relay_scams.aimoo.com).

I am relatively familiar with how the system works and a few innocent non-deaf non-criminal users is currently a non-issue. In fact, it kind of benefits America indirectly since they know an additional service they can recommend to their deaf grandma, or when a telephone is not available, poor English speakers, or when they become deaf themselves. Much like how taxpayer-subsidized closed captioning is sometimes used by non-deaf guys at the airports, gyms, and everywhere else (i.e. closed captioning is no longer just used by the deaf anymore). A lot of the captioning is no longer taxpayer subsidized, and the government actually reduced the subsidy for relay too. Eventually, voice-recognition computers will do relay services someday and it will all be provided cheaply for free to everyone, much like captioning is today. (In fact, voice recognition is used partially now -- see www.captionedtelephone.com, another innovative American technology I wish was available in Canada). But anyway, you get the idea. There's really no stopping the fact that a few non-deaf people are going to be using relay anyway, because of the way this American system is currently designed -- easy accessibility for those who think they may need it -- and I have been watching this technology evolution over the last decade years. I think that Americans truly have some of the best telephone accessibility technologies in the world and even this Canadian (me) envies that. Innovations such as phone number 711, online relay service, the first wireless relay services in the world, etc. Although I would say we have the best wireless keyboarded handheld - the BlackBerry - nyah nyah. Just kidding about that "nyah" part, I like you all anyway.

Anyway, it is really the scammers that is simply the biggie issue: Nigeran users using IP-Relay to scam Americans. That's what you should be complaining about. However, BlackBerry IP-Relay is not as vulnerable to this problem - since it's a lot easier and cheaper to type www.ip-relay.com in a web browser to make a phone call.

[Mark Rejhon]

Everyone, henceforth in this thread, please, no talk about who shouldn't use the services. (Because it's too political; post political stuff elsewhere or in Off Topic) If you must comment to my posts, please send me a PM.

Comments about BlackBerry IP-Relay is very welcome!

[dofficer]

Thanks Mark...let's move on and stick with user experiences using IP-Relay for Blackberry!

[dofficer]

It seems more often that I would get java.io.IOException error. After like 5 attempts, then I would get a connection then it would fail again. I would get the connection failure more often than the successful connection.

Here's the exact message...
Disconnected.null.Exception occurred, java.io.IOException:
Malformed Address, Returning null connection.

and sometimes I would get this message...
Disconnected null Exception occured, java.io.Exception:
Unable to open connection.

Any idea what that could be?

What kind of connection is IP-Relay for Blackberry using? Telnet?

[kharvel]

I just installed this on my T-Mobile Blackberry 7730. It works like a charm. The IdoKorro MobileSSH expired a couple of months ago and I was on the fence as to whether to purchase it or not. So it was a good thing I found out about this new ip-relay.com feature on alldeaf.com before I shelled out money for the MobileSSH.

Thanks for the update. I am now able to place more calls (up from zero ).

It is really too bad CapTel won't be coming out with a mobile captioned phone - that would really kick ass, to say the least.

[lraed74]

Captel on blackberry...hmmmmmmmmm