“This page is a digitally archived AccessInfo Announcement”

On January 13, 2017, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted a temporary waiver of the Commission’s rules requiring support for TTY technology over IP-based wireless services to 31 small, rural wireless telephone carriers that provide wireless services in their local communities in Iowa in collaboration with i-Wireless.   

The waiver is subject to the following conditions:

  • Carriers must notify consumers that their IP-based wireless services will not support TTY technology for calls to 911
  • Carriers must provide consumers with information about alternative text-based accessibility solutions
  • Carriers must file periodic progress reports on the development of real-time text with the Commission

The waiver expires on June 30, 2020, by which time a recent FCC ruling requires non-Tier I carriers to begin providing real-time text.  

Links to the Order
Word:  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-17-65A1.docx
PDF:    https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-17-65A1.pdf
Text:    https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-17-65A1.txt

For more information, contact Michael Scott, Disability Rights Office, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, at 202-418-1264 or e‑mail Michael.Scott@fcc.gov.  For those using videophones and fluent in American Sign Language, you may call the FCC’s ASL Consumer Support Line at 844-432-2275 (videophone).

Updated:
Friday, October 25, 2019