RNID New Technologies papers on Telecommunication

Information about Telecommunication

We live in a world where the ability to communicate effectively is crucial to anyone who wishes to participate as a fully enabled citizen. In this section, we provide papers and presentations about the requirements of deaf and hard of hearing people as well as the solutions that we have developed.

Two key communication services for deaf and hard of hearing people are real-time text and video based communication. There is a lot of confusion about what real-time text is and why it is so important, especially in the presence of technologies like SMS, email, Instant Messaging, etc. For a detailed explanation on the importance of real-time text, see: Why real-time text?.

Papers and articles

• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users on 2G and 3G Mobile Networks (Acrobat 5 PDF format 142KB), White Paper by Guido Gybels, Version 2.1, London, October 2004.
• Providing contact details

Speeches and Presentations

• Telecommunication, pillar of the Information Society
• The future of interactive texting

Standard documents

• RFC 3351: User Requirements for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) in Support of Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Speech-impaired Individuals (Plain text document 34KB), Request for Comments 3351, Charlton, Gasson, Gybels, Spanner, van Wijk, IETF, August 2002.
• RFC 5194: Framework for Real-Time Text over IP Using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) (Plain text document 67KB), Request for Comments 5194, Gybels, van Wijk, IETF, June 2008.

Consultation responses

• RNID Comments on the draft "Mobile Industry Code of Practice for service delivery for disabled and elderly consumers in the UK", version 1.1, dated 1 October 2002. (Acrobat 5 PDF format 20KB), Guido Gybels, November 2002, London.
• RNID Response to the European Commission Working Document on Barriers to Widespread access to Services and Applications in Digital Television and 3G networks. (Acrobat 5 PDF format 315KB), Mark Hoda and others, February 2003, London.
• RNID Response to the consultation on the "Approval of a text relay service", by the Director General of Telecommunications (dated 12 June 2003). (Acrobat 5 PDF format 21KB), Guido Gybels, July 2003, London.
• RNID response to Ofcom's Consultation Questions on New Voice Services (dated 6 September 2004). (Acrobat 5 PDF format 53KB), Guido Gybels, November 2004, London.
• RNID response to Ofcom's Consultation Questions on the "Strategic Review of Telecommunications, phase 2" (dated 18 November 2004). (Acrobat 5 PDF format 58KB), Guido Gybels, February 2005, London.
• RNID response to Ofcom's Consultation Questions on the "Review of the Universal Service Obligation" (dated 10 January 2005). (Acrobat 5 PDF format 71KB), Guido Gybels, March 2005, London.
• RNID response to Ofcom's Statement and Further Consultation Questions on the "Review of the Universal Service Obligation" (dated 30 June 2005). (Acrobat 5 PDF format 48KB), Guido Gybels, September 2005, London.
• RNID response to Ofcom's consultation: "Number Translation Services: A way forward", dated 28 September 2005. (Acrobat 5 PDF format 35KB), Guido Gybels, December 2005, London.
• RNID response to Ofcom's consultation: "Regulation of VoIP Services: statement and further consultation", dated 22 February 2006. (Acrobat 5 PDF format 51KB), Guido Gybels, May 2006, London.
• RNID response to the European Commission's review of EU regulatory framework for electronic communications network and services. (Acrobat 5 PDF format 53KB), Guido Gybels, October 2006, London.
• Joint response to BERR consultation on EU proposals for a revised regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (2008) (Acrobat 8 PDF format 71KB), RNIB, RNID, Leonard Cheshire Disability, Sense, 31 August 2008, London.