Declining Quality of Video Relay Services (VRS)

[kevincalori]

Hello everyone,


I hope you are all doing well. I have been relying on Video Relay Services (VRS) for some time now to make calls and communicate effectively. For the most part; I’ve been satisfied with the service; but recently I’ve started experiencing a noticeable decline in both video quality and call performance.


There’s often lag during conversations; and the video seems to freeze or become pixelated, which makes it difficult to understand the interpreter's signs. This has led to quite a few frustrating situations where I either had to restart the call or ask the interpreter to repeat themselves multiple times.

I tried troubleshooting on my own by resetting my modem and router; ensuring my internet speed is sufficient; and even switching between different devices, but the issues persist. I’ve also reached out to my VRS provider’s customer service; but their suggestions haven’t resolved the problem. It’s starting to affect my ability to communicate effectively and conduct both personal and professional calls.



So; I wanted to reach out to this community to ask if anyone else is encountering similar issues with their VRS lately. Are these types of problems common across providers / could it be an issue with my specific service? I have checked https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/video-relay-services-msbi documentation guide but still need help.



If anyone has any tips on how to improve the connection / improve the quality of the video; I would really appreciate your advice. If you’ve had better experiences with other VRS providers; I would love to hear your recommendations.



I am also curious if this is related to a broader issue; such as internet service throttling / compatibility problems with certain devices. Has anyone found any workarounds / solutions that have helped to stabilize their VRS connection?



Thanks in advance for any input! I look forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences.





Best regards

 

[SneakerNet]

I'm retired IT for 42 years. And formally work for Sorenson as Installer. It's going to be long one and there could be a wide range of issues. First of are you living in Apt or home? Secondly, what provider are you using? Xfinity, Verizon, Xtream... and on on. So, let start with outside stuff! Do providers use fiber optic, copper coax, or dish? There are differences. Now talk about fiber optic which is the best one but there's more to it in a bit. As Copper coax, cable itself can go bad, the connection with copper wire sticking out can corroded, it needs to be cut and strip clean before putting the connector back in. Or squirrel chewed the coax cable and can cause poor transmission. Dish? (cough..) this is the ugliest one. I'm sure you don't use it. Back to about the fiber optic, this cable connects to ONT which stand for Optical Network Terminal. It's a box that attached to the outside wall where this fiber optic converts light to electric transmission like copper coax or Ethernet. Now it's all depending on age of this ONT box. If it is old, you may want to contact the company to test the box out. You know sometime transmission can misfired, meaning transmission can either become static or dirty noise, or pause transmission for thousandth of a second. That can cause your VP freezing or pixelating. Now I'm done talking about external connections. Let talk about inside!! If your house is dirty..that maybe the problem. Just kidding... I'm not sure how much you know about modem (this should be long gone) or router. Let just talk about router for now, I don't want to talk about modem, ok? You may see coaxal cable that connect to the back of the router and has antennas. Now at the back of the router you may find ethernet ports... (please ask your friend Google to search what that is) and you may see the cable connect from Ethernet port to your VP (oh by the way just thought of it... what device are you using for VRS? If you are using hardware that attached to TV/Monitor, or using laptop/tablet or??? That's the thing that may get better picture of what you are using). Now back to router, I met some people who have very very old router. That person upgraded 500 Mbps speed from the company and the router only can go up to 250 Mbps. Now what's wrong with that? If the router leased, that company taking advantage of you because they didn't bother to let you know that you have shitty old 250 Mbps router and you been paying 500 Mbps speed!! Company has your records of what equipment you have, and technician should know what kind of hardware you have. if you asked for upgrade tech should let you know that you need to upgrade the router. You know? Other than that, if you brought the router, that's a different story. It's your responsible to get it upgrade or not. Now about those two pointy things that sticking out of the router? called Wifi!! That can be critical about where you put the router. Don't put it in crowded electronic stuff like TV box, DVD, AMP, radio and such. Come to think of this... you know when you hold compass and you turned yourself the pointer always pointed north right? Then if you put magnetic under the compass, what happen? It spin like crazy? Same thing for putting the router in the crowded electronic shelf which causing weaking the signal distance. Move away and put it on top of the shelf. Today router create more powerful wireless transmission and now they make mesh network device. Last thing.... old router can get weaker and ethernet or wireless transmission and become dysfunctional. You know not a smooth transmission, not a clean communication.

There are more to it. I can explain like network speed, download and upload speed and other stuff....I could write a book about it. I'm not going to get into it. I'm just gonna stop here.

Whew.... now can you see what's all about above, yes, I know some people will say I'm wasting my time writing all this but all i'm saying what you see here above..... You just can't blame VRS for declining quality. I don't have any problem at all here. I keep updating any new network devices or technologies to meet better performance and clean secure network. If a person didn't update anything at all for like 8 years.... then it going to create a problems.

I know it's hard to keep track with fast-paced technologies out there. You might want to contact your provider and what there recommendation or have technician come over to test all of your provider devices. Check the speed that meet what you request for... like you order 500 Mbps and technician found out inside speed is 158 Mbps as for example... technician will say there's something seriously wrong.

Ok enough... simply said... you just can't blame the VRS quality.

 

[zephren]

I'm retired IT for 42 years. And formally work for Sorenson as Installer. It's going to be long one and there could be a wide range of issues. First of are you living in Apt or home? Secondly, what provider are you using? Xfinity, Verizon, Xtream... and on on. So, let start with outside stuff! Do providers use fiber optic, copper coax, or dish? There are differences. Now talk about fiber optic which is the best one but there's more to it in a bit. As Copper coax, cable itself can go bad, the connection with copper wire sticking out can corroded, it needs to be cut and strip clean before putting the connector back in. Or squirrel chewed the coax cable and can cause poor transmission. Dish? (cough..) this is the ugliest one. I'm sure you don't use it. Back to about the fiber optic, this cable connects to ONT which stand for Optical Network Terminal. It's a box that attached to the outside wall where this fiber optic converts light to electric transmission like copper coax or Ethernet. Now it's all depending on age of this ONT box. If it is old, you may want to contact the company to test the box out. You know sometime transmission can misfired, meaning transmission can either become static or dirty noise, or pause transmission for thousandth of a second. That can cause your VP freezing or pixelating. Now I'm done talking about external connections. Let talk about inside!! If your house is dirty..that maybe the problem. Just kidding... I'm not sure how much you know about modem (this should be long gone) or router. Let just talk about router for now, I don't want to talk about modem, ok? You may see coaxal cable that connect to the back of the router and has antennas. Now at the back of the router you may find ethernet ports... (please ask your friend Google to search what that is) and you may see the cable connect from Ethernet port to your VP (oh by the way just thought of it... what device are you using for VRS? If you are using hardware that attached to TV/Monitor, or using laptop/tablet or??? That's the thing that may get better picture of what you are using). Now back to router, I met some people who have very very old router. That person upgraded 500 Mbps speed from the company and the router only can go up to 250 Mbps. Now what's wrong with that? If the router leased, that company taking advantage of you because they didn't bother to let you know that you have shitty old 250 Mbps router and you been paying 500 Mbps speed!! Company has your records of what equipment you have, and technician should know what kind of hardware you have. if you asked for upgrade tech should let you know that you need to upgrade the router. You know? Other than that, if you brought the router, that's a different story. It's your responsible to get it upgrade or not. Now about those two pointy things that sticking out of the router? called Wifi!! That can be critical about where you put the router. Don't put it in crowded electronic stuff like TV box, DVD, AMP, radio and such. Come to think of this... you know when you hold compass and you turned yourself the pointer always pointed north right? Then if you put magnetic under the compass, what happen? It spin like crazy? Same thing for putting the router in the crowded electronic shelf which causing weaking the signal distance. Move away and put it on top of the shelf. Today router create more powerful wireless transmission and now they make mesh network device. Last thing.... old router can get weaker and ethernet or wireless transmission and become dysfunctional. You know not a smooth transmission, not a clean communication.

There are more to it. I can explain like network speed, download and upload speed and other stuff....I could write a book about it. I'm not going to get into it. I'm just gonna stop here.

Whew.... now can you see what's all about above, yes, I know some people will say I'm wasting my time writing all this but all i'm saying what you see here above..... You just can't blame VRS for declining quality. I don't have any problem at all here. I keep updating any new network devices or technologies to meet better performance and clean secure network. If a person didn't update anything at all for like 8 years.... then it going to create a problems.

I know it's hard to keep track with fast-paced technologies out there. You might want to contact your provider and what there recommendation or have technician come over to test all of your provider devices. Check the speed that meet what you request for... like you order 500 Mbps and technician found out inside speed is 158 Mbps as for example... technician will say there's something seriously wrong.

Ok enough... simply said... you just can't blame the VRS quality.

Thanks for your very detailed reply. I’ve been having the same issues. I suspect based on your comments the problem is my router is very old and needs to be upgraded. I will try that and see if that helps.
Cheers!