This may not be the same for you in Australia. All I know is that here in the US, when we look at the bottom of our phone bill, there are state and federal taxes added to the bill, and there is an allocation of that that goes to Relay services. All hearing and deaf people who have a phone line pay this, not just hearing people. Anyone with a phone number pays this. It is just a few cents - I think mine is typically around 6 cents. I'm not sure if it's a percentage or a set fee. All the Relay funds that come from everyone's phone bill is pooled into a general Relay fund (I may be simplifying this, but it's the overall concept) and then reimbursed to individual Relay companies that submit Relay charges. So in the case of this thread, Sorenson and Purple (and any others) get reimbursed a set fee for every relay call that is made. This covers their employment, equipment fees, and the like. Anybody correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I've always understood it.
