As a deadline looms for major companies to submit reports on their accessibility efforts, advocates from the deaf, hard of hearing, blind and partially sighted communities say Canada’s mobile carriers are falling short of meeting their needs.
For Anderson, who is deaf, each megabyte of data is more crucial than it would be for the average hearing person who doesn’t rely on video calling applications for every mobile conversation.
As a June 1 deadline looms for major telecommunications companies to submit reports to the federal regulator on their accessibility efforts, advocates from the deaf, hard of hearing, blind and partially sighted communities say Canada’s mobile carriers are falling short of meeting their needs. Accessible plans offered by major carriers such as Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada, Telus Communications Inc. and Videotron largely take the form of a $20 monthly rebate on their mass-market plans, along with other company-specific add-ons, according to the CRTC.
“This means for deaf people there is a need to have larger packages available over the wireless network, and there must be true unlimited data packages for this socio-economic accessibility group.” The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Coalition, which represents members in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, said accessible plans should be capped at $35 per month and contain unlimited data, voice calling and texting with no overage fees, no throttling and zero-rating for use of video conferencing applications.
Industry consultations found that a one-size-fits-all approach with mandated plans or service specifications was not the right way to proceed, said spokesman Nick Kyonka. Meanwhile, Rogers spokesman Cam Gordon said customers with accessibility needs can receive support through its dedicated team. All three companies highlighted their policy of zero-rating data from video relay services, which enables customers to communicate virtually through a sign-language interpreter free of charge and without the data counting toward their monthly allotment.
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