The scope of the Market Monitoring Report reflects the parameters defined by the TAAC Report and the Access Board in its Final Rule. The Market Monitoring Report is a snapshot of telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment and how individual products address each of the Access Board Guidelines. The Market Monitoring Report’s scope includes:
Telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment, including public pay telephones
Specialized customer premises equipment that can originate, route or terminate telecommunications services
The statute requires that telecommunications equipment (TE) and customer premises equipment (CPE) be accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities when it is readily achievable to do so.
Customer premises equipment is defined as: “equipment employed on the premises of a person (other than a carrier) to originate, route, or terminate telecommunications.”
Telecommunications is defined as: “the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received.”
The Market Monitoring Report reviews telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment and reports whether and how individual products address the Access Board Guidelines.
While
the statutory definitions of customer premises equipment and telecommunications
equipment provide us with some direction as to those products that fall within
the scope of Section 255, the Market Monitoring Report’s inclusion or
exclusion of a particular product does not indicate whether such a product is or
is not covered by Section 255, or our belief as to whether or not such a product
should be covered.
One reason that the Report includes comments on products that might not fit a strict definition of TE or CPE is to present for public review the results of the Consumer Survey prepared for the Report. Consumers did not make fine distinctions about what was and what was not covered equipment. These consumers spoke from their own perceptions, about issues that were important to them and which they evidently thought were included in telecommunications.
Another reason is to establish a context for telecommunications access. We hope that this Report will reach a wide readership, including many individuals who are unfamiliar with telecommunications access, but who are responsible for designing, testing, or marketing telecommunications products. In order for engineers, designers, and product managers to improve the accessibility of their products, it is necessary for them to see access issues in the largest possible context. This will help them integrate access solutions into their designs.
A third reason is that some discussion of services (rather than equipment) is needed in order to explain how equipment and services interact, and how these interactions affect the use of the equipment by people with disabilities.
Wherever this Report discusses telecommunications services, or equipment that may not be covered by Section 255, a disclaimer to that effect appears.
“Public pay phones are considered
customer premises equipment.” [36 CFR Section 1193.3]
“Customer premises equipment can also include certain specialized customer premises equipment which are directly connected to the telecommunications network and which can originate, route, or terminate telecommunications.” [36 CFR Section 1193.3]
“Information services are not covered by the Access Board guidelines.”[36 CFR Section 1193.2 ]. However, the Report does include information about equipment used to provide these services, such as voice mail or audiotext platforms, which have been included in the FCC Final Rules on Section 255. At times in discussing this equipment it became necessary to describe how the services operate in order to explain the access barriers and solutions that are features of the equipment.
The MMR will provide information concerning (1) how Product Types (groupings of like telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment) and (2) how Models (individual telecommunications equipment products and customer premises equipment products) address each of the Access Board’s accessibility guidelines.
Within the MMR the recording of how products address the Access Board’s Accessibility Guidelines is not intended to be a legal determination of whether a product is or is not “accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities” within the meaning of Section 255.
We have endeavored to limit the number of times we used the word “accessible” in this Report, in order to emphasize the above point. It is never used to describe a particular Product Type or Model. Where we do use it, it is either relative (e.g. “speech recognition can make wireless phones more accessible”), or subjective (e.g. “several consumers indicated that they found this feature accessible”). We also refer to “Accessible Telecommunications” as a field, which is a common usage.
The MMR will also provide information concerning (1) how Product Types (groupings of like telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment) and (2) how Models (individual telecommunications equipment products and customer premises equipment products) address the Access Board’s compatibility guidelines.
Within the MMR the recording of how products address the Access Board’s Compatibility Guidelines is not intended to be a legal determination of whether a product is or is not “compatible with existing peripheral devices or specialized customer premises equipment commonly used by individuals with disabilities to achieve access.”
The presence or absence of particular products in the Market Monitoring Report is not to be interpreted as a determination of whether that product is or is not subject to Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act.
Throughout this document we use the phrase “addressing a Guideline” as a way of establishing a connection between the product feature under discussion and one of the Access Board’s Guidelines. For example, we say that speed dialing addresses Guidelines 1193.41e, 1193.41f, and 1193.41i, because the speed dialing feature may reduce certain mobility, manipulation, and cognitive requirements of the product referred to in those Guidelines. We have specifically selected the word “address” to indicate that the feature may have some positive effect, intended or coincidental, on the accessibility and/or usability of the product. Each person with one or more disabilities may have highly individual telecommunications needs. Therefore reporting that a particular product feature addresses an Access Board Guideline does not mean that all individuals within a particular disability category will be able to use that product.
The Market Monitoring Report is as accurate as possible as of its date of completion (August 31, 1999). Telecommunications technology is developing at a fast pace. Products are continuously being upgraded; existing products are being removed and new products are being introduced into the marketplace. The Market Monitoring Report does not include any products introduced into the marketplace after the abovementioned date. See Recommendation E1 for further reference to this issue.
Due to limitations in project resources and the absence of objective standards, information obtained from companies, directly or indirectly, has not been independently tested against actual product specifications or performance. For example, if a product’s liquid crystal display was described in a brochure as “large” or “easy to read” and no immediate counterevidence was available, that product was included in the Report as addressing Guidelines 1193.41(b) and/or 1193.43(b), those concerned with accessibility to people with low vision. The actual size and readability of displays was not independently determined for any product. See Recommendation D2 for further reference to this issue.
The purpose of the consumer comments is to provide general direction and to identify potential questions that should be asked in future research. Neither a consumer’s comments nor the absence of such comments mean that any person with a disability is able or unable to use a particular product. Consumer information is not intended to be analyzed for specific content.
Note that a particular product or model may be sold under a variety of brand names. The model information used in the Report may reflect only one of the brand names under which the model is sold.