“I am really frustrated,” said a customer recently. “Every time someone calls my Z videophone from a Sorenson VP -200, their number shows up as an 866 number and I can’t call them back. Hearing people don’t have any problem calling from a Verizon phone to a Sprint phone, so why do we deaf folks have so many problems?”
Indeed, as a Sales Manager for Zvrs, I shared that same frustration as this customer. Several times, I would see a missed call from an 866 number and I’d have no way of calling that person back. The 866 numbers no longer function, except when a caller uses a VP-200 to call another VP-200. When a person uses a videophone from a different company, the call is automatically routed to a relay interpreter.
I also learned that Sorenson customers automatically have their 866 numbers displayed as the default setting. This is the reason why the 866 number is showing up in the caller ID instead of a local number. However, Sorenson customers can change the way the caller ID number is displayed and set it so that the LOCAL ten-digit number is displayed instead.
How to change the 866 number to display the new local number:
Go to Settings > Personal > User and then select “Local.”
Fo more information about calling 800/866 numbers, read the two editorials by Dr. Z and You:
The 800/866 Fiasco, More Information
Update:
The FCC has temporarily reinstated the 800 numbers and ordered the 800 numbers to be put back into the national database so that they can function from one provider to the other. This means that for the next four months, the 800/866 numbers will connect properly between videophones.
Ed’s Telecom Alert shares more on this issue: VRS 800 Issue.