UPDATE: 2/28/2020: LOOKS LIKE I SPOKE TOO SOON. CALLS TO 711 FROM LINKNYC KIOSKS ONCE AGAIN GO STRAIGHT TO THE TTY MODEM, CONNECTING TO A HUMAN ONLY AFTER SEVERAL MINUTES OF MODEM NOISES. A BROADER SURVEY OF CITYBRIDGE PAYPHONES REVEALED THAT ABOUT 20% OF THEM CONNECT TO THE 711 RELAY SERVICE, ABOUT 80% DO NOT.

I think I can reasonably give myself some credit for getting something positive done in this little world of ours. Some might call my evidence circumstantial, but to me it’s convincing enough to confirm my long-held belief that in my pro bono role as DoITT’s Franchise Inspector I genuinely do make a difference.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece to this website pointing out that calls to 711 from LinkNYC kiosks were effectively disabled. 711 connects to a relay service that allows you to make phone calls to people who are deaf or mute. If you call 711 you should connect to an intermediary person who would facilitate communication between you and someone with a TTY device, or vice-versa: a deaf person with a TTY device could call 711 and a human intermediary would connect them to someone with normal hearing, or to another TTY user.

For much of LinkNYC’s time in New York dialing 711 connected to nothing except a message on the tablet screen saying that it was not a valid phone number. But at some point last year, probably at the same time the Video Relay Service was added, dialing 711 started connecting to a modem sound, which I presumed was meant to connect a TTY device. There is no TTY on the LinkNYC kiosks and it is not possible that such a device could connect to them, so this didn’t make any sense.

I learned from a phreak phriend that this appeared to be a case of mismatched protocol prioritization. He said if I kept the connection open long enough eventually that modem sound would stop and I’d get a live human. Sure enough, that’s what happened, after 3 or 4 long minutes of intermittent modem noises I heard a live operator ask what phone number I wanted to call. I don’t think it reasonable to expect anyone to wait through several minutes of modem noises before connecting to a live 711 operator.

I pointed all this out on my website, and saw the next day that the story was viewed several times by people from DoITT and CityBridge. Wouldn’t you know it, as of last week dialing 711 from LinkNYC kiosks sends you straight to live 711 operators. If you say nothing you will then get sent to a modem sound. That, I believe, is how 711 is supposed to work.

For a service that connects the deaf and hard of hearing it struck me as ironic that the sounds of the operators’ voices are almost impossible to hear from the LinkNYC loudspeaker. I didn’t even realize I had connected the first few times I called, and cranking the volume all the way up did little to improve my ability to hear the operators identify themselves.

Whatever the case, 711 now connects from LinkNYC, so hooray for small miracles. This seems like something a DoITT Franchise Inspector should have caught a long time ago.

I did, in fact, apply for the position of Franchise Inspector at DoITT last year. My application was completely ignored, because I obviously don’t know anything about or have any interest in payphones or LinkNYC. The duties of the Franchise Inspector position include making sure the city’s 3200 payphones and 1775 LinkNYC kiosks are in full working order and in compliance with contractual agreements. I assume the role also includes assuring the kiosks and phones are ADA-compliant, though I don’t remember seeing that in the job description.

However it got done, I am happy to know that LinkNYC now connects to 711, and with whatever role I might have played in making it happen. When this kind of thing occurs (it has happened many times over the 25 years I’ve run this website) I remember that feeling of a different kind of digital divide coming into play. I see DoITT, DoITT sees me; I see CityBridge, CityBridge sees me. But protocol prohibits us from connecting or acknowledging each other.

Much of this perceived recalcitrance could just be my own gratuitous projection, but I’ve lost count of how many times my postings about problems with New York’s payphones or LinkNYC kiosks have gotten direct action after DoITT or CityBridge read them. If only there was something more in it for me than the small bit of satisfaction.

The problem remains that 711 no longer connects to anything from CityBridge’s payphones. I am certain it used to connect straight to a live relay service operator.

Truth be told I would not think DoITT would want to bring on a clown like me. They probably think I, a creative thinker with a bit of an anarchist streak, would take the job of Franchise inspector intending to sabotage LinkNYC with some crazy hack or shenanigan like the Mr. Softee nonsense I pulled off in 2018. That’s not how I operate in professional situations but if such an attitude had anything to do with my application being completely ignored I guess I should not be surprised. I’ve also made genuine inquiries at CityBridge, thinking they might find a creative thinker who knows a lot of public communications structures and networks to be of value. They also repeatedly ignored me. I know… Boo-fucking-hoo, right?