Comments on: The Facts about Faxing

By: kerryg

kerryg — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:23:47 +0000

I have worked with systems from Mitel, Shoretel, 3Com, Avaya, and several others and none of them claim to have FAX support. The bigger issue however, is when running the FAX through an IP PBX which is what I am addressing in this article. The Digital to Analog conversion is prone to problems and small delays which will wreak havoc on the FAX transmission. Since most IP PBX systems do not handle FAXing well, and since our reseller base in primarily involved with IP PBX systems, that is who this article is targeted at.

By: Steve Underwood

Steve Underwood — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:58:06 +0000

I’ve never seen a real PBX (as opposed to a key system that only works with special digital phones, and other cut down pseudo-PBXes) that doesn’t allow you to plug a FAX machine, or a FAX server, into any FXS port and have good service. If the connection to the PSTN is digital, FAXing up to V.34 is OK. If the connection to the PSTN is by analogue pairs, FAXing up to V.17 is generally OK, if the analogue pairs are clean.

Huge numbers of PC FAX cards, from the likes of Dialogic, have been used to make FAX servers on the back of a PBX.

FAX, and other modem applications, aren’t much of an issue with traditional PBXes, and have been massively deployed since the 1970s, when the first digital PBXes appeared.

Steve

By: kerryg

kerryg — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:32:32 +0000

Many do have them but usually only the larger systems and at a price premium. Thanks for pointing that out Pat.

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:52:49 +0000

This line from the article is simply not true and/or misleading depending on how you look at it…

“Legacy PBX platforms have never dealt with FAXes so why should an IP PBX platform be expected to perform a task that big iron systems have never tackled?”

Every major pbx maker nowadays has and has had for some time, the ability to handle faxing. This is typically done via d.i.d pointed to fxs ports or d.i.d directed to an integrated unified messaging system that does fax to the desktop or from the desktop or both.

By: patrick

patrick — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:37:27 +0000

I’m the asterisk admin for an enterprise size company. We use hylafax with IAXModem. After some initial debugging, we’ve been extremely satisfied with it. I highly recommend this option as it can be scaled to allow for as many modems/DID’s as needed.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:15:35 +0000

My 80 person company also uses HylaFAX along with Iaxmodem, Asterisk and a Sangoma PRI card. It works fairly well.

By: anson

anson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:59:42 +0000

I wanna share another fact with you that OpenVox also has the timing cable for Incoming PRI to FXS Port. I’ve been using it for a couple of months and it works well. It should be an alternative to sangoma’s faxing solution.

By: kerryg

kerryg — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:06:56 +0000

Originally the article was intended to discuss FAXing issues with regards to PBXs and VoIP. But per your point, I will add that when implementing fax as described above, FAX servers such as HylaFAX are indeed a great solution and preferable to FAX machines in a lot of circumstances (especially inbound applications).

By: Scott Odell

Scott Odell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:51:27 +0000

Informative article, however I can’t figure out why you didn’t even mention “HylaFAX” as a alternative PRI solution. We have large entertainment companies in the Los Angeles area that we support and they love the fact that their faxes are now emailed to them in PDF format. It’s reliable and it’s a “Green” solution as well and that scores you points in L.A. Just a thought.

By: Mark Bradford

Mark Bradford — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:46:26 +0000

I’d like to mention that FaxBack has a FREE plug-in for MS Fax native to business versions of XP, Vista, and Windows 7 into a VoIP Client. This allows users to connect to a media gateway (like Patton, AudioCodes, Epygi, Cisco, and others) via SIP T.38. This uses the same IP Fax driver as our Fax Server software for organizations who need more advanced functionality.

Another important thing to note is that T.38 is only reliable when there is QOS. It is not reliable over the open internet, especially when sending multiple pages. This is discussed at length by the recent T.38 problem statement produced by the SIP Forum.

FaxBack has developed a way to transmit faxes via HTTPS which is as reliable as a POTS line, even over the open internet. This connectivity can be extended to fax machines, the MS Fax client, and even enterprise grade fax servers. You can read more here: http://www.faxback.com/aboutus/pressroom/archives/2009/AnnouncesHttpsPlatform_PR092209.aspx
Feel free to contact me with questions at mark.bradford@faxback.com