Fax machine cannot be used

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daringpeter

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#270523 13-May-2020 17:17

Fax- Facsimile- anyone remember it? Has anyone any idea why I am told that a fax machine cannot now be used on a voice circuit like a Wi-Fi phone network? Presumably too, VoIP? But will work connected directly to copper. Surely, somewhere, cabinet or exchange, the signal will be digitised (what a word) anyway.

Peter

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#2482928 13-May-2020 17:32

In general voip services don't support fax very well, what might work today may not always tomorrow, if you must use fax, and God knows why, then get a fax to email service.

Cyril

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chevrolux

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#2482968 13-May-2020 18:07

Yes that's correct. What you need to get it going is a time machine to take you back to the 80s when they were relevant. Please convince me otherwise.

...and "I'm a pharmacist" is not an acceptable answer.

cyril7

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#2482985 13-May-2020 18:25

and a Lawyer or Realtor is the same, they have moved on, but if your practice still has faxs then you down a dark alley, move on.

Cyril

sbiddle

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#2482994 13-May-2020 18:39

chevrolux:

Yes that's correct. What you need to get it going is a time machine to take you back to the 80s when they were relevant. Please convince me otherwise.

...and "I'm a pharmacist" is not an acceptable answer.

Fax is still highly relevent for pharmacies and doctors surgeries, and until there is a national digital solution to replace this (which is coming) isn't going anywhere.

As for the OP I don't understand what question they're really asking - but fax over VoIP is only a 98% solution, and making it work well can be incredibly complex because different fax machines have differing levels of compatibility and performance. It's far easier for a provider to say they won't support them - because most people and companies aren't willing to pay potentially big $$$ for somebody who knows what they're doing to set things up properly.

nztim

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#2483040 13-May-2020 19:19

Fax over VOIP requires the T.38 fax relay standard. the ATA must support it, and your provider must support it

We have lots of Fuji Xerox copiers at our clients which allow the sip credentials to be loaded directly into them, this gives the best results I have seen.

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

cyril7

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#2483041 13-May-2020 19:20

Hi Steve, your comment re pharmacies and doctors with the events of the past few weeks that has significantly changed and honestly I see and the bunch of pharmacists I know say, it's all changed.

Covit19 has buried fax in that industry well and good, anyone hanging on is in lala land

Cyril

richms

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#2483053 13-May-2020 19:36

The issue is clock jitter. In the stonages of circiut switched calls, there was a clock signal that the whole network ran off to keep everything in sync with each other, every sample was paced out exactly on that clock. Voip doesnt do that, things will convert the rates between things, or just miss samples out or insert silence when they drift too far out. Lost packets will make a short period of silence on the call and when it comes back, its not in sync with where it should be.

None of that matters for you talking till it gets so bad you cant hear. For a fax machine it is basically going to result in many lines of nothing gibberish each time it happens. They cannot guarentee that it will not happen so they say its not supported.

Problem solved, dont buy a voice service for data, use a data service.

Richard rich.ms

quickymart

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#2483135 13-May-2020 20:46

Ned: Okay, folks, look, I called the police captain in Shelbyville. He says he hasn't seen our kids, but if they show up in the morgue, he'll fax us!

daringpeter

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#2483940 14-May-2020 18:21

Well Guys

When I used fax, say 100 years ago, Telecom offered a service called FaxRight (I think) that enabled you to test your telephone circuit. This was to enable the fax machine to work reliably. If FaxRight showed errors, then Telecom would endeavour to fix this. Now, it seems that voice circuits cannot meet this standard (and FaxRight has long been discontinued). Are we going forward, or backwards? And I know that fax can be done over VoIP, although it isn't straightforward.

chevrolux

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#2483946 14-May-2020 18:43

We are going forwards. Nothing about faxing is "forward".

And Faxability was really nothing more than a distinct ring. Telecom didnt know if the fax transmitted or not and didnt need to because it faxing just worked.

And yes, medical practices are already happy to email things like prescriptions. It's the 60-year old pharmacist that cant be bothered upgrading their tech that is the problem. I believe that was due to change though very soon...

snnet

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#2483947 14-May-2020 18:48

chevrolux: We are going forwards. Nothing about faxing is "forward".

And Faxability was really nothing more than a distinct ring. Telecom didnt know if the fax transmitted or not and didnt need to because it faxing just worked.

And yes, medical practices are already happy to email things like prescriptions. It's the 60-year old pharmacist that cant be bothered upgrading their tech that is the problem. I believe that was due to change though very soon...

And the "specialists" that never seem to get said referral faxes from doctors ><

If you really need it, with a very simple solution, use a fax to email service. 2Talk offers this. I use it to fax warehouse stationery to charge a credit card each month (they haven't yet made it so that it will do this automatically) - I just fire off a pdf attachment to <ph number incl std>@fax.2talk.co.nz

Same with receiving - can set up a number to receive faxes and they get e-mailed to you as an attachment

chevrolux

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#2483949 14-May-2020 18:52

snnet:
And the "specialists" that never seem to get said referral faxes from doctors ><

If you really need it, with a very simple solution, use a fax to email service. 2Talk offers this. I use it to fax warehouse stationery to charge a credit card each month (they haven't yet made it so that it will do this automatically) - I just fire off a pdf attachment to <ph number incl std>@fax.2talk.co.nz

Same with receiving - can set up a number to receive faxes and they get e-mailed to you as an attachment

And if you load those email addresses in to your multi-function's contacts, you can use scan-to-email to emulate a fax experience!

cyril7

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#2483952 14-May-2020 18:53

Peter please be daring and put you fax machine in the bin, this is forward progress just like the fact your morse key is no where to be found.

Cyril

daringpeter

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#2484044 14-May-2020 20:27

Guys.

Fax Right was specifically directed to fax machine users. Obviously.

I doubt if anyone here knows about- or cares about- 30+yr old technology anyway! I don't have a fax machine. I was curious as to why a friend told me that his fax will not work on his wi-fi phone network, but is OK on direct copper. As for morse keys, they are a collectors item, and despite hordes of apps for radio amateurs to send morse- hand keys are still used! Gasp!!

RunningMan

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#2484058 14-May-2020 21:19

What exactly does your friend mean by a wifi phone network? Is he talking about fixed wireless?

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