FAX on VoIP lines

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JimBrack

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Topic # 28530 3-Dec-2008 11:32

I have a problem which is driving me bonkers! I have gone to 2Talk and have 3 VoIP lines and one Fax (email) number. As I ported my Telecom numbers to 2Talk, and advertising from way back is still around, people still fax me on my telecom numbers which are now a VoIP line and the Fax does not work at all.

My Fax machine sits there as says what’s this rubbish coming in and hangs up (Brother MFC885CW) my VoIP lines are running through a Linksys SPA 2102 to a Aria 24 Pabx.

If people fax to my 2Talk fax number there is no problem. I have set up the 2102 to what 2Talk say is the best for Faxing but it made no difference. BTW I can send faxes using the Brother to anywhere in the world (over any of my VoIP lines) and I have had no problem. I just cannot receive any faxes

Cheers

sbiddle

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Reply # 181747 3-Dec-2008 11:52

Just trying to understand exactly what you are trying to say.

Somebody sends a fax to your 028 number and it works fine?

Same person sends a fax to your 0x xxxxxxx landline and it fails?

JimBrack

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Reply # 181775 3-Dec-2008 13:39

sort off

any one can send a fax to my 2talk fax number (not a physical fax machine) but no one can send a fax to my physical fax machine via a Voip Number. but I can send faxes via my fax maching over a voip line to anywhere with no problems.
hope that helps
Jim

sbiddle

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Reply # 181789 3-Dec-2008 14:21

I assume you are using T.38 on the port you are using for the fax?

I haven't played with fax over 2talk so can't be of any more help sorry, I know a few others on here such as coffeebaron could be able to shed some more insight.

coffeebaron

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Reply # 181795 3-Dec-2008 15:03

Let me see if I can understand you situation:

- you have a dedicated fax number that goes to 2talk faxmail
- you also have another number that will also receive faxes on? I'm guessing you once upon a time had a fax/phone number all the same; therefore can't make this a dedicated faxmail number - else that would be the obvious thing to do.

So with the above in mind; you will need to do a little troubleshooting & monitoring of these incoming fax calls. To do this, you will need to login to the SPA2102 during an incoming (and outgoing) fax and monitor what is going on.
- how much packet lose is there?
- what codec is it using?

Also, how good is the quality of your DSL connection? Faxing can be very problematic over VoIP, as any variation in DSL quality will impact the ability to fax. Generally this is much more noticeable on an incoming fax, as it is the downstream of your DSL that will have more issues of packet lose / variation etc. Also, not all fax machines talk nicely to T.38, and this can be very hit and miss at times which = reverting to G711 codec, and more susceptible to DSL issues.

Is this line setup on 2talk as a fax line?

- You also mentioned SPA2102 into Aria PABX; have you tested in isolation, i.e. fax machine plugged direct into SPA2102?
- Have you tried with SPA2102 being the only thing on your broadband connection?

See how you go starting with the above info, and post back your findings.

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Zeon

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Reply # 181904 3-Dec-2008 23:56

I'd bypass your pbx and go straight from the spa2102 (fax capable) to that line. Alternatively have you thought about a fax to email service (xnet is offering it I think so I wouldn't be surprised if call plus is too)?

JimBrack

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Reply # 182155 4-Dec-2008 22:34

Yes Zeon I do have a fax to email service with 2Talk.
the problem is as coffeebaron pointed out. The number I Ported to 2Talk was a fax/phone number and there is years of advertising that phone/fax number out there. so People still send faxes to that same number, we get on avagage 4 faxes per day (we also get over 50 voice calls per day as well so removing the line from my PABX and into my fax is not a good idea

looking at the info page on the 2102 when receving a fax
Encoder G711a,
Decoder G711a
Fax yes,
Decode Latency:80ms
Jitter 5ms-11ms,
Packets Lost: 0
Packets Error: 0

having the 2102 as the only input to my adsl modem made no difference.

I will keep looking at the numbers and tweak things
Cheers
JIM

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Reply # 182192 5-Dec-2008 06:46

From memory the fax send/receive speed is adjustable in the Brother units. Try changing this to 9600 rather than auto or 14.4 or 28.8k and see if it makes any difference.

Do you have another fax machine there that you can try?

coffeebaron

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Reply # 182259 5-Dec-2008 12:26

What do you get when sending a fax: T.38 or is it the same - G711a?

Did you try fax direct into SPA2102 (for troubleshooting)? Also try with both straight through & polarity reversed rj12-rj12 cable (i.e. the middle two pins will be the same colour on normal cable, & swapped around on reverse cable).

Have you also checked / tried checking the live.2talk.co.nz settings for this line and made it a faxline?

Also what sbiddle say - different fax machine, slower speed, also see if there is a "basic" compatibility mode

Try setting fax to fax only mode (for troubleshooting) so it answers call straight away as a fax.

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JimBrack

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Reply # 182370 5-Dec-2008 19:47

Hi Guys
After trying all the above, I then started swapping cables around. and one cable, out of 5, works at least 90% of the time (9 out of 10 faxes) so I guess it was a reversed polarity! or cheap and nasty cables
I'm happy with that and my eftpos still works

A Big Thank you CoffeėBaron and all for all your help. Magic!
BTW T.38 never came up always G711A

coffeebaron

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Reply # 182376 5-Dec-2008 20:35

Great to hear ya got it sorted (well atleast 90% anyway)!

I suspect T.38 will only work when it is a dedicated fax line as per line type selected at sign up.

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richms

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Reply # 182568 7-Dec-2008 11:09

I had better luck with ulaw then with T.38 when I was trying it. T.38 was also slow as hell, I think it was dropping back to 9600 whereas ulaw would send and recieve much much faster.

Richard rich.ms