On 26/10/2007, Paul Tansom <paul@???> wrote:
> I have two requirements here, the first is for a quick and dirty
> solution to send a fax quickly, the second is for a better longer term
> solution.
>
> For the quick solution I simply want to send a fax using a SIP phone
> connection that I have. I could do it with a hardware device, but I
> don't see a need to purchase one in the longer term. If I dare say it,
> for this quick requirement I don't mind a Windows solution - euk!
>
> For the longer term solution I am probably half way down the road
> already. I hope to have an Asterisk [1] box set up in the not too
> distant future, and by the looks of things I can use Hylafax [2] along
> with a IAXmodem [3] to get this up and running. If there are other
> solutions I could look at then I'd be interested. The longer term will
> also require inbound fax. From the looks of this [4] link there is at
> least one other Asterisk fax option around.
>
> [1] http://www.asterisk.org/
> [2] http://www.hylafx.org/
> [3] http://sourceforge.net/projects/iaxmodem
> [4] http://voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Asterisk%20fax
>
> --
> Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com/ | 023 9238 0001
Faxing over VoIP phones is problematic. Try to avoid it if possible.
VoIP uses compression that cause faxes to fail. Also, even in VoIP PCM
(G.711) mode (no compression), faxing is also unreliable unless the
VoIP device handles automatic switching to a special Fax
codec/protocol (T.38) for VoIP, and even with that, the automatic
switching does not always work correctly.
I would recommend using a scanner to email gateway, and email the
scanned documents instead of fax them. I use a simple multifunction
printer/scanner to scan the document, PDF it, and forward it to my
email inbox. I can then forward it on to it's final destination.
This is normally fine, as most organisations that receive faxes now,
use a fax to email gateways, so it would only get scanned at the other
end instead.
As for receiving FAXs, I use
http://www.demon.net. They provide a free
service, if you use their ADSL service, that gives one a FAX phone
number. Anyone faxing to that number results in me receiving an email
with the FAX in it.
James
