** James Courtier-Dutton <james.dutton@???> [2007-10-26 14:41]:
> 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
>
> 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.
** end quote [James Courtier-Dutton]
Hmm, that's not encouraging, thanks for the info. I'll have to
investigate further.
I send and receive faxes so rarely that using IP instead of a hardware
device seemed like a good option. I used to use the Demon service way
back when I was a Demon subscriber. Unfortunately the lost the plot
completely as ADSL came on the market. I was with them from 1996 to
2001, but in 2000/1 when I recommended an employer use them they went
through such a bad period with reliability of the ISDN connection we had
that I took a lot of stick for the bad recommendation. I stuck with them
myself for a while longer but they were painfully slow in doing anything
much with ADSL and in particular wires only installations that I jumped
ship, and hence lost my fax facility. I'm tied to my current ISP by
virtue of being a reseller, although they are also very good (otherwise
I wouldn't resell!).
I'll have to look into fax to email and email to fax gateways I guess.
The services I've looked at in the past haven't been worth using due to
the rarity of my need to send a fax. It isn't that often that people
insist of a fax copy as opposed to an emailed scan thankfully. Using a
scanner is enough of a pain given that I don't have one in my office and
have to go to the dining room to use the family PC and Windows :(
--
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. |
http://www.aptanet.com/ | 023 9238 0001
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