[itdiscuss] Fax Service

[Justin Moore]

I'll go the opposite direction on this, just for fun. Fax over SIP
trunks *can* be reliable. I know of several organizations that use SIP
ATA's in house to plug their fax machines in on one side and plug into
the data network on the other side. The fax is carried via SIP back to
the Asterisk server where its sent out an analog line or channel on
their T1/PRI.

The issue to be concerned with is bandwidth. If you can somehow
guarantee bandwidth for your SIP trunks/channels between your fax
endpoint and your SIP provider, this may actually work quite well. The
only good situation I can think of where this may be a reality though
is if your telco is providing your trunks over a direct internet line
back to them (T1, MetroE, etc) and are able to QoS that traffic.

As an alternative, I'd suggest you look in to the T.38 protocol which
is a spec of how to send regular faxes over data networks (additional
error checking, etc). There are some providers out there providing
T.38 termination via SIP/IAX. This would allow you to continue to use
your existing fax machines.

I can provide more specific info if you want - what kind of phone
system is this for?

Justin Moore
aka wantmoore
---------------------------------------
www.wantmoore.com



On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 6:28 AM, Jeffrey Thompson <jthompsonic at gmail.com> wrote:
> You are right about not wanting to put fax over SIP.  That is not reliable.
> A fax service that converts your faxes into PDF and forwards it to you is a
> great idea I think.  MaxEmail has a good fax to PDF and vice versa PDF/Word
> attachment to fax service.
>
> MaxEmail: http://maxemail.com/
> --
> Jeffrey Thompson
> jthompsonic at gmail.com
>
> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 5:04 PM, Bobby Stewart
> <bStewart at brentwoodbaptist.com> wrote:
>>
>> We are in the process of moving our telephone services. Eventually, this
>> will mean that we are moving from a traditional PRI to SIP trunking. I
>> am seeing that there is a potential impact on data over SIP (for faxes
>> and MODEMs). Because of that I am considering a fax service to receive
>> faxes. I'm also curious about outgoing fax reliability.
>>
>> Those fax services are currently being handled through our PBX over
>> traditional PRI which is uncompressed, therefore, no real impact on
>> transmission.
>>
>> What might any of you be using or what might you suggest I consider.
>>
>> Bobby Stewart
>> Network Analyst
>> Brentwood Baptist Church
>> Brentwood, TN
>> (615) 324-6149 office
>> (615) 830-0012 cell
>>
>>
>>
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