[itdiscuss] Fax Service

[Jeffrey Thompson]

I have been told from multitudes of seasons VOIP people that fax works  
over SIP but not reliably since one error in the SIP protocol causes  
an entire fax to fail.

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 14, 2008, at 8:37 AM, "Justin Moore" <wantmoore at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>>
>>
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>
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