Good and cheap fax modem

[Niina]

Could you tell me is there any good and cheap fax modems
that are compatible with Windows Server 2003? Or can I
use fax modems that are compatible with XP? I visited the
Windows Server Catalog, but many products seemed quite
expensive...

Many thanks,

Niina

 

[Extreme]

We use external USR 56k faxmodems. they work, they seem to be
reliable, by no means are they brooktrout cards, but they do work. and
all you have to do to reset them is turn the power switch on and off,
which beats the heck out of rebooting the server.

 

[Marc L. Kozam]

There is no such animal. Good and cheap are somewhat exclusive.

On the low end are the Winmodems from Zoom, etc. Overall respectable
products if you don't mind missing perhaps one in 10 or 20 faxes with
various "reception errors". OK for home users and light business use when
you will generally expect faxes and will know if they don't come through.

Next are the hardware modems such as the USR 5610B and Multitech ZPX series.
Still under $US 100, but far superior in terms of reliability with perhaps 1
in 30 or 40 faxes with "reception errors". OK if a few missed faxes is
acceptable. Disasterous if this means hundreds or thousands of lost dollars
when a customer's order gets messed up.

Finally, there are Brooktrout cards, which I have not used, but apparently
are the gold standard.

Although many swear by external modems (and I have used plenty), I'm more in
favor of internal models - one less power adapter. I've never had to reboot
a Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 machine because an internal modem was locked up.

All depends on your needs, but in general, the more you pay, the more you
get.

Marc

 

[Extreme]

I tried to set up a fax server with winmodems and they were all a
piece of junk. Espically if you needed to use more than one... and
even with one 1/2 of the time they wouldn't work. if your looking for
an internal card make sure it is not a winmodem (mostly software
driven) Make sure that the internal modem does all of the fax
processing on the card as opposed to using software to do it. But
those hardware modems are just as expensive as the external ones and
you can easily reboot an externam modem

 

[David G. Hoch]

You mention the Brooktrout cards as an option. I have a Digi Acceleport RAS
8 (8 modems on one card). I haven't been able to find any documentation
that tells me that MS FAX will be able to address all 8 modems. Is MS FAX
compatible with multimodem cards?

Thanks,
--David