VOIP question

[Michael C]

I've bought a voip adaptor which I'm just setting it up with my standard
telephone. It can handle 2 lines at once so I was thinking of using the
second line for sending and receiving faxes. I spoke to the voip provider
and they said it's possible to run the second line to a fax modem and
receive faxes that way. But it seems a bit hacky to have the fax come in
through my cable modem then goto the voip box and then through an analog
signal back to my computer. Shouldn't it be possible that the voip provider
receives the fax and sends it on to me directly through the cable?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Paul]

I've bought a voip adaptor which I'm just setting it up with my standard
telephone. It can handle 2 lines at once so I was thinking of using the
second line for sending and receiving faxes. I spoke to the voip provider
and they said it's possible to run the second line to a fax modem and
receive faxes that way. But it seems a bit hacky to have the fax come in
through my cable modem then goto the voip box and then through an analog
signal back to my computer. Shouldn't it be possible that the voip provider
receives the fax and sends it on to me directly through the cable?

Thanks,
Michael

There are companies offering fax-email gateways. This one is
an example, the first one found in a search. This one offers your
guests a toll free number when they send a fax to you. At your
end, the faxes end up in an email box. An added benefit of a
virtual fax, is you could receive two faxes at the same time.

http://www.myfax.com/index.asp?sblid=index2

Paul

 

[Peter A. Stavrakoglou]

I've bought a voip adaptor which I'm just setting it up with my standard
telephone. It can handle 2 lines at once so I was thinking of using the
second line for sending and receiving faxes. I spoke to the voip provider
and they said it's possible to run the second line to a fax modem and
receive faxes that way. But it seems a bit hacky to have the fax come in
through my cable modem then goto the voip box and then through an analog
signal back to my computer. Shouldn't it be possible that the voip
provider receives the fax and sends it on to me directly through the
cable?

Thanks,
Michael

How many phones are used in your home? Are you still using a land line for
other phones? IF you want to use only VOIP service and not landline
service, you can plug a multi-line adapter into the phone jack, then plug
the VOIP box, phone, and fax machine into the adaptor. If you have any
other phone jacks in the home, those will also operate off of the VOIP box.
The only caveat is that you must disconnect the phone line going into your
home from the phone company interface box outside your home.

 

[Paul]

I've bought a voip adaptor which I'm just setting it up with my standard
telephone. It can handle 2 lines at once so I was thinking of using the
second line for sending and receiving faxes. I spoke to the voip provider
and they said it's possible to run the second line to a fax modem and
receive faxes that way. But it seems a bit hacky to have the fax come in
through my cable modem then goto the voip box and then through an analog
signal back to my computer. Shouldn't it be possible that the voip provider
receives the fax and sends it on to me directly through the cable?

Thanks,
Michael

I don't understand too much about VOIP, but at its core, you don't
need the phone company. VOIP is just packets of data containing
voice samples. Where the value is added, is in two areas. One
is directory services - whether using a private service (like
Vonage) or the telephone company offering, being able to use
conventional phone numbers is more convenient than trying to
rendevous using IP addresses. The way the packets are carried
can also make a difference, and if the VOIP packets have a
higher priority than normal data traffic, the jitter in the
packets can be reduced. It is possible for a service that knows
which packets are the VOIP packets, to assign them a QOS (quality
of service), but QOS is not something that all networking methods
offer. The phone company would be in a good position to carry
VOIP with a QOS on the packets.

In theory, the VOIP packets for your fax machine, could be pointed
to your computer. You would need a software application, to receive
the packets, do DSP to undo the modulation used by the originating
fax modem, and to give the proper responses to the sending fax
machine (like confirm receipt of the fax). This is certainly
theoretically possible.

This company, for example, is claiming to offer such a service
(FOIP). I notice that no prices are listed, for the software or the
service ? That generally means gouging awaits.

http://www.faxserver.com/

The real question is, would the phone company allow that to happen ?
Or would the phone company support it. Or would they charge
a fee for it (oh, yeah). Or would they try to stop the people
at faxserver, from doing their thing ?

I think, as long as the horribly kludgy way you have in mind works,
you are avoiding extra costs. Any other option will likely involve
monthly fees. As long as the VOIP carriage method being used, is
good enough not to disturb the FAX transmission (jitter or voice
quality issue), that is most of the game right there.

Also note that, I saw a disturbing news item the other day, where
some networking equipment was gaining the ability to recognize
VOIP packets. And that means the "free ride" offered by some
VOIP methods, could be cut off in the future. It'll just mean
the free methods will have to change their protocols once in a
while

Paul