[Asterisk-Users] Faxing Suggestions

[Rich Adamson]

> I wrote a week or two ago about a problem I was having with a TDM400P
> with 2 FXS.  The problem was reliable fax transfers.  There were often
> slow or had communication failures during transmission.
> 
> Richard replied to my post and told me this is an ongoing problem that
> might have a solution in the weeks to come.  However, I was wondering
> if anyone had any alternate solutions for faxing with an actual fax
> machine (not creating a fax server) that have worked well.
> 
> Basically my setup is a PRI coming in to my Asterisk box.  I have two
> DID's that I would like to assign to my fax lines.  My requirement is
> that I can use a standard fax machine to recv and send faxes.  It is a
> pretty simple setup.
> 
> If you have an solutions that have worked well for you in the past, I
> would love to hear them.  I currently have the DID's forwarded to a
> single POTS line we had laying around.  This works but I can't use the
> fax machines to receive individually.  Also if the folks working on
> the TDM card missing frames issue need someone to run tests or
> troubleshoot I am willing to do so.

No resolution on the TDM card as yet.

Lots of folks have used the small Cisco ATA186 or Sipura products to
support analog fax as long as your incoming calls are arriving via
a PRI, and that T1/E1 interface has been configured to properly sync
with the telco. The sip definitions "must" use a g711 codec for that
to work correctly. (Outgoing faxes would need to be over the PRI as
well.)

Alternatively for incoming faxes, I've moved to an external fax 
service (very inexpensive) for inbound faxes. They now arrive in pdf
format, can be forwarded anywhere, junk faxes deleted without wasting
paper/toner, printed as needed, etc.

Rich