[asterisk-users] Fax Machine Options

[Lee Howard]

Andreas van dem Helge wrote:
> Cisco gateway with T.38 support. That's the only real way to do faxing
> through asterisk.

Although this statement has marginally more truth to it given the 
SIP-only context that the original poster provided, it is still 
substantially inaccurate.

There are several ways to do T.38 other than with a Cisco gateway.  Now, 
if you meant that T.38 is the only way in the SIP-only context (and not 
specifically Cisco-branded T.38) then that has significantly more 
accuracy to it.

However, if by *real* you also mean *reliable* then be aware that T.38 
over SIP/UDP has an inherent weakness due to the medium that make it, in 
my experience, significantly less-reliable than simply having a fax 
machine hooked up to a traditional analog line.

When my clients come to me with the same issue I generally do not push 
them into a corner with T.38.  In almost all cases they find that it is 
worth the $20-50 monthly for the analog fax line... and if that expense 
is too much then the on-line fax service provider is an easy recommendation.

Note that if you have a fax machine that performs some variant of T.37 
(fax-over-email) and you have an on-line service provider that is 
willing to work with you... then you can rather easily get your fax 
machine faxing through their service.  (Which is yet another option.)

Thanks,

Lee.