FAX Line on PRI, Pro's / Con's ?

[MagixLegend]

Morning all. Another question from the newbie. I recently installed a PRI with a batch of DID on a Magix PBX. I also have an old (and only) fax line coming into my facility that I am looking to move to the PRI. A knowledgeable soul recommended that I should not move this number to the PRI unless I want to experience alot of headaches, although I am confused with this statement. I generally experience an outage once a month and it lasts 3-4 days. Maybe I am thinking to simply, move the number to the PRI, cable the line to an analog module, perform programming in the PBX and *BAM!* fax runs? Or is there more to it than this? What are the pro's / con's to moving this line to the PRI? All suggestions are welcome, so please enlighten me.
Chris

 

[MagixLegend]

Again, maybe I am making this to hard/easy on my self, but can someone verify my thought process with this idea. I mentioned that I have a batch of DID #'s that I recently put into system and consquently they also align with my existing extension listing. I have plenty of "spares" available, so theoritically I should be able to use one of my DID numbers and assign it as the 'new' fax line and then complete the programming AuxEquip > Fax > Extension > Dial Ext No > Enter > Back ... and then cable everything over / through my 016 TR module and be a happy man. Does this sound like a logical solution to my dilemma? Or am I missing something? If I do this, do I need to notify my teleco at all (I'm guessing not, but want to make certain)?
Chris

 

[tanderson3733]

I wouldn't necessarily say you're asking for any more headaches than you already have with a circuit only giving you 85-90% uptime...that in itself is unacceptable and I'd start looking to the provider to solve this problem before adding anything more onto it.

But as far as using a fax on an analog port, it's not unusual at all. If your PRI has lower long distance rates, for example, then there's a very valid reason for wanting to move it from a standalone analog to the PRI/PBX. You should be able to port the existing analog phone number to the PRI and not have to worry about "changing" the fax number.

 

[Westi]

a PRI channel has 56kbps that is better then your average G3 fax that is usually 14.4 kbps so you have no problems with that from the techcnical perspective, but if you have lots of outages then I would get on the line providers case and tell them that you go somewhere else if they don't increase the reliability. In the mean time forward your fax line to a DID and use the DID if you just want to test if it works for your purposes and if it does move the number over to the PRI and you are good to go.

Joe W.

FHandw., ACS

If you can't be good, be good at it!

 

[merlinman]

In the past few years I have connected dozens of Faxes to systems whose only service is a PRI Circuit. They work just fine.

The Main reason you tell Aux Equipment that the Extension is a FAX PORT is to eliminate the funny rings normally associated with an incoming call. That setting gives the FAX a nice SOLID Ring.

Using other features of the Aux Equipment setting for a Fax can enable a received Fax to turn on the message light on some other extension to indicate that a Fax has been received.

That can be handy if the Fax Machine is down the hall.

http://home.comcast.net/~merlinman

 

[MagixLegend]

Based on all of the input from everyone I think I have forumlated a plan, although I need someone to look it over and tell me if i am missing anything.

My fax line is an old analog line that does not come into my PBX, rather straight into the facility and then terminates on a biscuit on the wall after going through lots of copper. Therefore, I would like to assign one of my vacant DID numbers as the new fax number. Recently new cabling was put in for voice / data that I can eventually path over to patch panels adj to my Magix.

I think I have a cabling / signal flow in my mind although I have been lead to believe that my fax needs to eventually be cabled to an 016 TR module? Is that correct, or have I been mislead? If this is true (that I need to use the 016 TR) do I need to program that module / specific port to forward to a particular extension internally that I plan to assign to the fax? or do I simply cable from patch panel to 016 TR module?

I feel like I am missing something in the middle of this process, can someone shed some helpful solutions as to how you would complete this process? As I said, I am a newbie and been w/o fax service for 3 business / 5 calendar days.

Chris

 

[mforrence]

Fax on PRI won't be a problem so long as the PRI is a true TDM circuit and NOT SIP converted to PRI as some carriers will supply. Even then, fax may work if you have T.38 enabled on SIP.
Mike

 

[SYQUEST]

Yes, you will use one of the analogue ports on the 016TR module for your fax station. Just renumber the port to the DID number you are going to assign per your Dial Plan. Then you will connect that port to your station or house cable that goes to the fax machine. You should follow Merlinman's suggestion also. Now putting the fax on the Magix, you will need to put a 9 in front of the number you are calling when sending a fax. This can be changed if you don't want to use the 9.

If any of this is not clear, please post more questions and we shall provide more answers...

....JIM....