T.38 Fax over IP (FoIP) Fax Server

[trinetintl]

I am doing a little bit of research for a fax server solution and I came across a software application that uses FoIP by connecting to the IP Office like a SIP extension and I was wondering if anybody out there has experimented with this kind of solution? Is it as reliable as analog trunks via a fax/modem board or appliance?

Thanks,


RE

http://www.trinet-intl.com

APSS - SME
ACIS - SME

 

[RandySim]

trinetintl: I suggest you check out the following companies

1.

http://www.faxsipit.com/

(service)

2.

http://www.faxback.com/

(software)

 

[leehoward]

FoIP is never as reliable as fax over PSTN. As FoIP is trying to approximate PSTN communication it is a technical impossibility to be as good as what it's hoping to approximate.

Lee Howard
Chief Technical Officer
Mainpine, Inc.

http://www.mainpine.com

 

[trinetintl]

I had bad experiences before with CISCO ATA and a Fax Machine and after a ton of troubleshooting I was able to make it better by installing new more modern fax and asking the PRI carrier to tweak their service until the fax transmission and receiving was acceptable.

The customer wanted me to take a look at Sagemcom xmediusfax, they offer a FoIP and PSTN solution but he wants to install the fax server on a virtual machine to reduce costs, I talked with xmediusfax tech support and they claim a 95% reliability but if what leehoward says is true and it is technically impossible to be as good as PSTN I would still wanted to know if it is now technologically close enough to where you are not going to notice the difference because eventually the fax will be transmitted or received on one of the re-tries before it times out.

http://xmediusfax.sagemcom.com/

RE

http://www.trinet-intl.com

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[leehoward]

I think that whether a given FoIP implementation is "close enough" to PSTN will depend greatly upon the carriers involved, the FoIP implementation, and your own expectations. Because I tend to poke at fax at a low protocol level I can't answer this question for you because I'm much, much more particular about protocol implementation than most. On the fax servers I deploy I demand better than 99% success rates for each call.

Lee Howard
Chief Technical Officer
Mainpine, Inc.

http://www.mainpine.com

 

[trinetintl]

Leehoward that is exactly why I am posting and the reason for my concern because I tend to be the same way as you are and I always think the customer is expecting 99% or better even if they agree that they are OK with 95%. I am a bit uncomfortable with FoIP because what if the reliability in reality is 90% or lower? We can download a demo and implement it but I am not sure if I am prepared to implement it for free just to find out if it works or not. I order the demo for our office but we are not even remotely close to the fax traffic our customer has.

I was hoping for a bit more hands on experience with FoIP in this busy forum but I guess Fax is still strongly glued to the analog world and FoIP is still outside the radar scope of many BP's and vendors.

RE

http://www.trinet-intl.com

APSS - SME
ACIS - SME

 

[leehoward]

It doesn't have to be analog. It can be on ISDN (e.g. T1), but it does need to be on PSTN to be extremely reliable. In my experience SIP/T.38 just isn't going to meet a 99% expectation.

Lee Howard
Chief Technical Officer
Mainpine, Inc.

http://www.mainpine.com

 

[trinetintl]

You are correct but still the whole FoIP concept seems like it is not very popular yet.

RE

http://www.trinet-intl.com

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ACIS - SME

 

[tlpeter]

It is about time that faxes will go away!
When everything will go to SIP then faxing will be a hell.
There is always trouble getting faxes to work without issues.
These days you can email and scan (and then send to an email adres)
So there is no need for faxes anymore.


BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[leehoward]

Millions upon millions of businesses have fax machines attached to the public switched telephone network. You'll not see them all tossed to the road until something better comes along. Scan and e-mail has been around for quite some time now, and it's not generally viewed as better. If it were, then fax would have died a long, long time ago. I tend to find that the only people who do not understand this are people who do not actually rely on fax. When you use it you know how important it is. When you don't use it you don't understand.

Lee Howard
Chief Technical Officer
Mainpine, Inc.

http://www.mainpine.com

 

[tlpeter]

Faxes are still there because people are afraid odd changes.
Then the legal stuff which say that faxing is allowed but scan and email is not.


BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[trinetintl]

And the simplicity of the fax machine is what makes it so successful.

RE

http://www.trinet-intl.com

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[Bas1234]

Scan to email for me is 3 button, entering the number on a fax is 10 or more buttons

___________________________________________
It works! Now if only I could remember what I did...

Dain Bramaged (Avaya Search tool

http://tinyurl.com/bas1234

)
______________________________________

 

[tlpeter]

Indeed, our all in one does this in three buttons.


BAZINGA!

I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!

 

[trinetintl]

I agree with you but for somebody that is not that computer savvy those 3 buttons look like 100 buttons I tried it once with a customer and it blew on my face, now we are back to fax machines.

RE

http://www.trinet-intl.com

APSS - SME
ACIS - SME