Stand-alone FAX v Computer based fax (e.g. WinFax, Ventafax)

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 05, 2004 Posts: 8

I posted a similar thread last week. Vonage will work fine with stand-alone fax, but not with my computer based Winfax or Ventafax. Anyone (with technical understanding of training, fax-negotiating, handshaking, etc.) have an idea of how I can get this to work? Thanks

Posts: 43 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 43

Split from Line 1 on your ATA, with one side going to your phone (or wall jack, if so configured), and the other going to your PC's faxmodem outlet.

Use *99 as a dialing prefix when you use WinFax.

Very Happy

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 05, 2004 Posts: 8

I'm not sure what the *99 will do, as well as splitting line 1 from the ATA. My fax runs of port 2, as a second line. It is split between my stand-alone, and my PC. Line 1 runs through the entire house (as does line 2 ... but we don't use it that way). How (exactly) would dialing *99 and splitting line 1 help? I am able to tone in and out, but it is the training / negotiation that is the problem. --- Thanks in advance

Posts: 43 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 43

sublimaze1,

As you can see, that was my first post - I'm a brand new Vonage user.

I'm just using Line 1. I don't fax from home very often, so I don't have the dedicated fax line. However I do use Winfax now and then. I coudn't get a fax out either, so I searched the forum here and saw this in another post:

I had a line going from Line 1 into my home's phone wiring via a regular jack. (wiring disconnected from the Phone company;s network interface of course). I put a splitter on the line coming from Line 1 with one side giong to the wall jack and the other going to the Winfax modem on my PC. Still no luck! Then I read the post saying that the Vonage system sometimes need the prefix *99 to negotiate the fax. So I put *99 in WinFax as a dialing prefix, and it worked!

Posts: 36 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Aug 15, 2003 Posts: 36

Don't forget to add the "1" as a prefix to the fax number. It works fine for me without dialing *99.

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 05, 2004 Posts: 8

Okay, I think I got it figgerred out !!! This is a copy of the thread to the Vonage cust serv ... who have not responded. Disclaimer: I have a BS in General Biological Sciences. Electrocuting frogs is as close as I ever got with respect to useful credit in this kinda stuff ...

Please review the thread for #396484.

The main concern in this thread was the inability for non stand-alone (e.g.
Winfax and vertafax, etc.) fax programs to find compatibility with the Vonage
system.

I have taken a major step in rectifying this issue, and would like to present
it to you and your tech staff, being that you do not support this.

As it stands, most new (e.g. less than three years old) fax/modems run the V.90 and/or V.92 protocol. This stumps your ATA or VT1000 into a conundrum, that unless everything is perfect (sun, moon, stars all aligned, etc) the signal will drop and the training will fail.

I have disabled V.90 and V.92 leaving the default for the fax/modem to V.34, which seems to have a better compatibility with most (MOST) faxes around.

Now, the problem comes (I believe) when there is a 100 msec or more lag in the exchange of data streaming to and from the faxmodem. This is good for one page (when the back/forth is less important) but causes stress for the second, or more page(s) (when there is the need for quick handshakes between pages).

I give you this information as this is a personal quest I have to coordinate a functional fax/modem over this VOIP system.

cbeyond.com (and other commercial T1 T2 T3 etc. VOIP providers) uses the old G.711 protocol which the Bells use and this proves a simple fix to any V92 V90 or V34 issues (although you still have to nix the 90's).

I hope this helps you in your tech endeavors, and may even prove to be a vital bridge in the eventual need to support PC based fax emulators.

W. Jones

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 05, 2004 Posts: 8

Okay,

There is certainly some incompatibility between the Vonage VoIP system, and the PC based programs (in this case WinFax). I have nailed down three particular issues.

1) emulation protocol - Bells use a G711 (which faxes tend to use) and modems use "v" protocols. Snapping down the v90 or v92 protocol to a v34 protocol surely helps.

2) lag - we all know that there are times when we have a speed lag when using the phone due to packet travel times. this confuses any fax, particularly emulated faxes. I don't know how to fix this other than run a T1 into my house. Wife is kinda against that. She is interested in getting a car.

3) line quality - Vonage states this ain't an issue. Wouldn't you if this was your business.

Bottom line - I see that people are reading this thread, so it IS an issue. I feel that time will help us early adopters to get this focus cleared. I have a $49 stand-alone as back-up, but still use the winfax. Most faxes try three times to send ... this gives me about an 80% sucess rate. I use my cell phone's faxing capability as back-up, and my office knows that if they fail at my home fax, send it to the phone.

W. Jones