Fax - Broadband Failure

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 6

I'm considering swtiching my fax line to Vonage. What happens to my ability to receive incoming faxes when my broadband fails? On a Vonage voice line, the forwarding and voicemail functions still work if my broadband failed. Does the Vonage fax service have the ability to archive faxes and/or forward them via Email during a broadband outage (basically becoming an eFax-type service)?

This is for a business, and I'm a little nervous abou the reliabilty.

Also, my fax is a Brother MFC-8840DN. Any known compatibilty issues with this model & Vonage?

Thanks,
Mike

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

I don't know about the fax machine, but if your broadband fails your fax fails. Vonage does not have a feature for capturing and preserving a fax during a network failure.

Posts: 1123 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 1123

You can't even set a network availability number for a fax line, so you couldn't forward it to a landline. My best advice is if you REALLY depend on the fax for your business, and you have reason to worry about your broadband dropping frequently, get a stripped-down local landline for the fax only. That way, if you had a broadband outage, you could also use that line on some sort of two-line phone, in the event of an emergency, ie. hook Vonage up to Line 1 or the phone, and landline to Line 2.

Posts: 5 · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:12 am Post subject: Vonage and Fax

Hi Mike
I am using a Brother MFC 3240, nothing but problems with Vonage fax` line, i have almost given up. your out bound calls just get dropped.
Scotty

Posts: 135 · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:33 am Post subject:

I would just go with an option like eFax for your incoming fax line. I do not have a dedicated fax line with Vonage. I use my fax machine to send only with my Vonage voice line. My incoming fax number is a free eFax account. I receive my faxes through my email. If you needed a local number for your fax number you can get a paid eFax account to support that. I do not need a local number so the free one is great for me.

My fax is also a Brother MFC-3240C. I have had very little problems sending faxes using Vonage. Probably one out of 10 outgoing fax calls fails after sending the first page but always gets through on the retry.