Question by Frank: how do i connect a fax if im using voice over ip?
i need to install a fax but i have no idea how to do it. should i just connect the Ethernet cable to the switch that i have everything else connected to?
Help.
thanks.
Best answer:
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
You have to make the fax noises with your mouth. Nah, just kidding. Use a phone line splitter and plug your fax in. Faxes send data down the voice channel of a phone line. It won’t interfere with the Internet. You may need to use an ADSL splitter though, depending on your setup.
Hi, as far as I know, fax was designed for analog networks, and does not travel well over a VOIP network. The reason for this is that FAX communication uses the signal in a different way to regular voice communication. When VOIP technologies digitize and compress analog voice communication it is optimized for VOICE and not for FAX. Subsequently, there are a number of things you need to take note of when you move to a VOIP Phone System.
If you want to continue using your old fax machine, and you want to connect to your VOIP Phone System, its best to use a VOIP Gateway and an ATA that supports T38. T38 is a protocol designed to allow fax to ‘travel’ over a VOIP network.
Another way to deal with fax when you switch to VOIP is to connect the fax machine directly to the existing analog phone line and bypass your VOIP system