Can I fax over VoIP? Or should I even try?

Faxing over VoIP can at times be a challenge. In fact, it can be a real pain! Symptoms of common problems that may be related to faxing over VoIP are:

  1. Fax call starts and receiving machine answers but will not connect.
  2. Fax call is received and machine answers but will not connect.
  3. Call (sending or receiving) connects and transmission starts but then disconnects.
  4. Call (sending or receiving) connects and transmission starts but only 1 or 2 pages are sent before call disconnects.
  5. Transmission Verification Report routinely shows "Poor Line Condition".
  6. Faxes will not complete at certain times of day but work fine at other times.
  7. Faxes will not complete to certain phone numbers but work fine with other numbers.

Before scrapping your idea of looking into VoIP because of this restriction, you should think about how you can work within this limitation, and in fact, you might even find there is a better way to do it!

eFax? What’s that?

There are devices that are available on the market that claim to make faxing over a VoIP connection work. Some work, some don’t, and most, while working sometimes, don’t work all of the time.VoiceWalker’s position on this is “Why bother?” VoiceWalker has chosen to point it’s customers to the newer eFax services where someone wanting to send you a fax, simply dials your fax number as they always have, and your fax comes into your email as a document, excel spreadsheet, .TIF or .PDF. You then save the fax as you would any other document and if need be, forward it on to others via your email as an attachment.

Not only is this an efficient way to receive documents and move the about easily, it allows you to maintain a continuous “electronic trail” from document inception to delivery. It is a “Green” approach that helps to eliminate the use of paper and ink and reduces your overall “Carbon Footprint”.

If you need to send to someone’s fax machine, you use the same service but in reverse, you take a document, spreadsheet, .PDF etc. or anything else you want to “fax” to someone else’s fax machine.You then attach it to an email addressed to your destinations’ fax number. That’s it. You have a clear, electronic trail to confirm you have sent the item; you will normally get a confirmation that the document has been received, dated and time-stamped (which you usually do not get with a regular fax sent from your machine).

What if I want to keep my Fax machine? What do I do if I get a paper copy of a document I need to fax instead of getting it in my email?

Most of the problems mentioned above are experienced with sending TO a fax machine that is on a VoIP system. While it does occur when sending FROM a machine that is using VoIP it is much less frequent. Many companies choose to keep a machine on hand just for sending documents that come to them and in most cases that works just fine.

The other option that works efficiently is to scan the paper copy you have and save it on your computer. Then, attach it to an email and send it along. With the plethora of “All-In-One” machines on the market, you can acquire a machine, or likely you already have one, that will scan your documents very easily. This is a good way to take advantage of the capital you’ve already expended on that fax machine when you make the move to VoIP. Don’t get rid of it, just use it differently!

What do I gain by going to eFax?

One of the primary advantages to going to eFax over traditional faxing is the cost savings. Typical PSTN fax lines run anywhere from $20.00 to as much as $35.00 per month. Because most of them are “voice” lines offered by the Local Exchange Carrier that serves your area, there will be additional charges on top of that. Most typical is SLC, Subscriber Line Charge or otherwise known in the industry as “slick charge”. You’ll also see it on your bill as FSLIC or Federal Subscriber Line Charge. This charge can range from a low of $2.00 to as high s $8.50 or more.

This means your cost for a traditional fax line is going to run you between $22-$28.50 on the low end to as high as $37.00 to $43.50 on the higher end (but by no means is it THE high!).

When looking at eFax services, prices will range from as little as $3.00 per month and $0.12 per page to $18.00 per month with no usage charge, to virtually anywhere in between. VoiceWalker’ eFaxPLUS service offers a $9.95 per month fee and $0.03 per page, to a flat rate $15.50 with no usage charge.Unless you are sending thousands of pages a month, comparing eFax service with the low and high previously you can see that the savings can be substantial.

It’s not just cost saving though. As mentioned above, keeping all of your faxes in an electronic form allows you to efficiently keep track of and store your information. It gives you the ability to create an electronic trail on any document that you receive; especially important in contract negotiations, legal matters etc.

Last but not least, it is a move your company can make that is helping all of us to protect the environment. CombineVoiceWalker’s eFaxPLUS service with VoiceWalker’s Digital Voice Advantage Conference Service and your Carbon Footprint will be radically reduced to the benefit of us all.

In summary, faxing can indeed be an issue over VoIP. Inbound faxes to your machine can be a challenge; however outbound faxes will still work most of the time. If putting up with this is not going to work for you, you can look at alternative “devices” on the market that might help to improve your faxing capabilities or, simply stop trying to fax over the machine and use eFax service to both send and receive your documents.

Worse case? Keep your fax line with your Local Exchange Carrier, but move everything else to VoIP!

What ever you choose, don’t walk away from the many significant advantages your company can gain from the move to VoIP from your legacy PSTN servicesjust because you can’t use your fax machine exactly as you used to.