Faxing -what machines work?
Anyone make a suggestion of a fax machine that is compatible with Apple AND OOMA?
Re: Faxing -what machines work?
Do you mean an Apple router? If you look at my signature, you'll see that I have a Time Capsule and Telo, but note that I have a Cisco router acting as a gateway to handle Quality of Service (QoS). You could use Ooma without it, but if you have anything going on simultaniously on the network call quality will suffer and FAXing is completely out of the question.
In general you should not use internet on another computer that using the same internet connection while sending a FAX, but with a router that has QoS capabilities, you should be able to. I have not tried that, but I've just peaked my own curiosity and will try that now to see how well my Cisco handles the network when a FAX is transmitting. No Apple routers, past or present have QoS capabilities.
My Samsung SCX4521F multifunction works for sending, but not receiving. Receiving is difficult and you're better off using a Fax service that converts to PDF if you need to receive a lot. There are lots available and several were posted on this forum, some free. lbmofo posted a good list here
For a dedicated fax machine or a multifunction, look for one that list support for G.711 or T.38 in the specifications. Most manufacturers have their product manuals online in PDF format, and you can look near the end of most manuals and find the specifications. My SCX-4521F only supports the older T.30 specification, but I got lucky because it still works. With one that list support for G.711 or T.38, you might be able to receive faxes as well.
In general you should not use internet on another computer that using the same internet connection while sending a FAX, but with a router that has QoS capabilities, you should be able to. I have not tried that, but I've just peaked my own curiosity and will try that now to see how well my Cisco handles the network when a FAX is transmitting. No Apple routers, past or present have QoS capabilities.
My Samsung SCX4521F multifunction works for sending, but not receiving. Receiving is difficult and you're better off using a Fax service that converts to PDF if you need to receive a lot. There are lots available and several were posted on this forum, some free. lbmofo posted a good list here
For a dedicated fax machine or a multifunction, look for one that list support for G.711 or T.38 in the specifications. Most manufacturers have their product manuals online in PDF format, and you can look near the end of most manuals and find the specifications. My SCX-4521F only supports the older T.30 specification, but I got lucky because it still works. With one that list support for G.711 or T.38, you might be able to receive faxes as well.
Customer Since: 1/17/12
Service: Premier 1/30/2012
BELL Canada Port: 1/30/12 - 2/13/12
TekSavvy via BELL FTTN: 25 Mbps/10 Mbps
Setup: Sagemcom 2864 > Cisco E2000 > Time Capsule v1 > Telo
Handsets: Panasonic KX-TG6655S DECT 6.0
Service: Premier 1/30/2012
BELL Canada Port: 1/30/12 - 2/13/12
TekSavvy via BELL FTTN: 25 Mbps/10 Mbps
Setup: Sagemcom 2864 > Cisco E2000 > Time Capsule v1 > Telo
Handsets: Panasonic KX-TG6655S DECT 6.0
Re: Faxing -what machines work?
I have two older HP all-in-one's and the ooma dialtone takes longer to be detected as a "dial-tone" for dialing.. and before I cancel my verizon service, I've tried sending and recieving... you can't really dial *99 for recieved calls, so I'm guessing OOMA detects fax transmissions and boosts the bandwidth/optimizes on the fly for recieved fax trans. However it seems to take longer to both send and recieve faxes (mostly the dialing part when sending, and a little bit longer when you recieve a fax).
However, faxes are a bit ancient these days.. more and more people are PDF/scanning & digitizing documents and just emailing them for a faster and less hassle send-off (accelerated by mass adoption of tablets & smart phones). Faxes harken back to the days of dial-up modems, which faxes are part of.. Hey, maybe someone wants to try a dial-up 56k modem and dial *99 and see what happens re: bandwidth (16--64KB isn't a good tradeoff for 3-4.5KB), lol.
** It takes a bit for the dtmf of a dialtone to oscillate enough for a fax machine to detect as the ooma chime fades to oscillation of dialtone before dialing.
However, faxes are a bit ancient these days.. more and more people are PDF/scanning & digitizing documents and just emailing them for a faster and less hassle send-off (accelerated by mass adoption of tablets & smart phones). Faxes harken back to the days of dial-up modems, which faxes are part of.. Hey, maybe someone wants to try a dial-up 56k modem and dial *99 and see what happens re: bandwidth (16--64KB isn't a good tradeoff for 3-4.5KB), lol.
** It takes a bit for the dtmf of a dialtone to oscillate enough for a fax machine to detect as the ooma chime fades to oscillation of dialtone before dialing.
Re: Faxing -what machines work?
I have an Epson Workforce 845, I dial *99_fax number, I believe the underscore is a pause character in the dial string, but it seems to work well.
Re: Faxing -My Success Story
It was not until I tried *98 (not *99) that my cheapo computer fax modem was able to send faxes. This setup is in an office setting configured as follows: Building Internet modem > building switch > personal switch > Ooma hub > fax modem. I have my fax modem configured as follows: Data Protocol=Disabled. Port speed=9600 baud. Compression=disabled. Flow control=none. I made no QOS setting changes on my Ooma hub. Hope this helps some of you.
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Re: Faxing -My Success Story
Also for an Ooma Telo, *96 will work for Faxing, when *98 or *99 doesn't.MLW99 wrote:It was not until I tried *98 (not *99) that my cheapo computer fax modem was able to send faxes. This setup is in an office setting configured as follows: Building Internet modem > building switch > personal switch > Ooma hub > fax modem. I have my fax modem configured as follows: Data Protocol=Disabled. Port speed=9600 baud. Compression=disabled. Flow control=none. I made no QOS setting changes on my Ooma hub. Hope this helps some of you.
Re: Faxing -what machines work?
I have a older Canon MP530 all-in-one fax machine and I bumped the TX transmit speed down to 4800 baud, but the key in the end was to use *96 when dialing. *99 did not work at all. *98 would work about half the time. But *96, which turns off the HD sound and makes the Telo into an old Bell-era POTS phone does the trick. Will people in 100 years still have to be compatible with the original Bell System so their faxes will go through? Seems maybe so.
Re: Faxing -what machines work?
By the way, it took me 11 months to figure out the *96 trick. It sure would be nice if the Ooma User docs suggested *98 and *96 in addition to the *99. It would have saved 11 months of my time.
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Re: Faxing -what machines work?
Lately I've been able to fax using no Prefix. Maybe Ooma Fixed something???
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Re: Faxing -what machines work?
Faxing on my HP6500A Plus works with default settings. I have only done 3 outgoing faxes in Oct 2012.