Faxing Over IP - no fax boards, virtualization

Fax Over IP (FOIP) does not send faxes through the internet to fax machines. Fax Over IP means that a software program communicates over a network to a gateway device (standalone or in your phone system) that interfaces to regular phone lines. If you are doing intercompany faxing between fax machines, you can have VOIP connectors that let you send faxes between your devices over your VOIP network.

Sending and receiving faxes using Fax Over IP

GoldFax can run in a Windows virtual environment (VMWare or Microsoft Hyper V). To make its connection to outside phone lines, it requires a "software" modem on the GoldFax server. The FOIP software communicates across your network (using SIP, H.323, T.38) with a gateway device (Cisco, Avaya, Dialogic Media Gateway, etc.) that has the connections to the telephone network.

FOIP fax software

The Dialogic Brooktrout, FOIP Fax modem, SR-140 software is available from 2 to 60 connections. Your telephone system gateway device has to have as least that many connections. The speed is V.34 (33.6 Kps). When fax machines and fax boards first connect to each other you hear the squeal and squawk sounds where they negotiate the speed at which they will communicate.

GoldFax can dial a fax number directly or through any phone system. It can be set to dial a 9 before it makes any call and it recognizes which area code it is in so it drops the area code from any phone call it makes.

Receiving faxes is just as easy. The gateway answers the phone call and connects to the software fax modem, gets the fax pages that were sent, passes it to GoldFax which converts it into a PDF or TIFF image. The fax can be sent to a general mailbox or network folder.

GoldFax can route faxes received based on DID or DNIS numbers as well as TSID or CSID numbers directly to people's email Inboxes or to specific folders on your network.

Internet Faxing

Many individuals and small businesses use providers that offer a fax service for a monthly fee for a specified amount of pages. You get a personal fax number that they host on their network. Sending faxes may involve installing a local software component that will take the fax information, render the image, and send it to the provider. Inbound faxes are received in email. Unfortunately, a large number of junk faxes are sent regularly to these numbers.