asterisk users - Aug 2004 - Not a User Yet - but have some questions

I've been tasked with fitting out an appartment building with a phone
system.
The entire appartment is getting broadband, with Cat6 Cables into each 
appartment and fibre down the trunk. I was hoping to have PSTN in the 
basement connecting to the IP system.

Today I found out however that one of the services will be paid TV - and it 
will need a PSTN backchannel - ie a modem. The set top devices don't support
IP, they have modems built in, and I don't believe they are willing to 
provide an alternative. Also, the tenants may wish to call IP services via 
modem, or use a Fax.

My question: Can you run modems/Fax over VoIP?

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004, Peter Harrison wrote:
> I've been tasked with fitting out an appartment building with a phone
system.
> The entire appartment is getting broadband, with Cat6 Cables into each
> appartment and fibre down the trunk. I was hoping to have PSTN in the
> basement connecting to the IP system.
Erm, so no POTS to the rooms? What if the user wants to use an answering
machine, or a cordless phone?
> Today I found out however that one of the services will be paid TV - and it
> will need a PSTN backchannel - ie a modem. The set top devices don't
support
> IP, they have modems built in, and I don't believe they are willing to
> provide an alternative. Also, the tenants may wish to call IP services via
> modem, or use a Fax.
Why do you need * at all? Why not run the POTS lines directly to the
rooms, and cut out all the spinning hard drives, PCI slots, wall wart
powered ATAs etc.
> My question: Can you run modems/Fax over VoIP?
Fax/Data in theory should work over ulaw, since there is no compression,
but it won't work well if at all in real life.