[Asterisk-Users] Fax and PRI

Remco Barende
Wed, 19 Jan 2005 02:52:48 -0000

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005, tim panton wrote:

> I'm setting up a small office PBX on asterisk, and I've got to the
point
> where I have to decide on
> what to do about FAX.
>
> The current situation is: PRI (E1) connected to an E100 and sip hard phones
> on their own network.
>
> I'd like to add some very limited fax capability to the system.
Basically we
> need to send a couple
> of faxes a month, and receive about the same number.
>
> My options include;
> 	1) get a basic fax machine and plug it into a (iaxy/sipura?) ATA.
> Configure the ATA to do alaw
> so asterisk doesn't have to do any transcoding and hope it works.
> 2) use spandsp on my asterisk system and add suitable print queues
> 3) get an separate analog line and plug a fax into it
> 4) use a fax modem on the back of an existing system and an ATA
> (like
> 1 but even less
> hardware)
> 5) use a fax-to-email service
>
> I've been reading about all the problems that people have with fax.
> What do folk recommend?
>
> Tim.

I have the same question / issue, and am thinking to use a dedicated fax
server for it. I would like to try using ISDN BRI cards in the faxserver
and put a Quad BRI card in the * server where the Quad BRI will work in NT
mode. I am hoping that this would be a more solid / stable solution than
messing around with the analogue stuff and ATA's etc.