asterisk users - Jun 2012 - Fax over IP ?

Hi all,

Couple of things I would like ask, does Asterisk provides free license for
FoIP (for 1 channel) or need to purchase it? Couple of years back, I was
able to send and receive the fax using Digium T1 card, in term of FoIP how
can I able to receive fax from traditional telephone lines / T1 lines? As
far my understanding, the functionality for FoIP is to send fax to email or
receive fax from email i.e. using T.38 protocol.

The thing I would like to know how I can implement this solution i.e.
receiving fax via IP? Correct me if I'm wrong, while receiving fax from
traditional telephone lines will the topology looks like as listed below;

PSTN Lines --> Asterisk (mounted a T1/ analog card) --> IP --> Asterisk
(receive Fax over IP)

or else?

Please advice.


-- 
Regards,

Ahmed Munir Chohan
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----- Original Message ----- 
> Hi all,
> Couple of things I would like ask, does Asterisk provides free
> license for FoIP (for 1 channel) or need to purchase it? Couple of
> years back, I was able to send and receive the fax using Digium T1
> card, in term of FoIP how can I able to receive fax from traditional
> telephone lines / T1 lines? As far my understanding, the
> functionality for FoIP is to send fax to email or receive fax from
> email i.e. using T.38 protocol.
> The thing I would like to know how I can implement this solution i.e.
> receiving fax via IP? Correct me if I'm wrong, while receiving fax
> from traditional telephone lines will the topology looks like as
> listed below;
> PSTN Lines --> Asterisk (mounted a T1/ analog card) --> IP -->
> Asterisk (receive Fax over IP)
> or else?
FoIP typically means the fax session traverses an IP link at some point, most
commonly at the 'last mile'. What happens to the fax after that is up to
your requirements. The faxes can be emailed out, stored in a web application,
printed to a printer, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Asterisk does have a few options for faxing. Those are most notably:

1. Fax for Asterisk - Free license available for 1 channel, or paid licenses for
2+ channels
2. app_fax (I think this is the current module name) - Free fax module for
Asterisk, no channel limit, based on SpanDSP
3. Hylafax+ and IAXmodem - Most complicated method of fax setup, but most robust
and reliable (in my testing). Would require use of Asterisk 10 with T.38 gateway
functionality for proper fax reception.

Just keep in mind raw fax audio over VoIP is a bad idea, see here:
http://www.soft-switch.org/foip.html

If you can provide some additional details on what you're planning to do, we
can give more info.

--Tim

On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 12:47 PM, Ahmed Munir <ahmedmunir007 at
gmail.com>wrote:
> I figured out the problem. Actually the sending fax machine speed was set
> as 33000 bps, later I set to 14400 bps and in my dial plan, I forcefully
> set to use T.38 protocol. After that I was able to receive fax.
>
> Thanks Tim for assisting me out :).
>
>
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> > Hi Tim,
>>
>> > I'm using Asterisk 10 and on Cisco GW the protocol is set for
FAX is
>> > T.38 and when I try to send the fax from a fax machine i.e. HP
3180,
>> > I'm getting some warnings as listed below;
>>
>> > -- Executing [4112345678 at default:1]
Goto("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "fax-detect,fax,1") in new stack
>> > -- Goto (fax-detect,fax,1)
>> > -- Executing [fax at fax-detect:1]
NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "**** FAX DETECTED ****") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [fax at fax-detect:2]
Goto("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "fax-receive,receive,1") in new stack
>> > -- Goto (fax-receive,receive,1)
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:1]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005", "**** FAX RECEIVE
****") in new
>> > stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:2]
Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "GLOBAL(FAXCOUNT)=5") in new stack
>> > == Setting global variable 'FAXCOUNT' to '5'
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:3]
Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "FAXCOUNT=5") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:4]
Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "FAXFILE=fax-5-rx.tif") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:5]
Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "GLOBAL(LASTFAXCALLERNUM)=6461234567") in new stack
>> > == Setting global variable 'LASTFAXCALLERNUM' to
'6461234567'
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:6]
Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "GLOBAL(LASTFAXCALLERNAME)=") in new stack
>> > == Setting global variable 'LASTFAXCALLERNAME' to
''
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:7]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005", "**** SETTING
FAXOPT ****") in new
>> > stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:8]
Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "FAXOPT(ecm)=yes") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:9]
Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "FAXOPT(headerinfo)=MY FAXBACK RX") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:10]
>> > Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "FAXOPT(localstationid)=1234567890") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:11]
>> > Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
"FAXOPT(maxrate)=14400") in new
>> > stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:12]
>> > Set("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
"FAXOPT(minrate)=2400") in new
>> > stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:13]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005", "FAXOPT(ecm) :
yes") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:14]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
"FAXOPT(headerinfo) : MY FAXBACK
>> > RX") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:15]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
"FAXOPT(localstationid) :
>> > 1234567890") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:16]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005", "FAXOPT(maxrate)
: 14400") in new
>> > stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:17]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005", "FAXOPT(minrate)
: 2400") in new
>> > stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:18]
>> > NoOp("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005", "**** RECEIVING
FAX : fax-5-rx.tif
>> > ****") in new stack
>> > -- Executing [receive at fax-receive:19]
>> > ReceiveFAX("SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005",
>> > "/var/spool/asterisk/fax/fax-5-rx.tif") in new stack
>> > -- Channel 'SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005' receiving FAX
>> > '/var/spool/asterisk/fax/fax-5-rx.tif'
>> > == Using UDPTL CoS mark 5
>> > [Jun 4 12:35:02] NOTICE[10371]: chan_sip.c:7577 sip_read: FAX CNG
>> > detected but no fax extension
>> > [Jun 4 12:35:02] WARNING[10072]: res_fax.c:1666
receivefax_t38_init:
>> > channel 'SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005' refused to negotiate
T.38
>> > [Jun 4 12:35:02] WARNING[10072]: res_fax.c:1687
receivefax_t38_init:
>> > Audio FAX not allowed on channel
'SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005' and
>> > T.38 negotiation failed; aborting.
>> > [Jun 4 12:35:02] ERROR[10072]: res_fax.c:1891 receivefax_exec:
error
>> > initializing channel 'SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005' in T.38
mode
>> > == Spawn extension (fax-receive, receive, 19) exited non-zero on
>> > 'SIP/192.168.1.69-00000005'
>>
>> > In my sip.conf global configuration I enabled 'fax detect'
and
>> > 't38pt_udptl' and added Cisco VGW peer;
>>
>> > [CiscoVGW-10.70.X.X]
>> > host=10.70.X.X
>> > type=friend
>> > disallow=all
>> > allow=ulaw
>> > allow=alaw
>> > nat=yes
>> > insecure=port,invite
>> > context=fax-call
>> > canreinvite=no
>> > qualify=yes
>> > dtmfmode=inband
>>
>>
>> T.38 failed to negotiate. That means either your Asterisk side, or your
>> Cisco side are not playing nicely together. A packet capture of the
call
>> setup would be helpful to determine which side is having the issues.
>>
>> --Tim
>>
>> --
> Regards,
>
> Ahmed Munir Chohan
>
>
>

-- 
Regards,

Ahmed Munir Chohan
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