Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Specialty Hosting and Markets : t.38 fax server ideas

[dsolutionsinc]

I have some SIP providers that support t.38
Can anyone recommend a total package of software I will need to install on a fresh server? (asterisk/hylafax..etc)
It will be used to replace a rightfax server so its all machine to machine file faxing, high volume.

[ydonchenko]

Hi,
I would not recommend to use a SIP for Faxing, it is not reliable.
But as of fax server here is a great product and it is open source.
http://www.avantfax.com/

Also make sure that ur DID's support T.38 for inbound faxing as well as your outbound provider support T.38

[luki]

We got a T.38 setup working with T.38 capable ATA. That works well, but it's not a scalable solution for large volume faxing.

Unfortunately all our attempts getting a T.38 soft fax were not all that great. We tried using t38modem with Hylafax, it compiles but doesn't work at all or it's flaky. Callweaver's T.38 gateway seems to work but not with Hylafax so there is no queue and hence it's fairly useless for large volume faxing. Ironically enough so far our best results are with IAXmodem and Hylafax and using G711/ulaw and not T.38!

If someone finds a T.38 solution that works with Hylafax reliably, please post a reply .

[RackPoint-Andrew]

I was heavily researched into this about a year ago and I was looking at trying to get IP DIDs from XO as close to the conversion point as possible to get the best possible SIP connections to support this. In the end it was a bit cost prohibitive to setup as many DIDs as I required. So for the interim we used packetel.com to accept the incoming faxes and had them emailed to a server as PDFs where I parsed them with custom scripting.

I also used callweaver which had the best potential IMO but the world of faxing over SIP is a highly unreliable one...

[KC-JRPark]

I would suggest a Cisco box with current IOS to terminate to a PRI and PRI card on an Asterisk box. Works great and gives you a lot more reliability. Cisco's T.38 implementation is top notch.

[network82]

is volume fax services still even a market? I'm sure it would be a dwindling market by now.?

[KC-JRPark]

I think you would be very surprised how many people and businesses still rely on fax as a primary form of moving around business information.

[starpeople]

SIP over T38 is reliable. You can use callweaver for t38 outbound. For inbound, I really suggest not using it unless you are ok with frustrations of half pages etc. Thats even with T38. Really depends on your provider for inbound. For outbound, there are few providers but I cannot post their link.