| Can I send and receive faxes with my Callcentric account? |
 |
Yes you can. If you only wish to only receive faxes we actually have a very convenient fax reception feature. This feature allows you to receive faxes and then send them to a configured email address, or you can download them right from your My Callcentric account.
If you wish to use your own device or software to both send and receive faxes then the simplest way is to use a hardware UA with a fax machine connected to one of the analog ports. You can then setup your hardware UA to register to our servers and simply connect your fax machine to the line currently registered to our servers.
If you do not have a hardware UA or wish to receive your faxes on a computer/software you should make sure that your default/preferred codec is set to G.711 or if supported T.38.
If you are having problems with sending/receiving faxes you can always contact us for further assistance.
*Please read the detailed information regarding Callcentric's support of IP faxing (FoIP) below:
Technically we support fax using either the T.38 protocol or transparently with G.711. However, both largely depend on the reliability/stability of your internet connection. An internet connection with regular packet loss, high latency (ping) to our servers, and/or jitter (large variations in the latency) will cause problems for faxing. While we do support it, and it does work - we can't tell you how reliable it will be on your internet connection without you actually trying it. We have a number of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that address your internet connection quality, speed, and such:
Click here to test your bandwidth and see the bandwidth requirements for two example codecs
Click here to test your ping, latency and see if there is any packet loss between your IP and our servers
Click here to test your connection for general quality for VoIP and or faxing
And finally the major factor which may determine your experience with faxing will depend on where you are sending the fax. Sometimes some carriers we purchase our termination through will not have networks that are compatible or sufficient for faxing. We suggest that you try testing to send a fax to a USA/Canada number first (to make sure your settings are correct) prior to attempting faxes outside the USA/Canada. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
| How long are faxes kept for? |
|
Faxes that are received with our fax reception feature are stored on your account, unless you delete them, for 60 days.
NOTE: If you have reached the limit of 100 faxes then each new fax you receive will cause the oldest fax message on your account to be deleted in order to make room for the new fax message.
You can also have all new fax delivered to you via email, or you may download them from your account for archiving. You will need to edit your preferences in order to enable the forwarding of fax messages to your email. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
| How many faxes can I keep under my account? |
|
You may have up to 100 fax messages, received with our fax reception feature, stored on your account at any given time.
NOTE: If you have reached the limit of 100 faxes then each new fax you receive will cause the oldest fax message on your account to be deleted in order to make room for the new fax message.
You can also have all new fax messages delivered to you via email, or you may download them from your account for archiving. You will need to edit your preferences in order to enable the forwarding of fax messages to your email. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
| Can I receive faxes on my international number? |
|
Callcentric does not provide any guarantee for international faxing. If you intend to purchase Callcentric services for the purpose of placing or receiving international faxes then please note this is not something we provide direct support for.
If you are able to fax internationally then this would be a plus to the services which you have purchased. If you are not able to fax internationally then we are limited in the amount of support we can provide in these types of situations as faxing over VoIP/IP is by default complicated and is worsened by international communications.
Please be sure to read our FAQ on faxing over IP here so that you understand fully the complications of faxing over an IP connection.. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
| Why can't I always send or receive faxes? |
|
Faxing, as mentioned previously, may not always be successful for various reasons:
- We use different carriers for termination within the US and Canada. Most carriers will support T.38; however there may be carriers who either do not fully or simply do not support T.38. The carriers available for locations may change hourly, daily or monthly and as such a fixed method for faxing may not work all of the time
- Connection quality could vary depending on the clients bandwidth usage
- Configurations on the user end may be incomplete or could be affected by changes
- Pass through negotiation for faxes may not always work and may require multiple tries for proper completion
In short there are various things which could affect faxing over an internet connection. Most of our carriers support T.38 and most devices which use T.38 should work reliably on those carriers. However if changes in our routing take place it should be understood that you will want to make sure that you have configured support for pass through faxing.
As there are many devices and software options available you will want to make sure you have configured the correct options on the UA of your choice. There are some common configuration options which would need to be set:
Fax machine
- Try using the slowest possible speed on your fax machine. Normally 9.6k or 14.4k would be the best options, as speeds faster than 14.4k may not work properly with faxing
- Disable error correction
T.38
- Enable T.38
- Disable echo cancellation and echo suppression
- If available enable re-INVITE for faxes
Pass through
- Try using the G711 codecs as these would offer more bandwidth
- Disable echo cancellation and echo suppression
- Disable NSE, usually on Cisco/Linksys devices
Finally you may want to begin testing on the slowest available speed first. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
| How long/how many pages can I receive with the fax reception feature? |
|
NOTE: This is related only to the fax reception feature. Any limitations described below may not be applicable to receiving faxes on user side equipment.
Using the fax reception feature, you can receive as many pages as can be sent within a 5 minute period. The number of pages you can receive will depend on the speed of the machine and stability of the connection sending the fax. Some, loose, examples of faxing speeds and page expectations are as follows:
NOTE: These are simple estimations and your experience will vary. Also note sometimes a slower speed may be required for more reliable transmissions.
| Standard | Speed (bits/sec) | Pages / 5 minutes |
|---|
| V.27 | 2400-4800 | ~10 | | V.29 | 4800-9600 | ~15 | | V.17 | 7200-14400 | ~20 | | V.34 | 28800-33600 | ~25 |
*Source = Wikipedia Fax
In general we recommend sending your faxes in batches of 10 pages so as to maximize reliability and the possibility that all information will be delivered.
If you are having problems with sending/receiving faxes with the fax reception featureyou can always contact us for further assistance. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
| Can I configure your Fax Reception feature to forward my inbound faxes to different e-mail addresses on a per number basis? |
|
Yes you can setup individual numbers to send faxes, to either unique addresses or the global contact address on your account. To do this login to your My Callcentric account and:- Click Preferences
- Click Fax
- Under the Phone number settings: menu click Edit
- Configure your desired numbers for faxing
NOTE: Once a number is set to be Dedicated to receive faxes: these settings will override any other call treatment settings and the numbers configured here will always go to fax regardless. If you want to use call treatments then you may set the Dedicated to receive faxes: option to No and optionally configure a custom email address. With a custom email address the faxes received on the configured numbers will always go to the specified address, instead of the global address. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
| How can I disable the fax error messages? |
|
You can easily disable the fax error messages that are received when you get a failed fax. To do this login to your My Callcentric account and:- Click Preferences
- Click Fax
- Set Disable e-mail error notifications: to Yes
- Click Save to save your preferences
Once you have disabled the error messaging feature, you will no longer receive fax error messages.
NOTE: A fax error message is normal due to the inherent nature of faxes. We provide the ability to receive error messages in case you need to request a retry from the sender on a failed fax. If you are consistently unable to receive faxes from a specific number please let us know by opening a trouble ticket on your account. |
| RETURN TO TOP |
|
