FAX Software for XP?

VanguardLH wrote:
William Lurie wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

William Lurie wrote:

Maybe this is slightly off topic, but not far.
I bought HotFaxMessageCenter years ago and like it a lot.
But I made the mistake of switching from DSL to AT&T U-Verse
and they (and the software vendor) tell me they can't be made to work
together. That's not the only 'feature' I lost by going to a
system with
higher speed (which I did not need).

Can someone suggest a FAXing package I can install in XP/Home that
will
work with U-Verse? Thanks.
When you had DSL, you had both the old POTS lines (for voice) and
filters to separate the data traffic at higher frequencies. So how did
going to AT&T U-verse make you lose your phone line (that you can use
with your analog data/fax modem)? Did you actually choose to terminate
your telco service and switch over to a digital phone service?
The mechanism is that AT&T ran fiber optics in and it had everything
including TV (which I didn't take). I don't think any of the old copper
that came up to the house is being used, but it's still there and I may
yet make them put me back. I don't know how AT&T gets into the phone
traffic lines.

I thought the same as you, that 4 KHz of bandwidth is still there and I
should be able to use it the same way.....but the modem "doesn't find
the line". I checked with the Hot Fax software guys and they said "It's
old, we don't make FAX gear any more, and we don't support it". That's
why I'm in the market for software to install which carries a claim that
it works with U-Verse. Last response up was to a supplier who says "Try
it for free for 30 days".

This is the reply I was unable to send yesterday.

Sometimes but not always (and perhaps not even often) the analog
data/fax modem will not work with a VOIP (Voice Over IP) service. It is
typical to lose fax capabilities when you discard the POTS service and
go with VOIP.

So you had to discontinue your old POTS service with whomever was your
telco and switch over to using VOIP with your new ISP. Of course, you
could discontinue the VOIP service and resume the POTS service to get
back the fax functionality. Or you could drop using the analog data/fax
modem altogether and go with using an online eFax service (some are
free, some are paid, and there are security issues with your data going
or coming through their service but then fax isn't a secure protocol,
anyway, along with anyone seeing your fax at the other end if you
connected to the correct other end).

Instead of my ISP's (Comcast's) VOIP service, I went with the far
cheaper MagicJack VOIP service. My analog data/fax modem won't work
with VOIP. Some MJ users say their fax modem works okay but that
doesn't help me. So I solved the issue by using online fax services for
both sending and receiving faxes. I use GotMyFax or FaxZero to send
faxes and a free eFax to receive faxes via e-mail.

If you need to use your analog fax/data modem or a fax machine to send
or receive your faxes, especially for business use, then you'll have to
go back to using the POTS service from your telco or get a 2nd line
using POTS (and use the VOIP service as another phone line). If you're
doing a lot of faxing, you'll want a dedicated POTS line for your fax
modem/machine, anyway, to keep your primary line from getting tied up
with faxing (receive or send) and your voice calls from getting picked
up by the fax modem/machine (which has your callers hearing the fax
tones); else, you'll have to get a fax switch that listens for fax tones
and, if present, switches the call to your fax modem/machine and, if
not, switches the call to your telephone.

Your hardware setup won't let you fax using VOIP. You'll need a POTS
line from your telco to fax (unsubscribe from VOIP and resume POTS
service or use them both to have separate "phone" lines) or start
looking into using online fax services.
I hope this reply works. Despite the less than charitable comments
posted by someone, I found it anomalous that I coundn't just hit 'Reply"
and compose and have it 'Send' I haven't debugged it all the way, but I
know I can Compose and Send right here, but this message, from 'Reply'
may not go.

Anyway, Vang, your analysis is complete and thorough and I believe it is
entirely correct. I will probably go back to DSL. But here's another
wrinkle: I have a 4-in-one Lexmark machine. On the same VOIP line, I
seem to be able to send a FAX. If I can find that reliable, I can go
that route for FAXing. And thanks a lot!

I tried sending this as 'Reply'. It wouldn't go. It says I'm not allowed
to post to micro.p.w.basics. So I'm going to copy and paste it and send
it as an independent posting with the same subject. I expect some more
flak, but I do want to thank Vang for the help.

William Lurie wrote:

Anyway, Vang, your analysis is complete and thorough and I believe it is
entirely correct. I will probably go back to DSL. But here's another
wrinkle: I have a 4-in-one Lexmark machine. On the same VOIP line, I
seem to be able to send a FAX. If I can find that reliable, I can go
that route for FAXing. And thanks a lot!

Whether or not fax will work seems to depend on the device used. Some
modems (whether as daughtercards or in the motherboard chipset in a
computer or the modem inside a fax machine) are better at doing fax over
VOIP than others. That's why you will see some users of analog data/fax
modems say they can't do fax-over-VOIP but others say it works for them.

Unless you find the fluff features are really necessary that are
included with the VOIP telephony service, there's no reason to include
it unless your ISP is sticking it to you by claiming they will force you
to use it and also pay for it to also get their Internet service. My
ISP has VOIP service but it is far more expensive than MagicJack (but on
the flip side my ISP's VOIP service is more reliable than MagicJack but
not enough to compensate for the infrequent need to use my cellphone
when MJ doesn't work). Personally I believe you should never rely
solely on VOIP as your only telephony service. If you've used broadband
Internet long enough, you know there are outages. I'm not talking about
power outages (because a battery is usually included to keep the VOIP
service alive). I'm talking about the ISP going down which means so
does your VOIP service. Plus that battery won't last forever whereas
the telco has to provide their own reliable power with their POTS
service (on which DSL rides).