3CX 15.5 And Faxing

[MarPyt]

As advertised, receiving faxes via 3CX Fax server is easy to set up and works well. We have regular SIP trunk provider, our system on the Cloud, Debian server. Setting up fax reception was easy and we have tried on fixed fax as well as web faxing service; both types work well in 3CX Fax Server.
Sending faxes from PC is not mentioned in 3CX documentation (for v15.5). Prior versions, for example 12, 12.5 etc had some support from 3CX, such as recommendation of 3rd party software (GoldBolt, for example) and we tried most of those but the results were mixed so we continued using Web Fax services instead.
On 3CX v 15.5 we've installed FAX Voip FSP module that is coupled with Windows Fax and Scan.
We have set up an additional, regular extension (not Fax extension) and registered it with through Fax Voip FSP.
We have been testing this setup for a week now and, apart from occasional hick up it is testing very well.
Essentially we are going to substitute Web Fax with 3CX fax, bidirectional now, with very reasonable investment
in software, good savings ahead, control back to owner. Progress? May be dependable on Net Neutrality...but
we are holding our breath.

 

[eddv123]

If you want to send Faxes with 3CX (ie:use a FAX machine) you will need an FXS gateway/ATA (for example Patton 4112 JS): https://www.3cx.com/voip-gateways/

That being said if you are doing this to a hosted system it is a real nightmare to setup so would not recommend you try this. 3CX does not support Gateways remotely either: https://www.3cx.com/voip-gateways/patton-smartnode-sn4112-fxs/

You could try setting up a VPN to your cloud PBX and doing it that way but the amount of effort required you would be best using an online Faxing service.

 

[sip.bg]

The difference between regular and fax extension is support for T.38. Regular extensions ignore T.38, so they can't be used for fax operations. G.711 fax is not reliable with VoIP, so better stick to T.38.

 

[MarPyt]

All very well explained but setting up Fax ext (which is "local") and registering it with module is a little bit of work (WAN block ON).
We have tested about 100 faxes so far, to and from different machines, on regular extension for reception and have had occasional error, similar in frequency to glitches from old facsimile machines from yesteryear. Possibly 3 failures out of 100 so far. We are sticking to it.