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Sending Faxes

Posted by cbbs70a on Thu, 07/16/2009
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Thirdlane platform General Questions

I was wondering if there is a straightforward way for users to send .pdf/tiff files as faxes or do I need to setup fax software like Hylafax? I have a customer who is looking to send about 300 off-hours faxes. Their Asterisk box has a 4 port Digium card so the solution does not have to be T.38. Who knew that people still relied on fax machines like that?
Thanks
FSD

Submitted by cbbs70a on Mon, 07/27/2009 Permalink

Thanks for the feedback. Thats what I thought. So if I use Hylafax+iaxmodem with a TDM card, I should be good to go? I know this is a simple question, but will I also need a faxboard like the ones from Brooktrout? I've called around and thats what I'm hearing from some people although I'm not convinced that they know what they are talking about.

Thanks

FSD

Submitted by eeman on Mon, 07/27/2009 Permalink

brooktrout is a dsp, iaxmodem is a software dsp. Using a TDM card would be fine for outbound but limits inbound capabilities since analog lines do not announce DID when setting up a call, they simply go 90volts to announce ringing. Inbound calls could only be routed to a single address or at the most 1 address per specific analog pair.

if you want inbound fax to email over the same connection, your better off getting a PRI and using a PRI card with iaxmodem instead of a TDM card, but they both should work since its just bridging the call with iaxmodem and iaxmodem does all the dsp work. My experiences, however, are limited to PRI cards exclusively.

Submitted by cbbs70a on Mon, 07/27/2009 Permalink

Thanks for the feedback. I knew that, but I just needed to hear it from someone who knows what they are talking about. On a similiar note, I've been playing with outbound faxing and tried this using a .call file:

Channel:DAHDI/1/2405551212

MaxRetries: 1

WaitTime: 20

Application:txfax

Data:/tmp/image.tif|caller

However, I keep getting an error about the file being in the wrong format, or not being able to open the tif file. I've tried saving the file using different options. My permissions and ownerships are correct. If I can get this to work, then it becomes a trivial matter to write a webpage in the user portal for users to send outbound faxes. Upload a file, write the callfile, and drop it in the outgoing directory.

Thanks

FSD

Submitted by eeman on Mon, 07/27/2009 Permalink

try using the FFA (fax for asterisk) binaries that you can get for digium and see how your results fair. Every attempt I tried using txfax always failed, even using files pulled down by hylafax on an inbound (just using files in my /var/spool/hylafax/recvq/) . I think txfax is just broken. It was never ever written for 1.4 only 1.2. IT has been 'made' to work in 1.4 via some hacks to get it working but I suspect that only rxfax was ever really tested.

Submitted by eeman on Mon, 07/27/2009 Permalink

ps AvantFax makes for a good plugin for hylafax providing a webpage that users can upload a file to fax. You can upload tiff or pdf

Submitted by cbbs70a on Tue, 07/28/2009 Permalink

As a followup, I checked out the "Fax for Asterisk" by Digium and tested for Asterisk 1.4. Works like a charm for both send and receive. Very cool. Very simple and easy to follow documentation. I'll followup with my T.38 tests with Asterisk 1.6 when I finish them.

FSD

Submitted by cbbs70a on Wed, 07/29/2009 Permalink

I've run into a snag with Asterisk 1.6.1.1. Whats the best way to do fax detection? I can't seem to get SIP fax detection to work. I've set t38pt_udptl = yes and faxdetect = yes, but with no luck.

Thanks

FSD