faxing with comcast

[Rosco]

I am going onsite to a clients tomorrow. Its an older client. Its regular visit. One of the things on the email he wants to set up his HP all in one as a fax. He has comcast voice/internet/cable. Never sent up a fax with Comcast voice. Is it even possible? or do you need regular land line.

 

[JosephLeo]

Sending faxes over VoIP is possible, so long as there's no packets dropped from the time your fax converts the image to audio, and then Comcast converts the audio into data, then back into audio to the recipient.

Edit: I may be EXTREMELY wrong about this. I haven't used a fax in about 10 years.

 

[SAG]

If it's their "regular" voice and not the "Voice Edge" (VOIP) service then it's doable. I have worked at many a place that has MFCs faxing on Comcast phone lines.
And likewise, I have seen plenty of setups where the faxing is error after error. It's really just a craps shoot.
If it's possible to turn off Error Correction on the fax modem that will be a good idea.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Usually fine....however warn the client that once in a while the fax modem may not detect a line..and toss up an error (depending on the make/model)...like "no line available". Power cycle the modem/MTA often cures that. I've seen that with other cable ISPs phone bundles...not with Comcasts...but they're all similar.

 

[HCHTech]

Went through this with a client a couple of years ago when Comcast first started pushing voice services in our area. Basically, it might work, or might not. If the latter, they will not provide support (which makes sense, I guess - they are providing a digital service and fax is analog). I've always told my customers that if faxing is important to you, get a dedicated POTS line.

I once visited someone trying to use a dialup AOL connection over a digital phone line - that didn't work, either.

 

[mr m]

When Comcast's triple play first came out I had a lot of issues setting up FAX's and did what HCHTech suggested and had them get a dedicated POTS line.

These last few years I haven't had any issues at all. Just use the AIO's FAX setup wizard and good quality RJ11 cables.

When all done use this toll free number to test the FAX line... 1 888 HPFAXME ( 1-888-473-2963). After around 5 minutes you should get a test FAX back.

 

[Markverhyden]

Been my experience that fax over a VoIP type service usually works if you have a big enough pipe. But other LAN internet activity may also cause a problem if no QoS is being used. I have Vonage at home and if I am downloading a large image the fax will fail to complete and toss up an error. Sometimes no initially handshake, other times the transmission fails.

 

[Markverhyden]

When all done use this toll free number to test the FAX line... 1 888 HPFAXME ( 1-888-473-2963). After around 5 minutes you should get a test FAX back.

Thanks. I'd forgotten about that.