Best fax server option for a 5 fax lines?

Googling doesnt seem to be much help here as there seems to be many different fax modules and configs for FreePBX. We have about 5 fax lines and use MyFax for them. We want to move off MyFax when we switch to a FreePBX system soon. Would love to hear some suggestions on fax modules. We’ll be using voip.ms using g.711u if it matters, they don’t support T.38. Thanks.

We have been using FreePBX along with voip.ms for a couple of years. Incoming faxes work okay. But we get fewer and fewer faxes all the time. Maybe one a day, probably less.

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PS I liked @busster8’s reply because FAXes are just terrible.

IMHO faxing over voip is not worth the pain and suffering. I like good ol pots lines connected to reliable fax modems. You can get multi-tech modems up to 16 ports. With this life is good.

2nd best option would be POTS lines in to a DAHDI card like an A200

If you must go voip you need t.38 and if this is your first rodeo you should expect some hair loss.

I won’t disagree with any of the above as to FOIP problems, but there is a whole industry out there that largely still demands faxes and it is lucrative, i.e. the health care industry, perhaps by misinterpretation of HIPPA’s regulations. countless faxes a day between physicians, insurance carriers and other providers. I won’t comment on what you need to comply with the rules but I suggest you purge everything off your server after completion of fax2email/printing the bugger, if you have such a client, just to CYA.

Given that and a competent VSP or two, IMHO faxes can be as reliable over VOIP as over PSTN , one would prefer end to end t38, but that is not always feasible, however good old fashioned iaxmodems and hylafax work as well as they did ten years ago and is cheaper than a bank of fax machines, you can add t38modems to the hylafax mix quite easily.

YMMV

use the audiocodes fax ata with a fax service. Vitelity offers this and it works like a champ.i am sure there are others as well. just plug it in, it phones home, plug in the fax machines and you can send and receive faxes all day long using your internet connection.not worth the hassle trying to run faxes through the pbx nor is it worth the expense of analog lines (which are going away in the not too distant future).

Long ago we decided to keep our fax facilities separate from telephony.
HylaFax with AvantFax for faxes, using traditional POTS lines and analog modem/s.
Asterisk/FreePBX for telephony, mixing POTS/dahdi and VOIP technologies.
2 small independent servers, rather than a single complicated server with concentrated risk of failure.
Some others would have different choice.
YMMV

We use VOIP lines (Sip Trunk) without compression with HaylaFax and it works without issues. Both incoming and outgoing. Fax as an analog system works best with G711. Be it POTS or VOIP lines. T38 will not work with the same reliabilty.

@adorah1, I’m surprised by your statement

T38 if properly setup and supported over any network connection will ALWAYS be more reliable than T30 over the same internet connection, that is why it was developed :wink: , the caveate is that T38 MUST be supported, end to end, over the network connection you choose to send such a fax, POTS lines obviously do not support it they are intrinsically limited to g711 which is ONLY T30, the last guy in the t38 chain will have to convert to T30 or natively handle it (very few fax physical machines support T38 natively and easily, those that do need you to send the fax directly to their IP and not their TN) . A few t38modem’s will add reliable t38 support to hylafax.