I was wondering if anyone has got a good Email to Fax solution working for FreePBX installation that could could provide some insight to how to set this up.
System is FreepBX V13 and Asterisk V13 with spandsp installed and working for Fax to Email.
Looked at the commercial module and it seems OK, but the user has to log into the UCP to send a fax.
I’m looking for a solution where we send an Email to the FreePBX server IP in the format phonenumber@ipaddressofpbx with a PDF attached. The solution then send the attached PDF as the Fax to the phonenumber portion of the Email address.
I don’t understand why you’d want to be able to send an email to a fax machine? To me it seems backwards but maybe you can shed some light on your specific application.
OK. So I have a customer with a number of agents that need to send Faxes all day long.
At present they have to print out the Fax, walk to the Fax machine and send the the Fax.
What we want them to do is “Print” a PDF then Email that PDF to the FAX sever, and it sends it as a Fax to the target phone number (phonenumber@ipaddressofpbx) as detailed above.
The reason for needing to send as Fax is because the recipients demand to have Fax and not an Email. I don’t know why - they just do.
Yes I see that, and am trying to get them to go for that option, but they are digging their heels in on the Email option.
I’m sure with a mix of Postfix and the spandsp this has to be possible.
I’ve seen that it can be done on the command line with spandsp, would just be good if this was a module because it would need to have white list for sender’s Email address and originating IP, otherwise anyone could just use the server if it became known.
There’s a wiki on how to setup the fax settings for FreePBx. I can’t remember exactly where it is but you’ll need to play with the fax configuration settings as they vary based on your sip provider.
You must have missed the part where this is an Open Source PBX and PBX Management system. Since we’re not a company, we can’t really pay the royalty (or buy the solution) that the patent holder demands. It’s a service and it comes at a cost.
As far as Email to Fax solutions go, Google is your friend, Most of them are relabels of the same service, so it should be pretty safe to just fire it up and do it.
How about “print to Fax” with WinPrint Hylafax for Windows 7 ? I rolled out the software on all Windows machines and added the login credentials to all user profiles. Now all users can print to WinPrint Hylafax and a dialog pops up to ask for the fax number. [OK] and done. The fax is also visible via Avantfax’s outgoing folder.
I have payed with the Hylaxfax/IAXmodem combo. In the limited testing I’ve done, it worked well. I’f only I could get long distance fax machines to work with voip… but that’s another issue.