My fax no longer completes connection - FIXED!!!!
SteveInWA:
Quote from: Agent88 on November 08, 2015, 04:38:06 pm
Quote from: SteveInWA on November 08, 2015, 02:46:12 pm
With regard to faxing, I realize you keep pointing out that it used to work and now it doesn't. Nobody here knows why that is the case. Faxing over VoIP is never going to be as reliable as using a traditional POTS line. Sometimes, VoIP providers change the "transit" carriers they use to route calls, and the quality of the connection no longer is sufficient to support faxing. That's just one example.
Drgeoff pointed you to some tips. He specifically emphasized that you need to turn off ECM (error correction mode). This seems counter-intuitive, since error correction sounds like a "good thing". The problem is, it's only a good thing for traditional circuit-switched (POTS) telephony. It identifies failures by the receiving end to receive error-free transmissions. If it detects an error, it tells the sending end to re-transmit. This can create a mess with VoIP, which results in endlessly re-transmitting the same packets over and over until it gives up. Also, as he pointed out, try reducing the data rate on the fax machine. 9600bps is the maximum that is likely to work over VoIP, and 4800bps is more reliable. Both the data rate and ECM mode are settings on your fax machine, not on the OBi.
The one thing you can try to change on the OBi device, using its Expert configuration mode, is to change your CODEC profile to only use the G.711 CODECs, and no others. G.711 is a lossless CODEC that works best with faxing, however, it does require a high-quality internet connection (from your own internet service provider).
What if this doesn't help? Here are two other options:
Get a Google Voice phone number. Google has significantly improved its VoIP network over the years, and it is often more reliable for fax than other providers.
or...
Join the 21st century. Don't use your fax machine. Instead, scan your documents and email them as PDFs, or use a fax service provider that can fax the PDFs for you. Get a fax mailbox from the service provider of your choice, to receive inbound faxes, which are then converted to PDFs that can be downloaded or emailed. I don't know if Anveo offers them, but Callcentric does.
You don't know the industry that I am in. Insurance is subject to HIPAA regs and with the growing hacking of emails, is an increasing demand for encryption. The evolving technology did not plan ahead well. I have a laptop with SSD. Unfortunately, SSD does not play well with encryption... try to get a big insurance carrier to recognize that! They have deep pockets and can order new laptops by the hundreds/thousands if need be, but a little agent like me has a tight budget. I can't afford to chuck my $1500 laptop and buy a new one just to meet their demand for legal recourse in the event of a hack. I just guard my laptop with my life.
As far as chucking my fax machines, same-o, same-o. I don't have the budget to upgrade, and besides... as soon as I buy a new model with all the bells and whistles to comply with the newest security threats, it becomes obsolete before I can spit. I dropped my copper landline to reduce my communications expense for a fax line that I don't use often. I was assured (I asked) that my fax machines would work on Voip, and that I didn't need a copper line. That old copper line at my house was installed in 1963. I have had problems with it for decades, and thought going fiber-optic was a good thing. That's why I take advice like yours with a grain of salt... you mean well, but you aren't aware of the unintended consequences the new technology brings. I CAN send a fax via email, just CAN'T and still be compliant with regulations.
I do understand HIPAA, as I worked for the world's largest IT services company for 30 years, and I had to undergo HIPAA training (and re-training) to support my clients in the health care industry.
You're correct that email isn't an acceptable, HIPAA-compliant mode of communication. That's why all the major insurance companies and health care providers now use encrypted, private messaging systems accessible on their own web portals, which comply with the various physical and logical security requirements.
I (incorrectly) assumed you to be dealing with auto and home insurance, which wouldn't be covered by HIPAA.
If we put aside all your flogging of the "why isn't this more clear in the FAQs" comments, which have now been flogged to death, I gave you specific advice on how to try to make your fax machine work: 1) disable ECM and reduce the maximum speed on your fax machine (I never said you needed to buy a new fax machine to do this; almost every fax machine made in the past 20 years has these settings). 2) limit the OBi to only use G.711 CODECs. 3) The OBi's default settings are already otherwise optimized for faxing (T.38 is enabled, uses G.711 for passthrough, and has ECM disabled).
Try those things and then let us know if it helped. The next step would be to get a Google Voice phone number, add it as SP2 on your OBi, and try it instead of Anveo for faxing.
SteveInWA:
As my final suggestion, now that you have brought up the HIPAA issue, I originally suggested that you use a fax service, instead of banging your head on the wall trying to get your fax machine to work reliably over VoIP. The industry has reacted to the HIPAA changes:
See: this link
Agent88:
Quote from: SteveInWA on November 08, 2015, 04:57:20 pm
Quote from: Agent88 on November 08, 2015, 04:38:06 pm
Quote from: SteveInWA on November 08, 2015, 02:46:12 pm
With regard to faxing, I realize you keep pointing out that it used to work and now it doesn't. Nobody here knows why that is the case. Faxing over VoIP is never going to be as reliable as using a traditional POTS line. Sometimes, VoIP providers change the "transit" carriers they use to route calls, and the quality of the connection no longer is sufficient to support faxing. That's just one example.
Drgeoff pointed you to some tips. He specifically emphasized that you need to turn off ECM (error correction mode). This seems counter-intuitive, since error correction sounds like a "good thing". The problem is, it's only a good thing for traditional circuit-switched (POTS) telephony. It identifies failures by the receiving end to receive error-free transmissions. If it detects an error, it tells the sending end to re-transmit. This can create a mess with VoIP, which results in endlessly re-transmitting the same packets over and over until it gives up. Also, as he pointed out, try reducing the data rate on the fax machine. 9600bps is the maximum that is likely to work over VoIP, and 4800bps is more reliable. Both the data rate and ECM mode are settings on your fax machine, not on the OBi.
The one thing you can try to change on the OBi device, using its Expert configuration mode, is to change your CODEC profile to only use the G.711 CODECs, and no others. G.711 is a lossless CODEC that works best with faxing, however, it does require a high-quality internet connection (from your own internet service provider).
What if this doesn't help? Here are two other options:
Get a Google Voice phone number. Google has significantly improved its VoIP network over the years, and it is often more reliable for fax than other providers.
or...
Join the 21st century. Don't use your fax machine. Instead, scan your documents and email them as PDFs, or use a fax service provider that can fax the PDFs for you. Get a fax mailbox from the service provider of your choice, to receive inbound faxes, which are then converted to PDFs that can be downloaded or emailed. I don't know if Anveo offers them, but Callcentric does.
You don't know the industry that I am in. Insurance is subject to HIPAA regs and with the growing hacking of emails, is an increasing demand for encryption. The evolving technology did not plan ahead well. I have a laptop with SSD. Unfortunately, SSD does not play well with encryption... try to get a big insurance carrier to recognize that! They have deep pockets and can order new laptops by the hundreds/thousands if need be, but a little agent like me has a tight budget. I can't afford to chuck my $1500 laptop and buy a new one just to meet their demand for legal recourse in the event of a hack. I just guard my laptop with my life.
As far as chucking my fax machines, same-o, same-o. I don't have the budget to upgrade, and besides... as soon as I buy a new model with all the bells and whistles to comply with the newest security threats, it becomes obsolete before I can spit. I dropped my copper landline to reduce my communications expense for a fax line that I don't use often. I was assured (I asked) that my fax machines would work on Voip, and that I didn't need a copper line. That old copper line at my house was installed in 1963. I have had problems with it for decades, and thought going fiber-optic was a good thing. That's why I take advice like yours with a grain of salt... you mean well, but you aren't aware of the unintended consequences the new technology brings. I CAN send a fax via email, just CAN'T and still be compliant with regulations.
I do understand HIPAA, as I worked for the world's largest IT services company for 30 years, and I had to undergo HIPAA training (and re-training) to support my clients in the health care industry.
You're correct that email isn't an acceptable, HIPAA-compliant mode of communication. That's why all the major insurance companies and health care providers now use encrypted, private messaging systems accessible on their own web portals, which comply with the various physical and logical security requirements.
I (incorrectly) assumed you to be dealing with auto and home insurance, which wouldn't be covered by HIPAA.
If we put aside all your flogging of the "why isn't this more clear in the FAQs" comments, which have now been flogged to death, I gave you specific advice on how to try to make your fax machine work: 1) disable ECM and reduce the maximum speed on your fax machine (I never said you needed to buy a new fax machine to do this; almost every fax machine made in the past 20 years has these settings). 2) limit the OBi to only use G.711 CODECs. 3) The OBi's default settings are already otherwise optimized for faxing (T.38 is enabled, uses G.711 for passthrough, and has ECM disabled).
Try those things and then let us know if it helped. The next step would be to get a Google Voice phone number, add it as SP2 on your OBi, and try it instead of Anveo for faxing.
Good to know you are HIPAA aware. I will listen more carefully to your advice. Please understand that I have tried all the options you mentioned re configuration both to OBi202 and the MFC8660DN to no avail. (It is set to the lowest baud rate)
My issue seems to me to be something to do with timing. I thought about fiddling with the timers but decided against that. My fax will send handshake signals, and the receiving fax answers for a fraction of a second before hanging up. There is no perceptible audio noise on the line, but I think I will stick a dsl filter in the connection to see if that will affect anything. I appreciate that you have hung in there with this issue for as long as you have, and I apologize for any crass remarks. I'm afraid some of it has spilled over to my wife, but she is used to it... she just ignores me. :) I don't handle frustration well it seems. Tomorrow will be another day.... thanks again for your help.
Agent88:
Quote from: SteveInWA on November 08, 2015, 06:01:53 pm
As my final suggestion, now that you have brought up the HIPAA issue, I originally suggested that you use a fax service, instead of banging your head on the wall trying to get your fax machine to work reliably over VoIP. The industry has reacted to the HIPAA changes:
See: this link
Thanks for the link..... FAXAGE seems to be a reasonable pricing structure that would be in my budget range. I'm just skeptical of relying on the cloud. I'm old school.
Agent88:
Quote from: drgeoff on November 08, 2015, 04:38:55 pm
Quote from: Agent88 on November 08, 2015, 04:17:08 pm
Now there's the information.... from back in 2011. How does this kind of thinking persist? Who is going to wade through 5 years of forum posts to look for answers?
Doh! I made the mistake of not underlining sticky post.
You can lead a horse to water ....
Ya. I seen it. (But did you read any where in that post that auto-provisioning will undo your work entered via the web page?... the caution is to use one or the other, not both, but the issue is that the web interface is useless unless you understand their meaning of auto-provisioning. It should just say "Don't bother with the web page interface UNLESS you disable auto-provisioning. It is not intuitive that auto-provisioning is immediate or that it's sole purpose is to nail down the settings. Not all auto-provisioning is immediate within the telecom industry. Some auto-provisioning occurs periodically, others are pushed on software updates, etc.)
It was only after I began playing with the Expert Configuration that I realized that the auto-provisioning feature ensures that the stored provisioning data is mandated by the term default. What ever is stored as the default data file is forced on the user unless the default box is unchecked or auto-provisioning as a whole is disabled.
I tried to save my configuration file after disabling auto-provisioning, but it failed. Also, if you choose to return to OBiTalk configuration.... BAM! It restores the original file (whatever that was). What ever happened to the pop-up warning genius with that? "Are you sure?"... what does that mean?.... try it and find out.
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