Google Voice and Faxes
SteveInWA:
As Robert pointed out, fax over VoIP is just really sensitive to any sort of call quality issue.
If you're willing to pay for a new fax machine, a much better option is to not use a fax machine at all. Get with the 21st century, and use an inbound fax mailbox.
For example, you can get a free or paid inbound phone number (a "DID") from Callcentric, and route inbound calls to their fax server. It will then store the fax and optionally, email it to you. This is far more reliable than using a fax machine, which suffers from the long chain of analog<-->digital<-->analog<-->digital conversions.
LTN1:
Quote from: thogan on December 12, 2014, 11:38:39 am
I can send faxes with my Obi200 but can't receive faxes with it (I was successful in 1 of about 20 attempts). I'm wondering what kind of fax machine you are using as I would be willing to buy a new fax machine if that would solve this problem for me. Thanks,/Tom
Seems like Brother machines work well with Obi and GV faxing. If you don't want to get another machine and since you can fax out, consider signing up for a free CallCentric account with NY number and make it your fax number. CallCentric receives e-faxes really well. If you put the CallCentric number on your fax ID, you can fax out with that showing and just have people fax back to the CallCentric number.
However, if this is for a business and you want to use your local number, you might want to try buying a Brother fax machine to see if it works well for you--keep the receipt to return it if it doesn't.
thogan:
Thank you all for the replies, you guys are great! With the Visualware tests my download speed was 4.48 and my upload was 754 kbps. The line quality assessment showed Packets Norder 3 (which I have no idea about) and Bytes Lost 175692, which can't be good. On the VOIP test Jitter was 20.8, which was labeled as relatively unpredictable, Packet Loss was 0 and MOS score was 3.7 (which I also don't really understand). I am going to try a new Ethernet cable as well as a new phone line cord since both have been in use for years to see if this helps. I'm having second thoughts about buying a new Fax machine because I don't send all that many faxes and I do have a limited use (9.99 per yr) RingCentral account that I've used when I need to send or receive one. I do like the Callcentric idea for incoming faxes especially since I do seem to be able to send faxes out using GV. Oh, and for a few bucks I think I'll also buy the filter to see if that helps...and to answer Roberts question, I'm pretty sure the incoming fax rings the Obi port and it's the fax machine that doesn't answer the call.
azrobert:
Quote from: thogan on December 13, 2014, 03:46:04 pm
(to answer Roberts question, I'm pretty sure the incoming fax rings the Obi port and it's the fax machine that doesn't answer the call.
If the OBi200 is ringing the Fax should answer the call. The fax should answer any call including voice calls. If the phone port is ringing the phone port LED (the right LED) will flash. Is it flashing when you call the GV number?
Is the fax setup to answer automatically? It should be set to answer on 1, 2, 3 or 4 rings.
Do you have another option that would prevent the fax from answering like Distinctive Ring?
Lavarock7:
Quote from: thogan on December 12, 2014, 11:38:39 am
I can send faxes with my Obi200 but can't receive faxes with it (I was successful in 1 of about 20 attempts). I'm wondering what kind of fax machine you are using as I would be willing to buy a new fax machine if that would solve this problem for me. Thanks,/Tom
If having inbound problems, why not get a free Callcentric number (configure it for faxes).
Your outbound faxes could show the Callcentric inbound number as the ID.
Just make sure to call that Callcentric number at least once a month to keep it active.
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