International outgoing fax fails with GV

[Irina]

I set up OBi202 with GV in October and was able to send an international fax three months ago.
For some reason now fax doesn't go through. My GV has a NJ number. I am using HP Officejet 61 Series 6110, and it all-in-one(printer/fax/copier/scanner).
I am getting communication error 338, 350 or 441. Both of them just recommend to re-send the fax.
I do have money on my GV account, and after each attempt to send a fax, the account has being charged for a couple of cents.
I dial 011 xxx xx xxx xxxx and also tried without 011 - the result is the same:
It is connecting, trying to send page 1, and then fails
I called to verify the FAX number - it is correct.

Disconnected the electricity cable from OBi202 for about 10 min, and reset the device.

Tried to send in different times of day and night
I do not understand, what happens and why I cannot send the fax at all.

Appreciate if somebody can help me.

Thank you.

[drgeoff]

The usual recommendation is to try setting your fax machine to a lower speed.  However a look through the manual for your machine suggests that it is fixed at 33.6 kbit/s.

Try toggling the error correction mode (ECM).

[Irina]

Thank you for suggestion.
Tried ECM right away, but the fax failed again.

[drgeoff]

Probably the route that GV is using to your destination incorporates a section with a low bit rate codec (intended for voice) which cannot sustain a 33.6 kbit/s modem signal.

http://www.voipmechanic.com/voip-fax-settings-9600-baud.htm suggests there are "hidden" settings to reduce the modem speed.  I found this by Googling and cannot vouch for it.

[azrobert]

Nobody is addressing the quality and speed aspect. I'm not a network expert, but I'll give it a shot.

Check the quality of your internet connection here:
http://myspeed.visualware.com/index.php
Try Voip and Quality options.
Select the G711 codec

This is my summary for comparison:
VoIP test statistics
Jitter: you --> server: 0.5 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 3.4 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Estimated MOS score: 4.2
Try different sites. The results will vary.

Check your internet speed here:
http://www.speedtest.net/index.php?nojs=1

Do you have a quality problem?
Is your internet speed close to your ISP plan?

If problems:
You can try changing cables.
Don't use cheap cables from Ebay.
They should be rated at least Cat5E.

If you have Cable service does your modem support DOCSIS 3.x?
DOCSIS 2.x only supports 1 channel.
DOCSIS 3.x supports multiple channels.
This probably won't help unless your service plan is around 40Mbps or higher.
Each channel supports 42.88 Mbps, so I don't know if multiple channels will help throughput on a slower connection.

Edit:
Are you using an OBiWiFi dongle?
If yes, you can try a hard wire connection to your router.

Don't forget to check the cable between the router and modem.

If you have cable service, make sure all the coax connections are tight.
Try not to use any splitters.

[Ostracus]

There's also these new enhancements (jitter buffer) with the Obi202 that might help.

[Irina]

First of all I would like to thank everybody for the suggestions.
I appreciate your time and effort to share with me your experience.
I will check all of the suggestion carefully, one by one. Just need some time.

The strange thing is that when I tried to send international fax to the same number on October 28th with the same fast internet I have(Cable Vision), 54.0 Mbps, the same cables that I have, the same OBi202 with no enhancements, I successfully passed with no problems, from the very first time.
Nothing changed in environment I use, including settings.

But now with more than 20 attempts it fails.

[Irina]

Selected G711 codec for the test:
Jitter:
you --> server 1.3ms
server --> you 5.8
packet lost to server 0.0%
          lost server to you 0.2%
packet discards 0.0%
packets out of order 0.0%
Estimated MOS score 4.0

Internet modem Motorola SBV5120 Surfboard is DOCSIS certified

My internet speed test:
Upload speed 5.3 Mbps

Cables that I use HP 6110 as a fax machine, arrived with OBi202 device in package. I connect OBi202 to telephone base with these cables.

Download Speed 15.78 Mbps

Most of the chances I do not use OBiWiFi dongle (do not know, what is it :-) ..)
The cable between wi-fi router an internet modem is OK - at least I use wi-fi at home
Wi fi router is LynkSys from Cicso.
Obi202 is connected to LyncSys 

[drgeoff]

The strange thing is that when I tried to send international fax to the same number on October 28th with the same fast internet I have(Cable Vision), 54.0 Mbps, the same cables that I have, the same OBi202 with no enhancements, I successfully passed with no problems, from the very first time.
Nothing changed in environment I use, including settings.

But now with more than 20 attempts it fails.

Just because nothing has changed in your environment does not mean that nothing has changed in the complete route to the distant fax machine. And even that machine could have changed!

[Irina]

You are right.

[azrobert]

You have a 54.0 Mbps plan with Cable Vision, but are only getting a download speed of 15.78 Mbps. It should be a least twice that. Try the speed test again and after its done select another server. Click "New Server" then click on another map server location. You can drag the map to show different servers. Try at least 2 more servers. Sometimes an individual server will have poor results.

Disconnect your router from the modem and plug your computer directly into the modem. This will eliminate any possible router problems. You can also test each ethernet cable with the speed test.

The SBV5120 is DOCSIS certified, but at 2.0.  
http://www.adamscableequipment.com/uploads/2/6/7/4/2674188/sbv5120.pdf

DOCSIS 3.0 will give you greater consistency and speed, but even without 3.0 you should have much greater speeds.

The following is a quote from the below link.
"What makes DOCSIS 3.0 different from its predecessors is that it is able to support multiple channels and bind them together to increase performance.  More channels means greater speed, and there is a 4-channel minimum requirement for DOCSIS 3.0 approved hardware.  Each channel offers a familiar 38 Mbps downstream and 27 Mbps upstream, but there are no limits to how many channels can be used.  This opens up a lot of performance possibilities, a great example of which is the 100 Mbps DOCSIS 3.x service available Comcast is offering business customers in selected areas.  Of course, a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem with 4 channel support is theoretically capable of downstreams greater than 100 Mbps, but it is only a matter of time until faster services are deployed that will be capable of utilizing more channels effectively.  Customers would do well to match the right DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem to the appropriate service, or risk paying for a broadband service that they are not fully capable of utilizing."

http://www.highspeedexperts.com/know-your-docsis/

[drgeoff]

Irina

Are you able to make any satisfactory fax calls (US or international) via GV?

[Irina]

I was so focused on sending a document to this particular international number, and after fax kept failing, I had to ask one of my friends who still has a land line, to fax this document.
Now I will try to figure out what is wrong with my configuration/setting  VOIP+GV, and etc.
One of the first steps of this testing will be sending a document to other US/International fax numbers.
Will do that over the weekend - had to find the numbers first :-)

Checking the speed of other servers is kind of problematic: there is only one server is available in my area, and I've already picked it.

[Irina]

Today tried to send one test page to a number of countries in Europe (a couple of hotels in different countries) and locally in the USA.
The USA faxes went through from the first attempt.
All of the European faxes failed.
I dialed at the beginning 011, or just 11, filled up with two 00 or one zero as sometimes the fax number has it as an option.
Sometimes the fax fails right away, sometimes I see a message "Sending Page 1", and after a while it fails. All the error messages recommend to re-send the fax.

The bottom line is that for some reason only international faxes fail over GV. (Just to remind: I do have money on my google wallet, and each time fax fails, the account gets charged - so lack of money is not the reason in my case)

[ipse]

Offering an alternative: not sure if you have another VoIP provider besides GV, but if you do, some offer fax services too.
I am with Anveo and they charge int'l rate + 2c/min for fax transmissions - mind you: this is done through their portal by uploading the file...so no fax machine involved (well, maybe for your scan ).

[drgeoff]

Irina

Have you tried with the fax speed reduced to 9600 or 14400 as I suggested earlier?