Sending faxes via Google Voice

[jnelsoninjax]

I have a box setup for GV so we have a landline in the house, I also have a multi-function printer/scanner/fax, and I have been trying to send a fax, but the receiving phone number always indicates that it is not in service despite the fact that it is (I have confirmed it to be working). Is there any reason that I shouldn't be able to send a fax this way? I ended up using a free online fax service to send the documents, but that is an extra step that I do not like to have to use if I do not have to.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Does the online fax service work for you? I know you don't want it, but DID it work at all?

[jnelsoninjax]

On 02/02/2024 at 10:33, Mindovermaster said:

Does the online fax service work for you? I know you don't want it, but DID it work at all?

Yes, it worked this time, I only had 2 pages to send. Previously I have had lots more and that is no longer covered under a 'free' plan

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Is fax supported?  I do not see anything about fax being supported with Google Voice....so, that is probably why you can't send/receive a fax with it.

[jnelsoninjax]

On 02/02/2024 at 14:40, Jim K said:

Is fax supported?  I do not see anything about fax being supported with Google Voice....so, that is probably why you can't send/receive a fax with it.

That is what I was trying to determine. I am going to guess that it most likely is not because it seems to think all the fax #'s are out of service.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

It has been a while since I've worked in this space, but VoIP calls by their nature suffer from echo and sometimes latency problems that are largely compensated for by a combination of DSP hardware and software so that it is not particularly noticeable during voice calls.  Also, the audio frequencies in which speech falls are compressed by lossy codecs, too.  The problem is that tools like the echo cancellation and speech compression interfere with the signalling used for modem and fax communications.  There is a standard named T.38 for sending faxes over TCP/IP networks, but it was not widely adopted and interoperability between various equipment vendors wasn't great. 

It is possible that slowing your fax transmission speed down to 2400 baud might help get around some of the problems, but it may be better to use a dedicated internet fax service, instead.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky