How do I accept faxes to my FPL ?

[FreePhoneUser]

It seems to only randomly treat an incoming fax call as a fax.

How can I make sure that my free phone line will accept a fax?

Do I need to have forwarded settings set a certain way? Thank you.

[FreePhoneUser]

Tried to do a search for "fax" but nothing comes up. However, just from browsing I see that you need to have your voice mail to email settings set to FORWARD and NOT copy to get the faxes to be received.

[FreePhoneUser]

Can I get some suggestions on how to make receiving faxes more reliable (talking about fax to email, not a fax hooked up to my ATA). Are there specific follow me settings that need to be used?

I'm trying to receive a fax from someone but it is not going through.

[FreePhoneUser]

Any suggestions on how to improve the reliability of receiving faxes?

Sometimes it seems to work great, the incoming fax will be detected by the FPL system after 1-2 rings and I'll get the PDF email shortly thereafter. Other times, the system does not answer the fax call and it simply rings through and eventually gets forwarded to my forwarding number.

Also it is impossible to search for "fax" on these forums to find related topics, so can a mod make a fax sticky for anyone looking to discuss this topic?

[TheHardy]

Is it the same number (fax sender) that is getting handled differently, or is it different numbers/senders? I may not be the most technically advanced FPL user, but it would seem that this may have to do with WHO the sender is, as well as any of your potential settings.

Any information you could provide might be helpful in resolving your issue.

[FreePhoneUser]

The last attempted fax, the sender tried 3 times to send it to me and it failed each time.

Different senders have gone through in the past, but others have failed.

[TheHardy]

That is the point I am making -- if the last sender failed 3x in a row, then there is a problem there. Possibly have them, if they are able to, reduce their transmission speed on their fax machine/faxmodem down to 9600 baud, as this may help the issue.

As for the "other" senders, same question again -- was it the SAME numbers that always failed, and the SAME numbers that always succeeded?

[FreePhoneUser]

I don't receive many faxes, so I don't have enough data to recognize any sort of pattern. But I'm fairly certain that the last one which was attempted 3 times was not their fault as they are a large and busy office that sends many faxes every day.

Does anyone else reliably receive faxes on a regular basis? If so can you post your follow me settings. Thank you.

[TheHardy]

I don't receive many faxes, so I don't have enough data to recognize any sort of pattern. But I'm fairly certain that the last one which was attempted 3 times was not their fault as they are a large and busy office that sends many faxes every day.

Fair that. I think that with VOIP, it is going to be relatively HIT & MISS at this point. Having used fax software since "back in the day" on a POTS line (no VOIP), I know that I had difficulties with various different configurations, including but not limited to: whether the sender was using a stand-alone faxmachine, networked fax-server, software etc.

I know that you are looking for an iron-clad solution, and I apologize that I cannot offer one. As I say, it may be hit and miss. Troubleshooting and having someone on the phone while you or they change variables can sometimes alleviate this, but I doubt that that solution will work for you in this case unless the other party is willing to put some time in.

[cu2o2o2]

Can I get some suggestions on how to make receiving faxes more reliable (talking about fax to email, not a fax hooked up to my ATA). Are there specific follow me settings that need to be used?

I'm trying to receive a fax from someone but it is not going through.

I have 3 FPL numbers, 2 of which have VOIP Unlock Keys while the third one is plain softphone. The softphone is intended to exclusively receive faxes as I "advertised" it to be. Of course this number can be spammed, however I have not seen any spam more than a year after I signed up for this number.

The only important settings on your FPL account portal are:
Call follow me settings/Follow me status: DISABLED
Voicemail settings/Voicemail to email: FORWARD

Make sure that you do not login to your softphone software...in fact you should forget about it.

Check the email address you used to sign up if you want to see faxes received.

I have received faxes that are more than 15 pages "without much issues". I said "without much issues" because there can be some transmission noises. The faxes are still readable though. (Note that transmission noises can also be present even in dedicated fax machine transmissions).

I hope that you will find this useful.

[cu2o2o2]

...
Of course this number can be spammed, however I have not seen any spam more than a year after I signed up for this number.
...

I spoke too soon...I got my share of spam from Customer's Choice Windows and Doors based in Richmond Hill, ON.

[maminej]

The only important settings on your FPL account portal are:
Call follow me settings/Follow me status: DISABLED
Voicemail settings/Voicemail to email: FORWARD

I did this but i am still having troubles receiving faxes

Should i expect receiving them directly to my email or in the fax machine attached to ATA

I had the faxmachine ringing as if it was a phone call, then dropping the call.

[TheHardy]

I have only successfully received faxes into my FPL voicemail, but then again, I don't have the config file/ATA. So far, I am 10/10 for wanted faxes being successfully received into the FPL voicemail, FWIW.

*warning* your mileage may vary!

[cu2o2o2]

The only important settings on your FPL account portal are:
Call follow me settings/Follow me status: DISABLED
Voicemail settings/Voicemail to email: FORWARD

I did this but i am still having troubles receiving faxes

Should i expect receiving them directly to my email or in the fax machine attached to ATA

I had the faxmachine ringing as if it was a phone call, then dropping the call.

As I mentioned, the settings are for receiving faxes on an FPL number without a VOIP Unlock Key (or if you have an ATA, it must be powered off).

[maminej]

i did exactly what you guy mentionned but still not getting any faxes
I am using this website to send faxes to my FPL number (not activated yet ) : http://faxzero.com/

[Bing Kol]

I have only successfully received faxes into my FPL voicemail, but then again, I don't have the config file/ATA. So far, I am 10/10 for wanted faxes being successfully received into the FPL voicemail, FWIW.

*warning* your mileage may vary!

+1 except that I have an ATA that I switch off when I am expecting a fax.

[TheHardy]

i did exactly what you guy mentionned but still not getting any faxes
I am using this website to send faxes to my FPL number (not activated yet ) : http://faxzero.com/

What do you mean by "not activated yet"?? This has me confused.

In any case, I just hit the faxzero website and successfully sent a fax to my FPL account. Did not have ANYTHING loaded at this end (not the softphone or anything), but logged into my account and boom, there was the fax sitting there. I will retry it later too, with the softphone loaded, just to confirm that it works, but I have received SEVERAL faxes successfully so far.

Are the calls showing up correctly in your call log? Could there be some other underlying issue?

[cu2o2o2]

I just successfully sent a test fax to my FPL number that has a working ATA.

Settings:
Call follow me settings/Follow me status: DISABLED
Voicemail settings/Voicemail to email: NONE

The difference though is that there is no fax in my email, however it can be viewed in the FPL account portal.

The above test tells me that the only important setting would be: Call follow me settings/Follow me status: DISABLED

So there, I do not even need a dedicated number for faxes anymore.

@maminej: Make sure that your phone line is disconnected from your fax machine when you are receiving a fax, else the fax machine will try to answer it and may fail.

[Bing Kol]

I just successfully sent a test fax to my FPL number that has a working ATA.

Settings:
Call follow me settings/Follow me status: DISABLED
Voicemail settings/Voicemail to email: NONE

The difference though is that there is no fax in my email, however it can be viewed in the FPL account portal.

The above test tells me that the only important setting would be: Call follow me settings/Follow me status: DISABLED

So there, I do not even need a dedicated number for faxes anymore.

@maminej: Make sure that your phone line is disconnected from your fax machine when you are receiving a fax, else the fax machine will try to answer it and may fail.

Great! It is good to know that I do not have to unpug my ATA when I need to receive a fax. I should give it a test.