Internet fax , e-fax , or online fax is internet usage and internet protocols to send faxes, rather than using standard phone connections and fax machine. The feature that distinguishes Internet fax, compared to other Internet communications such as email, is the ability to exchange fax messages with traditional fax-based fax machines.
Video Internet fax
Destination
Fax has no technical advantages over other means of sending information over the Internet, using technologies such as email, scanners, and graphic file formats; however, it's very easy to use: place the document for faxing in the hopper, call the phone number, and press the button. Faxes continue to be used over the phone network in locations without computers and Internet facilities; and sometimes faxing a document with a person's signature is a requirement for legal reasons. Internet fax computers allow fax communication without the actual fax machine on one or both ends.
Maps Internet fax
Regular fax
The traditional method of sending faxes over telephone lines (PSTN)
- Fax machine -> Phone line -> Fax machine
The fax machine is an electronic device made up of scanners, modems, and printers. It transmits data in the form of pulses through the telephone line to the receiver, usually another fax machine, which then converts this pulse into an image, and prints it on paper.
Traditional methods require a telephone line, and only one fax can be sent or received at a time. Phone connections should not be packet-based systems where delays can occur - VoIP connections will not work properly without special precautions (T.38-compliant equipment at both ends).
Internet Fax
Internet faxes achieve dramatic reductions in communication costs especially when long faxes are often exchanged for offices abroad or away.
Because there is no phone call charges when sending faxes over the Internet, fax sending costs are completely covered by the cost of a fixed-line Internet connection. The recipient can use the fax machine or internet fax service to be able to receive faxes sent via internet fax methods.
Hardcopy is converted to TIFF or PDF data and attached to e-mail in MIME format. Then, taking advantage of the connection to the office LAN, the data is sent via TCP/IP directly to the Internet Fax on the intranet or the Internet. Because they use TCP/IP, Internet Fax does not incur long-distance transmission costs and receipts can be verified.
IP fax and IP address relay
IP faxes are often confused with Internet faxes, even though IP fax transmits data over an office intranet from a network multi-function device to another IP address. Taking advantage of existing LAN/WAN infrastructure, IP faxes reduce or eliminate costly connections and transmission costs. T.38 is a commonly used and recommended transmission standard used for IP faxing.
Additionally, IP fax does not require a dedicated server or use an office mail server. IP Address Relay forwards to multi-functional device to relay to local G3 fax machine.
Computer-based fax
When the modem starts to be used widely with a personal computer, the computer is used to send faxes directly. Instead of printing a printed copy first and then sent by fax machine, the document can now be printed directly to the software fax, then sent through the computer modem. Receiving faxes is done in the same way.
- Computer -> Phone line -> Fax machine
- Fax machine -> Phone line -> Computer
The disadvantage of receiving faxes via a computer is that the computer must be turned on and run the fax software to receive any faxes. It also means that the document is no longer readable by computer applications, unless the optical character recognition method is used to read fax images.
Note: This method is different from Internet fax because the information is sent directly over the telephone network, not over the Internet. It helps communicate from remote places to fax machine locations.
Mobile-based fax
In this method, smartphones are used to send and receive faxes without the need to have any landline phone or any additional hardware. There are several fax apps (for Android and iOS) that handle mobile-based fax.
How does it work? First of all, the user must install the fax application on their smartphone and have an active subscription to the online fax service provider. After that, the camera phone is used as a scanner to scan the document and send it as a fax. Some providers also offer the option to obtain a special fax number and receive a fax at this number.
Overall , with the shared fax application with an active subscription, anyone can send and receive faxes on their phone
Internet fax servers and gateways
The Internet has enabled the development of several other methods of sending and receiving faxes. A more general method is computer-based fax extension, and involves using fax servers/gateways to the Internet to change documents between fax and email. This process is often referred to as "fax to mail" or "mail to fax". This technology offers the advantages of expending with machines as well as additional phone lines, and therefore, has started replacing the traditional fax machine.
Reception :
- Fax machine -> Phone line -> Fax gateway -> email messages (over the Internet) -> computer email account
Faxes are sent over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to the fax server, which receives faxes and converts them into PDF or TIFF formats, according to user instructions. The processed file is then forwarded to the Web server, which sends it as an email containing the fax as the attached file, and sometimes sends the message reporting delivery to the mobile phone.
Shipping :
- Computer -> Internet -> fax gateway -> phone line -> fax machine
The user connects to the supplier's website, specifies the recipient's fax number, and uploads the document to send. Documents are usually converted to PDF or TIFF format and sent by the Web server to the fax server, which then sends it to the receiving fax machine over the telephone network. The sender usually receives confirmation that the transmission is successful, either in the web interface or via email.
The Internet fax service allows faxes to be sent from a computer through an Internet connection, thanks to the web interface normally available on supplier websites. This technology has many advantages:
- No fax machine - no maintenance, no paper, toner expenditure, possible repairs, etc.
- Mobility - All actions are performed in the Web interface; this service is available from any computer connected to the Internet, anywhere in the world.
- Confidentiality - Faxes are sent to the recipient's email account, which may be more personal than the fax machine used by some people.
- No installation required software or hardware - Web interface in use.
- No need to use phone lines for fax use .
- Multiple faxes can be sent or received simultaneously , and faxes can be received when the computer is turned off .
Early email-to-fax services such as The Phone Company and Digital Chicken were developed in the mid-1990s. However after the development of open source IP PBX systems, it became common to set up software-based emails entirely for fax or Web gateways to fax. such as Asterisk (PBX) and ICTFax.
Fax using VoIP
Making phone calls over the Internet (Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP) has become increasingly popular. Compressing a fax signal is different from compressing the sound signal, so a new standard (T.38) has been created for this. By using (sending) VoIP adapter and (receiver) gateways which are both T.38 compliant, most fax machines can be plugged into a VoIP adapter in the same way as regular phone lines. Not all fax equipment that claims T.38 compliance works reliably. Particularly communicating with older fax machines is problematic.
- Fax machine -> VoIP adapter -> VoIP gateway -> Phone line -> Fax machine (or vice versa)
As with any ordinary fax, only one fax can be sent or received at a time.
Fax using email
While computer-to-fax communication needs are well covered, simplicity quickly sends handwritten document records combined with the advantages of no email.
"iFax" (T.37) is designed for fax machines to communicate directly via email. Faxes are sent as email attachments in TIFF-F format.
- iFax machine -> email messages (over the Internet) -> computer email account
- iFax machines -> email messages (over the Internet) -> iFax machines (using email addresses)
A new fax machine (iFax/T.37 support) is required, as well as an email address that is known for the sending and receiving machines. This has limited the use of standards, although the system for finding fax email addresses based on phone numbers is under development.
To work with an existing fax machine, all iFax machines support standard fax (requires a regular phone line). Alternatively, iFax can be used in conjunction with a fax gateway.
- iFax machine -> email messages (over the Internet) -> Fax gateway -> Phone line -> traditional Fax machine (or vice versa)
See also
- Fax
- The fax server
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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