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Fonality's faxing solution requires customers purchase and install 1 Sangoma PRI card and 1 Sangoma analog card.  You cannot use a fax machine with PBXtra with only an analog card and analog lines.  Your fax machine requires its own extension.  Fax over VoIP is NOT supported.

Sangoma Fax Sync Cable

The major hurdle with Fax + an IP PBX until now has been proper timing for the fax machine.  Without precise timing, the actual facsimile will become corrupt during transmission and the resulting page that prints will become unreadable. 

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In the image below, the fax sync cable connects to the back of the analog card (towards the back) and the back of the PRI card:

sangoma fax timing sync cable - normalized analog card.jpgImage Modified

You will need the following (and you can order the parts from Fonality directly)

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  • Only supported on Analog and T1 cards shipped by Sangoma after 6/1/07

  • The PRI card must have Hardware Echo Cancellation (HWEC)

  • Configuration changes must be applied to your wanpipeX.conf files (where X is the actual PCI slot of the card)

To configure your system for Faxing

  1. Power down your PBXtra

  2. Open your server

  3. Connect the Sangoma Fax Sync Cable to your PRI card

  4. Connect the other end of the Sangoma Fax Sync Cable to your Analog card.  Please be especially careful to connect pins 1-1 and 2-2

  5. Close your server

  6. Power on your server

  7. Once you can login to the Admin Panel, please click on Options --> cards

  8. Click on [ Advanced Mode ] in blue at the top of the page

  9. Click on the + symbol next to the word 'Wanpipe'

  10. Scroll to the 'wanpipe' configuration of your analog card   [e.g. wanpipe2 or wanpipe3 depending on your setup - the T1/PRI card wanpipe(s) are typically first, with the analog card wanpipe last]

  11. Add the following line at the bottom of the [wanpipeX] section, above the [wXg1] section: RM_NETWORK_SYNC = YES

  12. Click Apply All Changes

Using an Analog line for Faxing

If you purchase an analog line that you would like to use for your Fax machine as well as use this analog line as a backup outbound trunk for Emergency 911, please follow the instructions below:

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  1. Once you have selected the appropriate port from the Devices drop-down, click Apply All Changes

  2. Click on AutoAnswer --> edit call menu

  3. In the bottom right-hand corner of the page, under Add New Sequence, select after step 1, go to submenu/ext by number dialed

  4. Click Apply All Changes

  5. The page refreshes and you have a new call menu sequence as Step 2

  6. From the two drop-downs in the Step 2 sequence, first select the Extension that you created earlier in these instructions

  7. Next select the Analog Line that acts as your Fax line from the second drop down.  This will appear similar to the Devices selection on the Extension page - you will see Card 1 port 1 or maybe Card 1 port 3 - it depends on how many analog ports you have provisioned for your server. 

  8. Click Apply All Changes

  9. Click on Options --> dial plan.  You may wish to watch our video about modifying dial plans if you are unfamiliar with this process How do I edit an existing dial plan?

  10. Click on the 911 dial plan

  11. Under the Route column, select the Analog Line option next to the 1st route option.  This means calls to 911 will first be placed over your analog line before using any other type of connection on your server.  If the analog line is ever unavailable, you should select Secondary and Tertiary routes for calls to 911 as this is a very critical phone number

  12. Click Update Dial Plan

  13. Your system is now fully configured to receive incoming faxes and have these calls answered by the fax machine.  Your employees can also use the analog line as their primary path to call 911 in an Emergency.

If you have problems with this configuration

If "RM_NETWORK_SYNC" is set to yes, there must be a timing line present.  The wanpipe drivers will not load if the cable is missing.

If the carrier does not provide precise timing on the PRI card, the analog card will not properly send or receive facsimiles.  Please double-check the T1 configuration before escalating any issues.

Fax Machine Goes Off Hook Immediately when Connected

Certain types of fax machine go off hook immediately when connected to the FXS ports on the PBXtra . No amount of tweaking the Fax Machine can make it go on hook.

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