The Future Look Bright For Fax Over Internet Protocol

Internet has become an important modern discovery. We simply cannot do without it. Now many people are sending faxes through the Internet. Fax over Internet protocol or FoIP is thus in a great demand.

In fact, Fax over Internet Protocol or FoIP or IP faxing, has been in existence for many years now. The FoIP system combines the advantages of the traditional fax method with the price savings feature of Internet transmission methods. FoIP is the technology which makes possible the inter-networking of various fax machines with the use of a packet-based network.

The basic working of FoIP is similar to that of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). In both the cases, data makes the trip between the sender and receiver devices on the packet-based network. This avoids the long-distance telephone lines present in the circuit-switched telephone network.

What this does is that it cuts down the transmission cost, and hence, becomes a strong and efficient contender for a business setup which has an Internet access.

Fax machines have the digital nature. To transmit data over phone line, analog in nature, T.30 protocol is used to convert digital data into the analog data. FoIP uses the same compression and interpretation image data as G3 (traditional fax machine) does. However, a different protocol, T.38, is used to transmit data.

T.38 protocol converts the conventional fax data into a format which is Internet-friendly. It is basically the method to package T.30 fax signals & data as Internet Protocol packets on the sender's end, and to convert these IP packets back into T.30 signals & data on the receiver's end.

Now we will discuss the challenges associated with the Fax over Internet Protocol. Fax machines are into existence for many years now. Fax machine uses T.30 protocol. Hence, FoIP has to first convert T.30 data into the T.38 data for transmission. Then, FoIP has to convert the T.38 data back into the T.30 data for the reception. This translation is done at the fax server or gateway. Hence, it is almost impossible for FoIP to eliminate the traditional method to fax.

Network timing is yet another issue related to the Fax over Internet Protocol. The transmission time via different nodes of an Internet network is not so standardized as compared to the transmission time in phone lines.

Just in case the timing is off within the fax session, the machines may not be able to communicate with each other. This can result in corrupted data transmission or no transmission.

Well, Fax over Internet Protocol has to travel a long distance before it becomes as reliable as the fax over conventional phone lines. However, cost savings & network integration has made it a more preferred system. And, this is why the future looks bright for fax over internet protocol.