Problem with fax and ATA 186

carlostrapiello · ‎03-08-2006

I have a fax Canon L-350 and a Cisco ATA 186 to connect it to the network.

This fax is giving me a lot of problems with incoming and outgoing faxes.

I try to consult to Cisco and they say that Cisco ATA gives a lot of problems but I need to get a solution.

Anybody can help me?.

Thanks, Carlos.

kevinpawsey · ‎03-08-2006

Hi there,

we are also having problems with the ATA186 and an ECM fax. It will receive low-speed faxes ok, but it seems that if another ECM fax machine communicates it then drops the connection after a couple of pages. Presumably it is having problems with the consistant high bandwidth.

Sorry I haven't been able to help, but at least I may have confirmed that it is a problem that would be nice if it is solved.

Thanks

carlostrapiello · ‎03-09-2006

I am working in it and we have the same problems like you. I will give you my e-mail and we can be in contact and we can work together.

I don't know what Cisco says about this theme, do you know something?.

trapiello@msn.com

kevinpawsey · ‎03-09-2006

We have a third party company that is working on it at the moment, and they are still working on it at the moment.

I will let you know if they manage to come up with a solution. I know at the moment they have configured the router for passthrough, and the ATAs have been enabled for passthrough too.

Kevin

carlostrapiello · ‎03-09-2006

Thank you very much.

I will do the same if I know something about it.

b.henshaw · ‎03-12-2006

You mentioned you're using a Canon fax machine. What speed are the calls connecting at? Many of the newer machines (including canons) support up to 33.6kbps, however the ATAs don't support data calls/faxing at anything above 14.4kbps.

If you haven't done so already, try forcing your fax machine to only negotiate calls at 14.4kbps, or even 9600kbps. Also ensure the codec on the ATA is actually negotiating G.711 and VAD is off.

Lastly - which model of ATA is it? The older ones (ATA186-L2?) from memory had issues with fax reception and transmission whereas the newer ones (ATA186-I2-A) are usually successful at up to 14.4kbps if no jitter or latency issues are present.

maharris · ‎03-12-2006

Here is a link to the field notice discussing the limitations ofthe old ATA186:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/gatecont/ps514/products_field_notice09186a0080094af7.shtml

And here is an older doc talking about how to get fax to work with ATA, on the older versions you had to use H323 to be able to get at the Audiomode and Connectmode parameters, this doc also has gateway config notes:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/gatecont/ps514/products_configuration_example09186a00800d698e.shtml

And finally, here is a doc discussing configuring and debugging fax on ATA with the SCCP image, implying it should work, at least on 2.15, since it looks like they have opened up access to the audiomode and connectmode parameters in the SCCO image at this point:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/gatecont/ps514/products_administration_guide_chapter09186a00800c4d1e.html

Most of the ones that we have out there, that I know about anyway, are using the H323 method, and work well enough, but there is definitely the speed limitation, and you may have to force your fax machines to negotiate to lower speed, as mentioned above.

Mary Beth

jolo07310 · ‎03-12-2006

Mary Beth,

I want to confirm it from you. What you try to say is that using H.323 intead of SCCP is better for fax, AM I Right??

But no matter for H.323 or SCCP, it is better force fax machiness to negotiate to lower speed.

Thanks

Ken

maharris · ‎03-12-2006

Well, the tech note specified H323, and that is what we always went with, but I think that is just because in the older versions, you could not configure the connectmode and audiomode parameters - if your SCCP load is new enough, you can, and that should be good enough. We are currently installing a new location that way, we will see how it goes, I suspect it should work. But if in doubt, just go with the H323 tech note. And be ready to adjust your fax machine to support minimum features, lower speeds. Actually, if you have trouble with faxes, the first thing to check for is that you have no slips on the pstn link - that will trash them for sure! Have seen it over and over.

Mary Beth

kevinpawsey · ‎03-14-2006

After a tidy-up of the switch cabinet and a re-read of the subject of this discussion, I realised that we actually have ATA 188's (about 7 of them) and they have this problem, so I guess that it is not a problem with the ATA itself.

I will check through the configs to see how things have been setup, but I thought I would just let people know that it is not just the 186's that have the problem.

Jason Aarons · ‎03-14-2006

Config t

Voice service voip

modem passthrough nse codec g711ulaw

dial-peer voice XXXXXXX voip

modem passthrough nse codec g711ulaw

Reference

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a008053b51f.html

If you add the above then change the ATA (http://X.Y.Z.A/dev)

Audio Parameters

AudioMode 0x00150015 (default is 0x00350035)

ConnectMode 0x90000400 (default is 0x90000400)

jerrycourt · ‎03-15-2006

Set the Fax machine to send and recieve at 9600 baud. we have had same problem and this has taken care of it.