Faxing woes

[rich.knight]

I have set up an ATA186 for faxing. I am able to send faxing but can not recieve. It will ring and sounds like the fax connects but then I get a transmission failure.

[Aaron Harrison]

Some older 186s aren't much use for faxing - do you have one of these models? See this doc:

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

Assuming you have the better variety of ATA, and are running v3.whatever software on it:

You can only use fax passthru on the ATA, so all your PSTN gateways must be configured to suit this... Let me know what your gateways are and I'll help you out with the config if you need it.

To set up the ATA for passthru (assuming you haven't changed these two parameters from the default) -

Set audiomode to 0x00150015 (default is 0x00350035)

Set connectmode to 0x90000400 (this should be default)

Regards

[rich.knight]

Changed the audiomode setting to what you had listed and it seemed to fix my problem.

[Aaron Harrison]

Glad to hear it...

Aaron

[rich.knight]

OK it take it back now. It worked for about 1 fax.

I have the audio mode and connect mode on the ATA set to the settings you listed previously. Here are the settings on our gateway.

Fax Relay enable checked

Fax Error correction mode override checked

maximum fax rate 9600

fax payload size 20

Non standard facilities country code 65535

Non standard facilities vendor code 65535

Fax/Modem packet redundancy no checked

NSE Type Non-IOS gateway.

Our gateway is a 6608 blade

[brianconner]

Hello, what make fax machine are you using, as I recently had issues with Samsung faxes ....... apparently they aren't made for VoIP networks, not that it says that anywhere when you purchase !

[rich.knight]

I am using an HP. I was able to turn off ECM. Now I am trying to work with their tech support on changing the speed of them modem. Once it goes through the ATA I wouldn't think it would matter whether or not it was VoIP. The fax she just see analog signal.

[Aaron Harrison]

Rich

A few pointers - your gateway config as you listed earlier:

Fax Relay enable checked

Fax Error correction mode override checked

maximum fax rate 9600

fax payload size 20

Non standard facilities country code 65535

Non standard facilities vendor code 65535

Fax/Modem packet redundancy no checked

NSE Type Non-IOS gateway.

You've configured your ATA for passthru, using the settings I suggested... What you need to do now is set up your gateway to match.

First entry above (fax relay enable) sets fax relay on - you need to disable this.

All the rest with the exception of the NSE mode and packet redundancy are applicable only to fax relay, so ignore these as they do nothing in passthru mode.

You should set the NSE mode to IOS gateways to match the parameter I gave you for your ATA, and leave packet redundancy off as your ATA isn't configured for this.

Hope this helps... turning off ECM on the fax is a good step by the way as this makes the fax far more susceptible to jitter/packet loss, and you can't override it using the CM settings when you're using fax passthru.

Aaron

[rich.knight]

The gateway that we are using is a 6608. Shouldn't that stay as a non-ios gateway?

[Aaron Harrison]

Hi Rich

I see what you're thinking - but no, not necessarily.

When you are using fax passthru the gateways at each end (ATA and 6608 in your case) pass signalling between them to do things like select G711, disable VAD/echo cancellers etc... This is all triggered by NSEs or NTEs (Named Signaling/Telephony Events) sent from one end to the other.

What you're doing by setting this non-IOS/IOS option is picking the old (non-IOS) or new (IOS) method. Despite the name the ATA and 6608 both support the IOS method. Which one you pick is less important than the fact that you have to configure all your endpoints that may interact with the same method.

The ATA manuals specify use of the IOS method, so to fit this set the rest of your stuff to suit.

Aaron

[Aaron Harrison]

Did you get this sorted out?

Just found a doc that explains the setup a little better - for faxing between a VG248 and 6608, but the principles are the same... Just know that the ATA supports passthrough only so concentrate on the first half of the doc..

Aaron

[rich.knight]

I have not gotten it totally sorted out. It has to be some problem with the HP fax machine though. I have tried it with a different fax machine and it works fine. I have replaced the ata and it still didn't work. I turned off ECM on the fax and now I am trying different speed settings. I am still able to fax out from the machine but can't fax to the machine.