Fax ring?

[Còbra!]

I just came up with an idea for a way people can communicate in a way that's certifiably retro and maybe fun!

I want to use a typewriter I inherited from my dad to write messages to people, but don't have anyone to send them too. Plus I think snail mail is too slow. Scanning it and emailing the scan feels like cheating and it's not as convenient or fun as just typing an email.

So I thought, faxing is a good middle ground! Wouldn't it be great to hear a fax machine go off, and you see a handwritten (or typewriter-written) message, then being able to respond and send it almost immediately. It's almost like a fusion of physical and electronic mail.

You can supposedly fax through VOIP and maybe even through the internet, which I'm going to look into.

So I figured if this is the sort of thing people might be interested in taking part in?

[Melooon]

So I found this article: https://itstillworks.com/how-do-i-send-a-fax-from-australia-to-america-10431.html

It talks about IP fax machines, which are basically more modern machines that support faxes over the web, but they also say this:

Analog fax machines can send Internet faxes with the appropriate T38 capable VoIP gateway attached, which allows them to connect to the Internet through the same protocol that VoIP phones do.

That lead me to find this device: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/unified-communications/ata-190-series-analog-telephone-adapters/index.html (I found it for 100 pounds on Amazon)

However I also found this much cheaper one (38 pounds) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dpofirs-Gateway-Network-Internet-Voice-over-IP-silver/dp/B09JBN2P1V - it says it supports fax!

So I THINK if you want to put an old fax machine online, you can do it for 38 pounds, which seems quite reasonable.

Next we just need to figure out if there's an easy and cheap way for people to do it if they don't have an old fax machine (and don't wanna buy one)

It seems like a lot of modern printers do support fax, this is a modern one that says it does: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-MG2555S-600DPI-printing-copying/dp/B01ICH52H8
I don't know how that works though, so I think we need to find someone who has a printer with fax functions and figure it out and see how we can connect it all up! (Over something like Skype I guess?)

It's not very well documented, but it seems totally doable, apparently, a lot of government offices still use fax so the support is there for them!

EDIT: According to this video it was not possible on Skype 14 years ago because compression on Skype was too extreme, but that might not be the case now.. As far as I can see you do need to have a virtual phone number though (those are never free) but you can get them from services like: https://www.pamfax.biz/introduction/fax-number/ and they don't seem expensive (I think Skype also offer them? at least they used too)

Im still a bit confused about how it all connects, id have to see it function to understand 

[Còbra!]

As far as I can see you do need to have a virtual phone number though (those are never free) but you can get them from services like: https://www.pamfax.biz/introduction/ and they don't seem expensive (I think Skype also offer them? at least they used too)

Well, I don’t have an issue with paying for a cheap service to do so, but I’d need to know that I’m actually going to use it, you know? If I buy a subscription and nobody else is interested in doing this kind of thing with me, then it’d be a waste of money.

[Melooon]

I was thinking about the number cost - you only really need a number if you plan to interact with the existing phone network (e.g. fax real fax machines out in the world).. but since we would only be faxing people in the club.. surely that's not actually necessary? I don't know much about VOIP systems, but it seems like it would be possible to host our own VOIP server and issue our own fax numbers to members - if we could do that it would be totally free!

[Còbra!]

I was thinking about the number cost - you only really need a number if you plan to interact with the existing phone network (e.g. fax real fax machines out in the world).. but since we would only be faxing people in the club.. surely that's not actually necessary? I don't know much about VOIP systems, but it seems like it would be possible to host our own VOIP server and issue our own fax numbers to members - if we could do that it would be totally free!

Hey, any update to this?

[Melooon]

I haven't had time to look into it more I did search a bit, and there is self-host VoIP software for Linux, but I think someone with a bit more free time and a love of Linux hosting might need to mess around with that and report back!

[Badgermein]

Wow, I really like this idea! It's very original, I can't remember the last time I ever received a fax, if at all! I just get a fax machine/printer combo anyways. Let me know if you guys still have interest in this, I'm sure we can get more people together. I can picture my excitement so vividly when I hear the machine begin to print.

[Melooon]

Apparently, Amish communities use services that convert emails into fax, which while kinda silly is also kinda cool; its basically physical email over fax    https://ibyfax.com/

They also do internet by fax:

IbyFax’s Internet by fax service allows people that do not have internet the ability to have research done for them on the internet. You write what you are looking for on a piece of paper and fax it to us. Or expert web researchers will review your request, and fax whatever they find back to you.

Here is a list of common requests that we handle.

– Find items on eBay. Machinery Trader, etc.
– Get tax forms faxed to you.
– Read online forums.
– We can find any information for you on the internet that you can imagine.

I wonder if there any Amish web revivalists! Could you hand write your HTML and fax it to neocities??