[aspicer]

Hello,

I'm trying to find out how much real need and desire there is for Fax Capability over Cellular in the U.S. (for now). AT&T doesn't seem to think there is enough interest in it to add the capability into their Cellular Network.

Newer cellular gear, such as Ericsson W25 comes with a T.38 Fax Over IP capability but it doesn't work unless there is certain things in the cellular carriers network as well as someone doing the Gateway to the normal Telephone Landline system.

It seems that most yachts that I've worked on are faxing one way or the other, or are needing to. Many have to walk down to a marina office to fax out and receive faxes. Most yachts have "all-in-one" style fax-capable printers. So would you like to be able to send and receive faxes from the yacht????

So I'd like to poll and see what the interest is on here for Fax over Cellular - with a bent towards AT&T in the U.S. Because AT&T is the one many yachts will be on for Cellular Voice and Internet (because GSM/UMTS).

So what do you say? Please take the poll...

---
Alan Spicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net

[PropBet]

No, I have email and Internet access, thus I have send / receive fax capabilities.
The *last* thing I need is more paper spitting out on the boat. I pick up my laptop, everything goes with me. No paper to carry.

[aspicer]

Originally Posted by Quads

No, I have email and Internet access, thus I have send / receive fax capabilities.
The *last* thing I need is more paper spitting out on the boat. I pick up my laptop, everything goes with me. No paper to carry.

Thanks for the reply. You want to put a NO in the poll? ^ up there...

I am aware of things such as Efax.com. But a lot of yachts I visited didn't want to have that. For example how do you sign something, or send something that wasn't already electronic? You can scan it if your printer is an all-in-one and then fax via email no doubt. But that's a lot of steps...

Sign something, or just scan something that you need to Fax,

Find the file on your computer (convert as necessary using Efax program),

Fax it over the Internet via Efax or such.

But what if you have NO internet? Or don't want to mess with Efax and all of those steps? You just want to shove something in the fax machine, dial a number, and expect it to go.

---
Alan Spicer

[ychtcptn]

Hey Alan,
Glad you are working on this. My boss is old fashion and is always asking me about fax capability. I hope you get this worked out.
By the way, my wi-fi antenna is working great, it really has been an invaluable asset this season.
Regards

[aspicer]

Originally Posted by ychtcptn

Hey Alan,
Glad you are working on this. My boss is old fashion and is always asking me about fax capability. I hope you get this worked out.
By the way, my wi-fi antenna is working great, it really has been an invaluable asset this season.
Regards

Thanks very much for the fax comments. I'm glad you are getting good use out of the wi-fi antenna system.

---
Alan Spicer

[clnewman]

I took the poll (voting no), as there's a little thing on the internet called efax.com that allows you to send/receive faxes via email. If you've got email on your boat, you can send/receive faxes.

[TK-F430]

I would like to have both.....satellite internet and fax. I have just installed a KVH FB250 on my boat.

[aspicer]

Originally Posted by clnewman

I took the poll (voting no), as there's a little thing on the internet called efax.com that allows you to send/receive faxes via email. If you've got email on your boat, you can send/receive faxes.

Thanks clnewman for the poll entry and comment on here. I did mention Efax.com above and I've used it myself. Tell me something... let's say you have to sign something that you've received already, or fill out a form that is an offline fill-it-in-with-a-ink-pen thing.

What are the steps that you have to take to do that and fax it back to the recipient on a landline, with Efax?

Thanks,

---
Alan Spicer

[aspicer]

Originally Posted by TK-F430

I would like to have both.....satellite internet and fax. I have just installed a KVH FB250 on my boat.

That's Nice!

You should have Satellite Internet and Fax with that. Check your airtime agreement and see what you've got.

Fax on FB250 supports only G3 Fax (FB500 supports ISDN and thusly G4 Fax as well.) See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax for the Group (whatever) explanation of fax technologies. The G3 Fax on FBB (Fleet Broadband) would use the "3.1 Khz Audio" service that you get with the airtime service agreement from your provider. The fax machine must somehow be plugged into the Phone/Fax jacks on the transceiver unit. This usually involves having your installer (or PBX guy) run RJ11 type of connection back to your PBX as a C.O. or Central Office input. Then your fax machine can be on an extension jack anywhere on the boat. There are advanced ways to deal with Fax and PBX's that I can't go into, but usually involve a "Fax detection" circuit board (Fax Stick) installed in the PBX. If you don't have a PBX then your installer could run wiring (similar to in a home or small office) to analog phone jacks, where you could plug in your fax machine.

You may have multiple phone numbers associated with your service, which can be assigned to 3.1Khz Audio, and Regular Telephone, so that the Voice and Fax calls can be on a different "Line" so to speak and can be done simultaneously onboard the boat.

* Hey! thanks for stopping by and posting a question/comment!

---
Alan Spicer

[clnewman]

The same way I do it today in my office... with an All-In-One printer that prints, scans and faxes (if desired and a phone line is available). I don't even use the fax function today.

Scanning is a one button process now. Not only can I eFax the document from the scan, but I now have a digital record of it, reducing paper storage requirements.

I can also take any pdf document and create a form out of it, allowing me to fill in the blanks on the PC.

Lastly, I have a scanned copy of my signature that's easy to digitally add to any document.

I've set myself up this way so I can make any business decision and perform about any business function from my boat... as long as I have internet available. Since I've already invested in a broadband network for the boat, I see no need for additional cellular fax service. But that's just MHO. Other folks might be able to put it to good use.

Originally Posted by aspicer

Thanks clnewman for the poll entry and comment on here. I did mention Efax.com above and I've used it myself. Tell me something... let's say you have to sign something that you've received already, or fill out a form that is an offline fill-it-in-with-a-ink-pen thing.

What are the steps that you have to take to do that and fax it back to the recipient on a landline, with Efax?

Thanks,

---
Alan Spicer

[Ken Bracewell]

Maybe efax has changed, but I recall their files being huge!
Alan, I'd put a fax capable cellular system on the boat tomorrow if it were available.
Even internet isn't always available. When we are out of range of a wi-fi, we've been having good luck with air cards- both AT&T and Verizon. That is until recently. I think they've "enhanced" their service in such a way so as to not allow it to be shared. In the past, I would connect the air card to the boat's server and distribute it to our wireless access points. Now I can only connect on the server.

[aspicer]

Thanks, Ken, for the information.

I believe the units that support T.38, if T.38 were supported in the Cellular Network, doesn't require you to have an Internet Connection available. It just requires the standard RJ11 telephone connection to the fax machine. The cellular carrier would have to handle the Internet Connection and the gateway for fax, or get you connected to such a gateway for fax. This is what AT&T is wanting to know if it's worth doing, by customer demand.

Telular also has a new GSM 3G unit out which does the laptop card speed HSDPA/UMTS Internet. They are also claiming fax, but this is Circuit Switched Data fax, which I don't think any carrier is supporting to date. Cingular stopped supporting it before they were bought by AT&T, T-Mobile never supported it. I don't know what the other non-Big-Two are doing. But I doubt they are supporting CSD and Fax. I called Telular and got technical support. They don't support T.38 at this time, and not sure if they will support it in the future.

Anyway if T.38 works the way I think it does then this might be a good thing for yachts that don't have Internet all of the time. But have cellular voice more often than they do Internet.

---
Alan Spicer

[Ken Bracewell]

Originally Posted by Ken Bracewell

That is until recently. I think they've "enhanced" their service in such a way so as to not allow it to be shared. In the past, I would connect the air card to the boat's server and distribute it to our wireless access points. Now I can only connect on the server.

It was operator error All sorted out now.

[aspicer]

Glad to hear that. I was pretty sure it could still be done.

---
Alan

[clnewman]

Their files come across in a native .tif format. Easy to convert to pdf for disk storage. We use air cards exclusively as there never seems to be a wi-fi signal around when I need it.

We actually had air card service all the way down the coast from San Francisco to LA... even in the central coast areas.

Originally Posted by Ken Bracewell

Maybe efax has changed, but I recall their files being huge!
Alan, I'd put a fax capable cellular system on the boat tomorrow if it were available.
Even internet isn't always available. When we are out of range of a wi-fi, we've been having good luck with air cards- both AT&T and Verizon. That is until recently. I think they've "enhanced" their service in such a way so as to not allow it to be shared. In the past, I would connect the air card to the boat's server and distribute it to our wireless access points. Now I can only connect on the server.