Faxing Solution With Magic Jack

[JP3026]

I was not able to use my Sharp fax machine with consistent success using the magic jack, until I made a few adjustments. I believe my solution is probably cheaper than most, and some of these ideas have been presented in this forum already.

I found that by setting up a SIP account with Call Centric (CallCentric.com) who is a VOIP provider and using the XLite softphone, it allowed me to send an outgoing fax relieably and to receive faxes reliably as well. Also, I installed the XLitePlugIn from MagicSource to get the Fax machine to work with the XLite softphone and my magic jack dongle. The XLite softphone configuration parameters can be obtained from this forum or you can get them from the Call Centric website. You only pay for the outgoing or incoming fax calls you make at around 1 & 1/2 cents per minute with Call Centric. This is better than paying a monthly fee unless you send or receive a lot of faxes every month. The incoming faxes can optionally be received as PDF files for about the same fee. You get an email notification when a fax is received on your Call Centric account with the magic jack number you provide them. You can import an existing landline number to Call Centric if you prefer. You can pickup the incomming fax by logging in to the Call Centric website.

Essentially, when you use the XLite softphone with Call Centric, you are sending a fax communication to the Call Centric fax server gateway that handles the FOIP T.38 communications protocol. This is a much more reliable than just using your bare bones magic jack line.

[sabresfan]

It's always wise as you have pointed out to not keep all your eggs in one basket. MJ is great and has come a long way over the last couple of years but is not intended for reliable faxing. Your solution is indeed cost effective and about as reliable as one can get with voip.

[JP3026]

I failed to mention that I am using the free version of the XLite softphone, and the XliteJackPlugIn from PCPhoneSoft (http://www.pcphonesoft.com/). The cost is $10.00 only. This solution works well on outgoing fax transmissions. I merely dial a "#" pound sign in front of the phone number on the fax machine, and the plugin passes the phone number through the Magic Jack softphone indicating a special call is in progress. It then minimizes the Magic Jack softphone, and it launches the XLite softphone. You can monitor the status of the fax transmission on the Xlite softphone and your fax machine as the transmission is sent through you SIP account with Call Centric.

As a side note, I had previously ported an AT&T land line line number to Call Centric used for faxing exclusively. I had Call Centric setup a DID forwarding service using the old ATT land line number. Therefore, any faxes sent to my old land line number are now picked up as an incomming fax by Call Centric and converted to a PDF file, which I can view. My outgoing faxes show the old AT&T number, since I established it as fax account with Call Centic. You might see the number as a CSID along with the number used by the Call Centric fax server gateway on the header and footer of each outgoing fax. This sure beats the cost of the AT&T land line, which AT&T insisted was the only way to handle a fax machine today. They said I could not use the AT&T UVerse VOIP service either with a fax machine, because it would not work. How convenient for them to say so! I am glad to be away from the rip off. At least 50% of my AT&T bill was extra fees and surcharges! For two lines, I was paying about $75 to $80 per month. Thanks to the Magic Jack and this fax solution, I will probably save about $5,000 in the next 5 years.

[paperloader]

I am confused. What phone number do people use to send a fax to me? Is it the Call Centric number or is it the MagicJack number? I had my MJ number printed on my business cards as my fax number so that is the number I want them to call to send faxes. Do I need to set up a DID forwarding service with Call Centric using my MJ number? Please help.