Answer

Before installing GFI FaxMaker, you will need to decide which type of line(s) you would like to use to send and receive faxes. GFI FaxMaker can be used with Analog lines, Digital (ISDN) lines and Fax-over-IP.  You may want to take into consideration the type of routing that you would be using to route incoming faxes when selecting the type of line. OCR, CSID and line routing supports all three line types.

Analog lines

These are the normal telephone lines (also known as POTS or PSTN lines). You would need an analog card, fax board or a modem in order to be able to send and receive faxes using an analog line. An analog line supports DTMF routing, however the fax device would need a voice chipset to identify and to capture the DTMF tones. The manufacturer Dialogic provides also a number of fax devices which allow DID routing on an analog line. You would need to check the availability of such lines with your local telecom provider.

Digital Lines

These type of lines are provided by telephony service providers and normally consist of either BRI or PRI lines, and are much faster than analog lines in nature. Should you wish to send faxes over these lines you would need to purchase a Digital (ISDN) card. The main advantage of these lines is that the users can been assigned virtual numbers and use DID and MSN routing technologies (that means that an user will receive the fax directly into his mailbox). Such functionality would depend on the amount of MSN / DID numbers provided by your ISDN service provider.

Fax over IP

Fax over IP is a technology that lets faxes be sent in real-time over an IP network. The GFI FaxMaker server can send faxes over IP by using IP-enabled software or devices. These devices are documented in here. This type of faxing is ideal should you need to perform least cost routing between geographically dispersed offices, however requires a compatible gateway device to perform the translation between the IP network and the phone network.

Notes:

• Further information on the types of routing available in GFI FaxMaker can be found in here

• A list of all the devices supported by GFI FaxMaker can be found in here