What Does Fax Over IP Mean?

Fax machines transmit a copy of a document that is visibly the same as the original. Traditional fax machines scan a document, convert it to digital format and transmit the document to a receiving machine.

IP Vs. Traditional Fax

Traditional fax machines transmit the digital version of the document over traditional telephone lines. Fax over IP converts the data to Internet Protocol (IP) packets and transmits them over the Internet.

Dedicated Machines

Dedicated fax over IP machines look very much like a traditional fax machine. The difference is that fax over IP machines connect to the Internet and traditional fax machines connect to a telephone line.

Integrated Units

A number devices that integrate scanner, printer and fax functionality exist. Some of these devices plug in to a computer for Internet connectivity. Other units of this type connect directly to a network.

Software Based Systems

A number of software based fax over IP machines are available. Documents can either be printed from standard word processors, spreadsheets, or other software. The printer driver converts an image of the document to fax format and then wraps the data in IP packets for transmission over the Internet. For hand written documents, a scanner is required.

Advantages of IP Based Fax

Fax over IP offers a number of advantages over traditional fax. No telephone lines are used, so there are no long distance charges. Because they use the Internet, a separate telephone line is not required.