Sangoma Fax Sync Cable

The major hurdle with Fax + an IP PBX until now has been proper timing for the fax machine.  Without precise timing, the actual facsimile will become corrupt during transmission and the resulting page that prints will become unreadable. 

Sangoma has provided a solution which allows an analog card to pull timing from a T1 card.  This feature allows faxing over a T1 line through an FXS port to a Fax Machine.

There are 2 timing pins on the top back corner of all Sangoma Cards (T1, Analog, BRI). These pins transfer timing information from a T1 card, where timing is provided by the Telco, to an Analog and/or BRI card.  The pins must be connected 1-1 and 2-2; therefore, Fonality used a straight 2 pin cable often used as a CDROM Audio cable.  A T1 card can can actually provide timing for multiple cards; however, Fonality currently only supports a single analog card used for Fax machines.

In the image below, the fax sync cable connects to the back of the analog card (towards the back) and the back of the PRI card:

You will need the following (and you can order the parts from Fonality directly)

• Timing Line (2pin straight)
• T1 card with timing from Telco
• Analog card with FXS ports
• If you need to send faxes, and make all calls via analog lines, you will also need 1 FXO module (a total of 1 FXS and 1 FXO module in your analog card)     Systems utilizing a PRI do not require the FXO module.

Please be aware of certain limitations to the hardware list above

• Only supported on Analog and T1 cards shipped by Sangoma after 6/1/07
• The PRI card must have Hardware Echo Cancellation (HWEC)
• Configuration changes must be applied to your wanpipeX.conf files (where X is the actual PCI slot of the card)

To configure your system for Faxing

1. Power down your PBXtra
2. Open your server
3. Connect the Sangoma Fax Sync Cable to your PRI card
4. Connect the other end of the Sangoma Fax Sync Cable to your Analog card.  Please be especially careful to connect pins 1-1 and 2-2
5. Close your server
6. Power on your server
7. Once you can login to the Admin Panel, please click on Options --> cards
8. Click on [ Advanced Mode ] in blue at the top of the page
9. Click on the + symbol next to the word 'Wanpipe'
10. Scroll to the 'wanpipe' configuration of your analog card   [e.g. wanpipe2 or wanpipe3 depending on your setup - the T1/PRI card wanpipe(s) are typically first, with the analog card wanpipe last]
11. Add the following line at the bottom of the [wanpipeX] section, above the [wXg1] section: RM_NETWORK_SYNC = YES
    
12. Click Apply All Changes

Using an Analog line for Faxing

If you purchase an analog line that you would like to use for your Fax machine as well as use this analog line as a backup outbound trunk for Emergency 911, please follow the instructions below:

1. First - you must create a new extension for your Fax Machine.  Click on Extensions --> add extension
2. Please read How do I add an extension? and configure the extension's options
3. Under the Device option for this new extension, you must select an Analog Port from the drop-down.  Available analog ports will appear like Analog Port X - Zap/NUM where the X is going to be a number 1 through 12, and the NUM variable will indicate the Zap port as far as the system sees it.  So a typical system with 1 analog card would say Analog Port 1 - Zap/25.  The port you select from the drop-down corresponds to the analog ports physically available from the back of your server.  Use the image below as a reference for the port order.  Your system may only have the one card with the red circle - the image below demonstrates multiple cards and the port order increments from 1-16.
   
4. Once you have selected the appropriate port from the Devices drop-down, click Apply All Changes
5. Click on AutoAnswer --> edit call menu
6. In the bottom right-hand corner of the page, under Add New Sequence, select after step 1, go to submenu/ext by number dialed
7. Click Apply All Changes
8. The page refreshes and you have a new call menu sequence as Step 2
9. From the two drop-downs in the Step 2 sequence, first select the Extension that you created earlier in these instructions
10. Next select the Analog Line that acts as your Fax line from the second drop down.  This will appear similar to the Devices selection on the Extension page - you will see Card 1 port 1 or maybe Card 1 port 3 - it depends on how many analog ports you have provisioned for your server. 
11. Click Apply All Changes
12. Click on Options --> dial plan.  You may wish to watch our video about modifying dial plans if you are unfamiliar with this process How do I edit an existing dial plan?
13. Click on the 911 dial plan
14. Under the Route column, select the Analog Line option next to the 1st route option.  This means calls to 911 will first be placed over your analog line before using any other type of connection on your server.  If the analog line is ever unavailable, you should select Secondary and Tiertiary routes for calls to 911 as this is a very critical phone number
15. Click Update Dial Plan
16. Your system is now fully configured to receive incoming faxes and have these calls answered by the fax machine.  Your employees can also use the analog line as their primary path to call 911 in an Emergency.

If you have problems with this configuration

If "RM_NETWORK_SYNC" is set to yes, there must be a timing line present.  The wanpipe drivers will not load if the cable is missing.

If the carrier does not provide precise timing on the PRI card, the analog card will not properly send or receive facsimiles.  Please double-check the T1 configuration before escalating any issues.

For full details please refer to Sangoma's Wiki Page:
Sangoma Wiki Article

Fax Machine Goes Off Hook Immediately when Connected

Certain types of fax machine go off hook immediately when connected to the FXS ports on the PBXtra . No amount of tweaking the Fax Machine can make it go on hook.

A few of the affected fax machines are:

• HP Laserjet 3015 All in One Printer
• HP Photosmart C7280 ALL-IN-ONE Printer
• HP Officejet v40  All in One Printer

These fax machines (primarily All-In-One Printer/Fax Machine with no 'Hook' switch) require a special 2-wire phone cable instead of the common 4-wire phone cable that Fonality ships with the PBX.  According to some of the fax machine User Manuals, the manufacturer normaly ships this special phone cable with the fax machine.  HP also has a 2-wire to 4-wire adapter that can be purchased/used with any standard 4-wire phone cord commonly available.

The final alternative is to make a custom-phone cable that strips away the 2 offending wires. The 2 wires that need to be removed are the outter pair (Wire 2 and 5 in the diagram below).The pair that actually makes the connection between the PBX and the Fax Machine is the inner pair (Wire 3 and 4 below).

Fonality can also supply such custom-made phone cables on a case-by-case basis should the customer require it.   Please contact Fonality Support for more information, and reference this article.