From: bernies@remove-this.panix.com   
      
   For 14 years I've been using RingCentral's email<>FAX gateway with   
   success.  It used to cost about $10/month if paid annually, but   
   they've raised that considerably since (I'm grandfathered on the cost).   
      
   Once subscribed, you can email many common document types as a file   
   attachment to @rcfax.com and they render it as a fax to   
   the destination fax machine.  Then a few minutes later they email you   
   a confirmation that it was successfully received (or not.)  Inbound   
   faxes to your RingCentral fax number arrive as PDF's to your email   
   inbox.  It works pretty well.   
      
   Years ago I setup an enterprise client with a similar service called   
   Faxmail.com but they seem to have been bought out by a less friendly   
   provider.  Some email<>FAX gateway providers (like eFax,   
   IIRC)  require you to use their proprietary software and seem to   
   monetize your traffic.   
      
   I often use RingCentral FAX to exchange faxes containing patient   
   medical info with medical service providers for myself and family   
   members.  I think HIPAA prohibits emailing such info, so most doctors   
   seem to have a fax machine (or some kind of fax service) for   
   compliance reasons.  Ironically, because email<>FAX gateways use   
   email as part of the path, using one for exchanging patient medical   
   info probably violates HIPAA.   
      
   FAX over VoIP --  can be done successfully depending on the CODEC   
   that the VoIP provider uses.  I recently discovered a FAX-friendly   
   feature of Ooma is to prefix the outgoing fax call with *99 which   
   invokes a FSK-friendly CODEC.  I'm not sure if/how Ooma can be used   
   to successfully receive faxes.  Contacting your VoIP provider(s)   
   higher-level tech support staff might yield useful info, such as any   
   dialed prefix with invokes a FSK-friendly CODEC for that outbound   
   call.  I had to talk with several Tier III tech support staffers at   
   Ooma to reach a someone who knowledgeable about this.   
      
   I don't think there's any legal requirement that VoIP providers such   
   as Callcentric support such a capability.  But obviously, the slower   
   the fax/modem connection speed (bits per second) the more reliable   
   the transmission will be.  Some older Group III fax machines have   
   modems that can negotiate all the way down to 300 bps, which would   
   wonk better over some VoIP connections.  YMMV.   
      
   -bernieS   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)