Faxing from WS2003 - Hardware side

[Bad boy Warrior]

I've read a few articles in how to configure WS2003 to send and receive faxes but what i'm trying to figure out is if i have a modem port on the server connected to a phone line, is that all i need in order to send and receive a fax on the hardware side?

Is there any "gotcha's" i need to be wary about, or any services that need to be active on WS2003?

Cheers

[cluberti]

As long as the modem is a hardware modem (not a winmodem) and Windows 2003 has a driver for it, fax should work with it. The only gotcha is that Windows' built-in fax product is awful .

[Bad boy Warrior]

As long as the modem is a hardware modem (not a winmodem) and Windows 2003 has a driver for it, fax should work with it. The only gotcha is that Windows' built-in fax product is awful .

True. I used to use a program called WinFax - but its been a while. Any recommendations for a Fax program on WS2003 and possibly compatible with WS2008?

[InTheWayBoy]

I would just scrap any idea of using a windows-based fax program. We use a commercial product, FaxPress, which is a custom server preinstalled with 2003 and the special fax hardware/software. For four lines it set us back about $5000. Works great, but it's $5000. After we got it I found out that a simple linux virtual machine running HylaFax with some rather standard external modems would do the same for about a quarter of that...if even.

Of course you'll need some linux skills, but it's almost set it and forget it technology at this point. Also, if you want the ability to fax from the desktop (Like fax a word document) you still can, you just need to convert it to a PDF (PDF Creator comes to mind) and then email it to the HylaFax server with the correct details. It's pretty swank...

As a suggestion, no matter what product you get, if you have the choice get external modems. They are infinently more reliable that internal modems, they can be 'hot-swapped' when they die, and you get a nice visual display of the status. I use only USR 5686E's, cost about $80 a pop but they are well worth it.

[newsposter]

why not use a commercial internet service like faxaway.com? $10- a year and I get a dedicated phone # as well as a yearly allowance of several hundred pages of send/receive fax. Incoming faxes are delivered to me as email, outbound faxes get sent as email.

[GrofLuigi]

There are tons of fax programs out there - most of them install as printer driver. Some of what I tried (but on XP) are: SnappyFax, MightyFax, 32Bit Fax... WinFax is one of the heavyweights, but if it works for you, use it.

I can't see a reason why any of them wouldn't work on 2003 (apart from manufacturers wanting to make more money and sell you separate versions). I think that Win2008 is too new for those programs to be tested on it.

Oddly enough, some time ago I looked for free one and couldn't find any.

GL