GSM Fax - where's it going? Is there such a thing?

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Alan Spicer - 14 Dec 2005 03:35 GMT

There used to be the capability of connecting a physical fax machine
(assuming cell phone tether or Fixed Wireless Terminal) and having WFAX
Wireless Fax Service. Cingular seems to have stopped providing this. Does
any other GSM provider have this? Anyone know why it's being stopped?

---
Alan Spicer

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John Navas - 14 Dec 2005 06:02 GMT

>There used to be the capability of connecting a physical fax machine
>(assuming cell phone tether or Fixed Wireless Terminal) and having WFAX
>Wireless Fax Service. Cingular seems to have stopped providing this. Does
>any other GSM provider have this? Anyone know why it's being stopped?

CSD/Fax ties up a voice channel (one timeslot) for the duration of the
connection. In addition, it requires IWU support by the carrier. Packet data
is more efficient. The alternative is to use Internet faxing.

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Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

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Name - 14 Dec 2005 06:15 GMT

> There used to be the capability of connecting a physical fax machine
> (assuming cell phone tether or Fixed Wireless Terminal) and having WFAX
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> ---
> Alan Spicer

Most phones still support Fax service, with a scanner and a PC, you can
still send fax messages through GSM. Probably not as convenient as with this
interface box. Simpler if you don't have to start from a paper document.

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John Navas - 14 Dec 2005 06:46 GMT

>> There used to be the capability of connecting a physical fax machine
>> (assuming cell phone tether or Fixed Wireless Terminal) and having WFAX
>> Wireless Fax Service. Cingular seems to have stopped providing this. Does
>> any other GSM provider have this? Anyone know why it's being stopped?

>Most phones still support Fax service, with a scanner and a PC, you can
>still send fax messages through GSM. Probably not as convenient as with this
>interface box. Simpler if you don't have to start from a paper document.

That's not entirely true. While it is true that most GSM phones are capable
of CSD/Fax, that can only actually happen if the carrier supports it.

A GSM phone has no real dialup modem, just a sort of virtual modem which makes
a connection to a carrier's IWU (Inter Working Unit), located in some service
center. The IWU has the actual modem that can make analog data calls over the
PSTN (public switched telephone network). If the carrier doesn't provide an
IWU, or if your account isn't provisioned for CSD (Circuit Switched Data),
then a GSM phone cannot make data and/or fax calls. If your account is
provisioned for CSD, then all you need is to install the phone as a modem with
Windows Dial-Up Networking.

A regular analog dialup modem cannot be made to work over a GSM voice channel
because of the digital audio data compression used in the GSM channel.

You can instead use Internet faxing.

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Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

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Name - 14 Dec 2005 08:41 GMT

> [POSTED TO alt.cellular.gsm - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]
>
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
>
> You can instead use Internet faxing.

I don't disagree with the above, but I've never heard of a network that does
not support fax or CSD. Even if those are getting less popular, is there an
operator that has stopped supporting fax and/or CSD?

Here in Europe at least the problem, if existing, would be either the phone
not supporting fax or no fax/csd subscription.

I'm not familiar with Internet faxing but I thought it would be more
complicated than direct fax e.g. from a Nokia communicator or from a PC
connected to the phone (email should be simple but if the receiving party
really only accepts a fax message, then email is not an option). I mean with
GSM fax you do not need to be familiar with any "external" service, you just
need to know the fax number of the receiver.

By the way, in some cases it may be less expensive to use GSM fax instead of
GPRS.

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John Navas - 16 Dec 2005 11:18 GMT

>> That's not entirely true. While it is true that most GSM phones are
>> capable
>> of CSD/Fax, that can only actually happen if the carrier supports it.

>I don't disagree with the above, but I've never heard of a network that does
>not support fax or CSD. Even if those are getting less popular, is there an
>operator that has stopped supporting fax and/or CSD?

Cingular no longer supports fax (here in Northern California at least), and is
reportedly discouraging CSD with it eventually being phased out entirely.

>I'm not familiar with Internet faxing but I thought it would be more
>complicated than direct fax e.g. from a Nokia communicator or from a PC
>connected to the phone (email should be simple but if the receiving party
>really only accepts a fax message, then email is not an option).

Internet faxing is deal easy with an email-to-fax service.

>I mean with
>GSM fax you do not need to be familiar with any "external" service, you just
>need to know the fax number of the receiver.

In my experience it's actually pretty tricky to use.

>By the way, in some cases it may be less expensive to use GSM fax instead of
>GPRS.

Sure, if you have a surplus of minutes (either Anytime, or Nights and
Weekends). OTOH, I have an unlimited data package, so GPRS fax is essentially
free (other than the Internet fax charges).

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Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

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