Question about Unified Messaging for our BCM system and silent fax detection

Hi there, We have a block of 200 DIDs - the first 100 numbers are for our employees and the second 100 numbers are supposed to be for their fax lines. We're having an issue where the fax numbers aren't working - they are essentially just express messaging lines to people's voicemail boxes. The problem appears to be that many fax machines don't make a detectable tone (fax tone) when initiating calls. I know many computer faxes don't do this. Does anyone have any solutions to this?

i.e. DN 3506 has phone number 388-3506 and 388-3606

3606 express messages into their voicemail

but faxes aren't detected.

I want 3606 to answer with an immediate fax reception tone.

Reply to
pyite
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Hi there, We have a block of 200 DIDs - the first 100 numbers are for our employees and the second 100 numbers are supposed to be for their fax lines. We're having an issue where the fax numbers aren't working - they are essentially just express messaging lines to people's voicemail boxes. The problem appears to be that many fax machines don't make a detectable tone (fax tone) when initiating calls. I know many computer faxes don't do this. Does anyone have any solutions to this?

i.e. DN 3506 has phone number 388-3506 and 388-3606

3606 express messages into their voicemail

but faxes aren't detected.

I want 3606 to answer with an immediate fax reception tone.

Reply to
pyite

Hi there, We have a block of 200 DIDs - the first 100 numbers are for our employees and the second 100 numbers are supposed to be for their fax lines. We're having an issue where the fax numbers aren't working - they are essentially just express messaging lines to people's voicemail boxes. The problem appears to be that many fax machines don't make a detectable tone (fax tone) when initiating calls. I know many computer faxes don't do this. Does anyone have any solutions to this?

i.e. DN 3506 has phone number 388-3506 and 388-3606

3606 express messages into their voicemail

but faxes aren't detected.

I want 3606 to answer with an immediate fax reception tone.

Reply to
pyite

Hi there, We have a block of 200 DIDs - the first 100 numbers are for our employees and the second 100 numbers are supposed to be for their fax lines. We're having an issue where the fax numbers aren't working - they are essentially just express messaging lines to people's voicemail boxes. The problem appears to be that many fax machines don't make a detectable tone (fax tone) when initiating calls. I know many computer faxes don't do this. Does anyone have any solutions to this?

i.e. DN 3506 has phone number 388-3506 and 388-3606

3606 express messages into their voicemail

but faxes aren't detected.

I want 3606 to answer with an immediate fax reception tone.

Reply to
pyite

wow sorry bout that Google wasn't posting my message, but i guess it was errrr...

Reply to
pyite

Hi there, We have a block of 200 DIDs - the first 100 numbers are for our employees and the second 100 numbers are supposed to be for their fax lines. We're having an issue where the fax numbers aren't working - they are essentially just express messaging lines to people's voicemail boxes. The problem appears to be that many fax machines don't make a detectable tone (fax tone) when initiating calls. I know many computer faxes don't do this. Does anyone have any solutions to this?

i.e. DN 3506 has phone number 388-3506 and 388-3606

3606 express messages into their voicemail

but faxes aren't detected.

I want 3606 to answer with an immediate fax reception tone.

Reply to
pyite

Thanks for the suggestion, XBarNone. Here's our info:

*** BCM Info: Release: 3.6 Build: 3.1a PCI Device1 Voice MSC Card PCI Device2 n/a PCI Device3 n/a PCI Device4 Network Card PCI Device5 Network Card Motherboard SH815 Product Version BCM400 BIOS Version 02.03.04

*** Call Pilot Info: Voice Mail Version: 36.00.67.22

Reply to
pyite

What vintage of BCM are you using. I know that there have been a few patches published that dealt with faxing issues. One thing I recomend to anyone who can get it is to get the free upgrade to BCM 3.6 and then use the cumi-patch to do a one step fix-up. It's a free upgrade from Nortel but you'll still have to pay your vender for the labor to put it in for you.

Reply to
XBarNone

I think this could be your problem.

and there is a patch but I recomend puting in the cumulitive patch and get the all with one shot. At least as for as the cume goes anyway, there's about 10 more after that one.

BCM 3.6 T38 DSP Firmware Patch

This patch can be used to patch the DSP Firmware on either BCM 3.5 or BCM

3.6

systems. It will improve the performance of T.38 and allow BCM to interoperate

with more fax machines.

Problem:

This load is released to address a few T.38 related problems.

A. Initial fax protocol negotiation failure due to the timing of T38 task creation

Problem Description:

At times, T38 would be created in the middle of a V21 burst and only be able to

detect V21, but none of the actual CSI/DIS data. This would cause the originating

T.38 task to send a CRP (Command Repeat) message to the originating fax

machine - which in some cases will cause the originating fax machine to hangup,

as discovered. In other cases, this would cause the originating T.38 task to

enter a mode where it ignored any further packets send from the answering ..T38

task and only look for local fax activity - therefore blocking any further fax

negotiations in that T.38 session.

B. Answering Fax does not respond to first EOP (End of Page) message:

Problem Description:

If an answering fax does not reply to the first EOP message, upon receiving the

second EOP message, the T.38 Task could enter a state in which no further fax

communications could take place in the T.38 session. Without confirming the

EOP, the fax machines would indicate a transmission failure.

CRs Resolved:

· Q00831314: Upgrade to 3.5, faxing stopped working

Software components changed:

· DSP Firmware (to R5WI117)

Reply to
XBarNone

The T.38 patch is for fax over VOIP.

There is a fix that will skip the message being played for fax lines, but it must be implemented by Nortel ITAS - it is not a publicly available patch or fix. This has been available since version 3.5, but isn't widely published.

Reply to
biv343

I should have mentioned that I'm assuming the issue you're having is when a fax call comes in, the express messaging line directs that target line to the mailbox, and the fax machine on the other end disconnects because it doesn't hear a fax tone right away. The fix above (having ITAS implement the "fax fix") address that. I'm assuming when you call the fax DID that you are hearing the mailbox message greeting?

Reply to
biv343

Also, just wanted to verify that you do have the fax keycode installed on your BCM. Sorry I keep forgetting things.

Reply to
biv343

Hi biv343 - thanks so much for that info. That is exactly what we needed to know. Our installer is a bit reluctant to really help with this unfortunately. This is most frustrating. Maybe you can point me somewhere that I can lookup the exact patch number or another identifying piece of information so I can open a ticket with this specific info inside it?

Also, does this make all express messaging lines answer immediately with fax, or does it add an option to differentiate between a voice and fax line?

Just curious

Thanks so much for your hlep.

Reply to
pyite

yes, we have all the appropriate keycodes installed for faxing. The fax feature does work, it's just not reliable.

It also looks like the cumulative patch mentioned above was not installed. Our installer took care of this last week, so hopefully our incoming faxes are more reliable now.

Reply to
pyite

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