How do I Use a Fax Machine With a VoIP Phone Service?

1. Plug your fax machine into your Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection. If you are using a specialist Internet telephony service, this is usually as simple as plugging the fax machine into the VoIP telephone socket. Turn on your fax machine and reduce its baud rate to as low as you can; 9600 bps at the very most. The baud rate must be low to compensate for data loss in signal compression.
2. Turn off the fax machine's error correction, which is usually found in the settings menu. Consult your manual for precise details. This prevents extra error-checking data being sent that can cause problems with the VoIP compression protocols. Switch your fax machine's connection settings to the uncompressed 'G711' protocol, which prevents the machine from attempting its own data compression.
3. Send a test fax to check that your connection and settings are working correctly. You can send any sort of document as a test, from a wholly blank page to something random printed from your computer. If everything works, you are all set. If not, try lowering the baud rate a little more and checking that all your settings are correct.