by Loic DIDELOT
on Apr 18, 2021

Is the fax dead? (2/2) UPDATE

End of 2017, Mixvoip alerted on the fax issues that would arise with the adoption of the All-IP technologies by most European countries. Read our first article about fax and voip. Today, the historic operator POST confirms it, too: read here or check the small screenshot of their article just below.

No end-to-end interoperability guaranteed

Using fax machines in a VoIP environment remains possible (fax via email). However, its use is very limited. No operator can guarantee end-to-end interoperability (Règlement ILR dated 9th August 2017). Here are the main reasons:

Technology switch: from analog to All-IP
Interoperability: Even if one operator guarantees the transmission in its network, he cannot guarantee it for the frequent inter-operator transmissions
End-user resources: fax transmission also depends on both end-to-end users’ equipment and internet connection

Some major players are transparent and specify that they cannot guarantee the success of fax transmissions such as POST, Proximus, Swisscom:

Post Telecom Luxembourg

Proximus Belgium

Swisscom Switzerland

Thus, they are not legally obliged to support fax transmissions in SIP/VoIP issues. At Mixvoip, we do not guarantee interoperability. Nevertheless, if you encounter fax transmission problems, our support team will do its best to help you.

A European trend

Luxembourg’s neighbors engaged in the transition to the ALL-IP networks:

Germany: Deutsche Telekom stopped providing ISDN & PSTN lines in 2017 (1)
France: Orange hasn’t been supplying ISDN & PSTN lines since 2017 and plans the transition to be done by 2023 (2)
Belgium: Proximus ceased to supply ISDN & PSTN lines in 2017 unless no alternative existed. (3)
UK: British Telecom will stop supplying ISDN & PSTN lines by 2020 and migrate to full IP by 2025. (4)

This is why we advise you to switch to a new solution.

So what are the alternative solutions?

In many cases, you can email a PDF: it’s easier and quicker. The e-signature has been legally recognized in Luxembourg since 2000 (The Law on E-commerce).