Analog Fax lines could start to go away in August 2022

[SalesServiceGuy]

Starting in August 2022, telephone carriers are permitted to begin the sunset of analog telephone service, per the 2019 FCC 19-72 federal regulatory mandate. There are over 36 million active POTS (plain old telephone service) lines across America in existence today, with average monthly service costs ranging from $65-$100 per month.

Existing analog service will become increasingly costly and difficult to maintain as carriers phase out these services. Carriers such as Verizon, AT&T and those supported by smaller markets will be actively pursuing clients to convert their analog lines to FoIP (Fax over IP) or POTS over LTE solutions. These services are cheaper and easier to maintain service and support for the carriers but may have a significant impact to your organization’s business operations.

OpenText XM Fax, allows your organization to quickly and easily move away from analog technology.
•
Options include a simple web portal, MFD panel, workflow and email integration
•
Existing numbers can be ported to the solution or new numbers can be added through a simple administrative dashboard
•
Users can choose to view or send faxes from a friendly dashboard or use a Toshiba copier as easily as sending a fax today
•
There are no limits to the number of DIDs, users, content or retention times with the system

[SalesServiceGuy]

As of August 2022, the FCC will allow telephony companies to begin sunsetting analog phone line technology and support.

While lines will not necessarily be turned off come August, costs will increase, and support will wane for supporting the analog technology.

Telephony companies will strongly encourage customers to transition to digital telephone lines, which may cause issues with older, analog fax machines.

... I am not sure how this will work where telcos often offer their business customers a bundled service for internet, voice and fax where the seperate services are not lined out on your invoice.

I do see dedicated analog fax lines cost as much as $75.00 per month for SMB customers.

[mloudy]

They first better figure our a way to get VOIP/FOIP lines to work without a buttload of static. Just about every vendor I use has switched to VOIP at some point in the past view years. Talking on the phone with them on a weekly/daily basis is very frustrating. Their calls are constantly crackling (they claim they don't here it) and they drop out every once in a while.

Our internet provider called last weeek again trying to convert us to VOIP. The call quality was horrible.
I asked him if he was calling me on a VOIP line. He said yes and kinda sounded proud of it. I told him that I could barely hear him through the loud static. No sale.

I actually signed a contract a few yeasr ago to move the business to VOIP and defore the install on of the schools systems called us from an unknown #. They explaioned they had been without phones for over a week because the installer couldn't get their new digital phone system working. This was the same compnay I had signed a contract with. Fortunately after some heavy conversation I got out of it.

We have never been without phone service in 40 years. Power goes out for extended periods of time and our phone lines keep working. I know, battery backups, call forwarding to a cell #, no thank you.

I am sure we will be forced to switch over at some point but I might be retired by that time.

[rthonpm]

They first better figure our a way to get VOIP/FOIP lines to work without a buttload of static. Just about every vendor I use has switched to VOIP at some point in the past view years. Talking on the phone with them on a weekly/daily basis is very frustrating. Their calls are constantly crackling (they claim they don't here it) and they drop out every once in a while. Our internet provider called last weeek again trying to convert us to VOIP. The call quality was horrible. I asked him if he was calling me on a VOIP line. He said yes and kinda sounded proud of it. I told him that I could barely hear him through the loud static. No sale. I actually signed a contract a few yeasr ago to move the business to VOIP and defore the install on of the schools systems called us from an unknown #. They explaioned they had been without phones for over a week because the installer couldn't get their new digital phone system working. This was the same compnay I had signed a contract with. Fortunately after some heavy conversation I got out of it. We have never been without phone service in 40 years. Power goes out for extended periods of time and our phone lines keep working. I know, battery backups, call forwarding to a cell #, no thank you. I am sure we will be forced to switch over at some point but I might be retired by that time.

Definitely the opposite of my experience with VOIP calling. At this point, the customers I can't hear that well are the POTS customers. Then again, with most of my customers being in the Harrisburg PA to Washington DC corridor, the internet backbone is pretty reliable and well-built out. It's been a good decade or more since I've had to spend any time in the Midwest: at that point as soon as you go outside of an area of less than five or six cities or towns lose to each other your choices and quality of internet service dropped to dail-up or semaphore. One of the pain points early were were the poor quality handsets that providers were offering with their VOIP lines, or people trying to continue to use their standard phones with the new service. My customers that spent a little more and actually bought decent handsets for their staff fared much better than the meets the minimum specs phones that their provider offered them. Our first office phones were all digital, and people sounded like they were in a tunnel.

Overall, whatever it takes to finally put a stake through the heart of the technological vampire known as faxing, I'm all for.

[PrintWhisperer]

This isn't about the line technonlogies, it is straight up a Sales problem. Fax must die like all analog technologies of the 20th century. Replacing it involves a connectivity solution and (most) sales people are not technical. They will sell a fax card and be done with it before they will spend one hour delaying the sales cycle with something that needs software,analysis and actual consultancy. You know, things like overcoming fallacy objections like 'Fax is more secure'

Why do you think fax is still so prevalent? I've seen too many multi-machine fax card sales where that money would have paid for the software, AND not have to be re-purchased with every new machine (oh, that's why sales people love selling hardware that needs to be re-purchased with every machine)

Find a Sales forum if you want to make a difference, this isn't a technical problem.

[BillyCarpenter]

This isn't about the line technonlogies, it is straight up a Sales problem. Fax must die like all analog technologies of the 20th century. Replacing it involves a connectivity solution and (most) sales people are not technical. They will sell a fax card and be done with it before they will spend one hour delaying the sales cycle with something that needs software,analysis and actual consultancy. You know, things like overcoming fallacy objections like 'Fax is more secure'

Why do you think fax is still so prevalent? I've seen too many multi-machine fax card sales where that money would have paid for the software, AND not have to be re-purchased with every new machine (oh, that's why sales people love selling hardware that needs to be re-purchased with every machine)

Find a Sales forum if you want to make a difference, this isn't a technical problem.

There's a reason that many salesmen don't push new technology in many cases. Why? Because people don't like change. Business owners have better things to do than meet with some "consultant" to learn about a new technology. "Just leave it like it is" is what you'll hear over and over.


Hell, I don't like change. lol


PS - There's barely any commission in selling a fax option. Peanuts.

[SalesServiceGuy]

This isn't about the line technonlogies, it is straight up a Sales problem. Fax must die like all analog technologies of the 20th century. Replacing it involves a connectivity solution and (most) sales people are not technical. They will sell a fax card and be done with it before they will spend one hour delaying the sales cycle with something that needs software,analysis and actual consultancy. You know, things like overcoming fallacy objections like 'Fax is more secure'

Why do you think fax is still so prevalent? I've seen too many multi-machine fax card sales where that money would have paid for the software, AND not have to be re-purchased with every new machine (oh, that's why sales people love selling hardware that needs to be re-purchased with every machine)

Find a Sales forum if you want to make a difference, this isn't a technical problem.

... when dedicated analog fax lines start to go away, it becomes both a sales and a service problem. Sales to sell it, service to install it.

I think many customer will just give up having a fax line as their TX/RX volumes are way down.

Some industries like healthcare, legal and gov't will continue to require fax capability. It just will not be on copper fax lines.

I would also mention that I have many copiers auto report their meter reads to me via fax each month as for some reason scan to email will not work due to security reasons (like a bank) blocking all outgoing emails not within the local email domain.

[slimslob]

Definitely the opposite of my experience with VOIP calling. At this point, the customers I can't hear that well are the POTS customers. Then again, with most of my customers being in the Harrisburg PA to Washington DC corridor, the internet backbone is pretty reliable and well-built out. It's been a good decade or more since I've had to spend any time in the Midwest: at that point as soon as you go outside of an area of less than five or six cities or towns lose to each other your choices and quality of internet service dropped to dail-up or semaphore. One of the pain points early were were the poor quality handsets that providers were offering with their VOIP lines, or people trying to continue to use their standard phones with the new service. My customers that spent a little more and actually bought decent handsets for their staff fared much better than the meets the minimum specs phones that their provider offered them. Our first office phones were all digital, and people sounded like they were in a tunnel.

Overall, whatever it takes to finally put a stake through the heart of the technological vampire known as faxing, I'm all for.

Same here. We installed a Panasonic KX-TDA50G hybrid system at a water agency. They mentioned that they had been having almost daily problems with their copper connection provider but thought they were stuck because they didn't have cable service nearby. My boss talked to Spectrum whom we had just switched to and found out that they had just brought fiber service in to a new shopping center less than a quarter mile from the water agency. By the time we got the system from our distributor, they were ready with fiber all the way to the building. Only problem was the hunt sequence when the numbers were ported over. One phone call took care of that.

[slimslob]

In truth, analog fax has been being pushed over TCP/IP links for almost as long as those links have existed. Microwave link, most likely digital. Satellite link, digital. Digital is less susceptible to static. Why, same reason FM radio is less susceptible to static, because static is amplitude modulated analog signals.

[PrintWhisperer]

In truth, analog fax has been being pushed over TCP/IP links for almost as long as those links have existed. Microwave link, most likely digital. Satellite link, digital. Digital is less susceptible to static.

Right and it has been a problem ever since because of the variety of AtoD converters and the difference in time sensitivity between the two technologies. Static is the one thing fax cards have adjustments to deal with...ones that only have limited success with VOIP like ECM, etc etc.

Why, same reason FM radio is less susceptible to static, because static is amplitude modulated analog signals.

So you do realize most FM is now simulcast as digital for the new radios, and that's why it shows the name of the song and station logo?

I did electronic counter measures in the Marines so let's not go down the whole RF technologies thing.

... when dedicated analog fax lines start to go away, it becomes both a sales and a service problem. Sales to sell it, service to install it.
I think many customer will just give up having a fax line as their TX/RX volumes are way down.

All true, but it begins with a Solution pitch and that doesn't happen until Pre-Sales Professional Services are applied with an ideology of migration and the talking points to sell it. Then everyone has to get trained.

Some industries like healthcare, legal and gov't will continue to require fax capability. It just will not be on copper fax lines.

Correct again but remember our alternative is somethin like a RightFax server or the like being cost justified by not having to buy a fax card. Usually the cost of 5 fax cards will more than pay for a server solution.

I would also mention that I have many copiers auto report their meter reads to me via fax each month as for some reason scan to email will not work due to security reasons (like a bank) blocking all outgoing emails not within the local email domain.

See, once again there are 21st century solutions for these 20th century problems, but it takes research by a SME whose business is helping all sides (Customer/Sales/Service). E-fax technologies support incoming email-to-fax relays.

Thanks guys, seems like old times