TheProblemwithFaxingoverVoIPChannels

Loweryourphonebill!isoneofmanyslogansusedtodaybypopularVoiceoverIP(VoIP) providers.Indeed,youmaycertainlysavemoneybyleveraginganexistingbroadband internetconnectionanddroppingyourtraditionalphoneline.Occasionallyyoumaynotice afewglitchesinthesound,maybealittlebitofechonowandagain,butcertainlyitsounds asgoodorbetterthanyourcellularphonedoes,andperhapsyoucan'tevenreallytellthe difference.Maybeyouroldtraditionalphonelinewassometimescracklyorhissedandthe newVoIPline(channel)isevenbetterthanthat. CertainlytherearesomebenefitstoVoIP,andcertainlytherewillbemanypeoplewhowill bewisetouseVoIPinsteadoftraditionalphonelines. However,somedayyoumaytrytosendorreceiveafaxoverthatVoIPchannel.Perhaps thatfirstfaxsessionortwowillbeperfectlyfine.Buteventuallyyoumaystarttonoticethat faxingjustdoesn'tseemtoworkaswellasyourememberitworkingontheoldphoneline. Whathappened? Generallytheproblemrestsinoneoftwomatters.Thefirstpossibilityiswhatiscalled lossyaudiocompression(codec).Thesecondiswhatisknownasjitter. Beforeunderstandingwhylossycompressionandjittercanbeaproblemforfaxing,itis importanttofirstunderstandwhathappensinfaxcommunication. HowAGoodFaxWorks Faxinginvolvestwofaxdevicescommunicatinggenerallyforthepurposeofpassingoneor morepagesofimagedatafromthesendertothereceiver.Thiskindofdata,asismost digitaldata,isonesandzeros.Tocommunicatedataoveraudiochannelssuchasaphone linethedatamustbemodulatedmeaningthatthedataistransformedintoanaudio waveformthatwillbedecodablebytheotherendtoreproducetheonesandzerosthatthe datareallyis.Listeningtothismodulatedaudioyoumaydescribeitasbeeps,squawks, screeching,orstatichiss.Althoughindecipherablebyahumanear,tothelisteningfax machinethosenoiseshavesignificantmeaning.

Hereisapicturerepresentation(theaudiowaveform)ofbothsidesofafaxcall.

Theaudiofromthefaxreceiverinthepictureisontop,andtheaudiofromthefaxsenderis onthebottom.Noticethatmostofthesignalingiscomingfromthesenderandthatmostof thetimethereceiverspendslisteningtothesender.Noticealsothattherearebasically threedifferentkindsofaudiobeingrepresented:messagesignaling(thethickbarareasthat aresmoothonthetopandbottom),imagedatasignaling(theroughorfuzzyareas),and silence(theflatline).Lastly,noticethatthefaxmachinesdonotsendsignalingatthesame time.Onesendssignalingwhiletheotherlistens.Thelisteningmachineknowsthatitis timetorespondtoasignalwhensilencebeginsafteraperiodofsignalingbytheotherend. AboutLossyCompressionandJitter Okay,sowhatislossycompressionandhowdoesitaffectfaxcalls? Compressioniswhenastringofsourcedataistakenandthenconvertedinsomewayintoa smallerstring.Theinterpreterontheotherendmustdecompressthestringtoretrievethe originaldata.Thesedifferentwaysofcompressingaudiodataarecalledcodecs.Some codecsarecalledlosslesswhichmeansthatthereisnolossindetailofthedatawhen undergoingthecompressionanddecompressionexchange.Somecodecsarecalledlossy whichmeansthatthereisalossofdetailwhenundergoingthecompressionand decompressionexchange;somedetailissacrificedinordertoachieveatighter compression(smallercompressedresult). Faxingcannotoccuronlossycodecsbecauseitwillconsistentlyremovedatafromtheaudio waveform.Ifyoucangetsomefaxesthroughthenthisisnottheproblemyou'rehaving. YourVoIPproviderisalreadygoingtobeawareoftheneedforfaxingtooccuronlossless codecs,andinmostcasesiftheyareprovidingyouwithastatedfaxserviceonyourVoIP channelsthenundoubtedlytheyareprovidingyouwithlosslesschannels.Youmaybe requiredtopayslightlymoreforthis. Alosslesschanneldoesusemorebandwidththanalossyone.Consequentlyyourinternet providerwilltrytoupsellyoutousemorebandwidthifeveryouhavequalityproblems withtheVoIPservice.PerhapsyourVoIPproviderwillevenrecommendthis.However, considerthatanormallosslessphonecallqualitychanneluses64kilobitspersecondof bandwidth.That'sonlyslightlymorethanwhatyoumayhavehadwith56Kdialupinternet speedsbeforeyouswitchedtobroadbandservices.Atypicalbroadbandinternet

connectionisatleast2megabitspersecond.That'senoughtohold30simultaneous64 kilobitchannels.Chancesaregood,too,thatyourbroadbandconnectionismuchbigger thanthat.Yourinternetproviderwillbehappytotakeyourmoneyformorebandwidth. ButknowthatitisquitelikelythatmorebandwidthwillnotresolveyourVoIPquality problems.UsuallyfaxproblemsonVoIPchannelsoccurduetowhatisknownasjitter, andusuallyanincreaseinavailablebandwidthdoesnotnecessarilyreducejitter. HerearethreevisualexamplesofjitterfoundinVoIPsentfaxes.Eachexamplewassent throughadifferentVoIPprovider.Paycloseattentionastohowtheydifferfromthe exampleabove.

Noticethatthemessagesignalisinterruptedwithsmallgapsofnearsilence.Realizethat thelargestgapinthatsignalisonlyfiveonehundredthsofonesecond(5/100sec).The humanearwouldnotlikelydetectit.Notice,however,thatthereceivingfaxmachinedid noticeit,andjustlyassumedthatthetransitiontosilenceindicatedthatitwastimeforitto respond.Consequentlyboththesenderandreceiverstartsignalingatthesametimeand thusbecomedissynchronous.

Hereisanotherexampleofnearlythesamething,exceptthatthistimeboththemessage signalandtheimagedatasignalarebroken.Dependingonhowthereceivingdeviceis programmedasingleinstanceofeitheroftheseproblemsmaynotnecessarilydoomafax session.However,oncethetwofaxendpointslosesynchronizationtheriskoffailureis significantlyincreasedbecauseoneorbothoftheendpointscannotimmediatelyhear correctsignalingfromtheother.Unfortunately,eveniftheydoresynchronizemorejitteris likelytodisruptthecommunicationagaininthesamecall.

Inthisexampleofjitterthegapsintheaudiostreamappearonlyduringtheimagedata signal.Inthiscasethereceiverdetectedtheendofsignalatthefirstgapandthenbegan patientlywaitingforthemessagesignalthatshouldfollowtheimagedatasignal.After enoughtimepassedwithoutyetdetectingthemessagesignalitgaveupanddisconnected. WhatJitterIs InaVoIPcalltheaudioisstreamedbetweenthetwoendpoints.Thisvariesslightlyfrom how,forexample,downloadingamusicfilefromtheinternetworks.Alldatasentacrossthe internetisputintolittlepiecescalledpackets,eachpackethasenoughinformationonit totellwhereitcamefromandwhereit'sgoing.Thesepacketsaresentacrosstheinternet networkandeachofthevarioushopsthroughtheinterneteachstationcanpotentially sendthepacketthroughadifferentroutetoreachthefinaldestination.Onthereceiving endthereceiverisexpectedtoreassembleallofthepacketstoreproducetheoriginaldata. Ultimatelywhathappensinthatprocessisthatsometimesastationcannothandlea particularpacketataparticulartime.Thatstationcandelaytheroutingofthatpacket momentarilyifneeded.And,dependingonthetypeofpacketthatthesenderused,that stationcanevenignoreandnotrelaythepacketentirely. Typicalinternetcommunications,likebrowsinganaveragewebpageordownloadinga musicfilewillnotusethetypeofpacketthatcanbeignored.Iftheinternetstationsare unabletorelayitthenitwillberetransmitted.However,VoIPcommunications,muchlike mostotherstreamedcommunications,usethetypeofpacketthattheinternetstations areallowedtoignoreifnecessary.Thisisdonetokeeptheaudiofrompausingatvarious pointsandtokeeptheaudioasrealtimeaspossible,likeonaphonecallwithatypical phoneline. Thistypicallyworksoutperfectlyfineforvoiceaudiobecausethehumaneardoesnotpick uponthemissingaudio.AndsomeVoIPequipment,noticingthemissingaudio,willeven synthesizesomeaudiotofillinthegap(thisiscalledajitterbuffer).However,both missingandsynthesizedaudioconstituteacorruptionoftheaudiodatafromwhenitleft thesender,andthereisnoimmediatewayforthereceivertorecoverthemissingaudio data.Thisiswhythejitteryouseerepresentedaboveinthepicturesshowsupasgapsof silence.Anintelligentjitterbuffermaycloseorfillinthegapsenoughtopreventpremature detectionofasignalend,however,therestillwillbemissingaudio.Thismissingaudiois primarilywhatmakesitdifficultforfaxtoworkoverVoIPchannels.

HowThisisDifferentfromTraditionalLineBehavior Onatraditionalphonelineaudiodatacomesandgoesonthenetworkinasequential mannerthatvirtuallyguaranteesthattheaudiosentfromoneendwillbereceivedbythe otherinthesameorderandtimingasitleft.Staticandnoisedoes,sometimesstilloccuron traditionalphonelines.Thisiswhatitmaylooklike:

Inthiscasethethreepagesofthistransmittedfaxwereultimatelyreceivedanddeliveredto thereceiverexactlyasthesenderhadsentthemwithnovisualerrorswhatsoever.They wereperfectcopiesofwhatthesendertransmitted.So,whydidthenoiseclearlyvisible herenotaffectthefaxreception?Thereareatleastthesethreereasons: 1) TheaudiocorruptiondidnotinvolvegapsofsilenceascommonlyseenwithVoIP sentfaxes. 2) Themomentsofnoiseactuallyconsistofthetrueaudiosignalplussomeadded distortion.Faxmachinesaretypicallycapableoffilteringoutmanykindsofnoises whenaddedtothetrueaudiosignal. 3) Thefaxmachinesemployedanerrorcorrectionmethod(ECM)torequest, retransmit,andrecoveranyimagedatathatdidnotmakeitthrough. ECMshouldevenbeabletohelpsomeinstancesofVoIPcausedfaxtrouble.However,that reallydependsonthefrequencyandregularityoftheoccurrenceofjitter.Ifevenasmall amountofjitteroccursonceeverysecondthenitwillbeextremelydifficultforthefax sessiontosucceed,evenwithECMenabled.Infact,manyfaxmachinemanufacturersand VoIPproviderswilladviseyoutodisableECMifyouexperiencecommunicationstrouble. Thisadvicereallyisn'tatruesolutiontotheproblem.Rather,itmerelytellsthefax machinestoacceptimperfectpageimagedataandworrymoreaboutlettingthesender havethechancetotransmitallofthepagesinsteadofworryingaboutgettingallofthepage imagedatathroughperfectly.Ifimperfectormissingpageimagedataisacceptabletoyou, thendisablingECMmighthelp.Thenagain,itmayactuallymakethingsworse(inthecase thatECMwasactuallyhelpingthings).

So,WhatCanBeDone? Fornow,don'ttrytosendorreceivefaxesoverinternetVoIPchannels.Unlessyouare anxioustotoleratetheheadacheofunreliablefaxingandhaveanambitiontobeonyour VoIPprovider'ssupportlinestocomplainaboutsomethingthattheyprobablycannot resolve,you'llbebestservedbysimplygoingbacktoatraditionalphonelineforyourfax machine.Ifit'snotworththepricetoyou,thenconsiderpurchasinganeasytousepaper scannerandsettingupanaccountwithaninternetbasedfaxserviceproviderforyour faxing. Forthelongrun,encourageyourVoIPprovidertodeploytrueFaxoverIPprotocol(FoIP) calledT.38intotheirequipment.Iftheydothis,andiftheydoitcorrectly,thenyou shouldbeabletoreliablyuseyourfaxmachinethroughtheirFoIPservice.