Choosing a modem for fax purposes

[darkconz]

Hi there,

Right now I am getting a little more fax than what I expect and I want to store some of these ads/garbage into my PC before printing them out and wasting my paper+toner. I will need to add a modem to my PC and I am curious on what to look for? Are all the 56k v.92 modems capable of transfering at the max speed of 33.6kbps?

I've looked into these modems see if you could give me a suggestion:
Modem 1
Modem 2
Modem 3
Modem 4

Modem 1 is the most ideal one... I do not want to invest that much into it and for local stores, those are the 4 choices I have.

I also have a very old 56k V.92 modem laying around (I don't think I will buy a new one if I can find that one).

My question is, will my old 56k V.92 support the fastest faxing speed? Or am I capped at some point?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[darkconz]

bump

 

[JackMDS]

IMHO given that you can find an AIO Printer/Scanner/Fax on sale for around $50, it does not make sense to use a Fax Modem inside the computer.

 

[darkconz]

Thanks for the reply JackMDS. I have a HP 3055 AIO but the software they have is more troublesome than one can imagine. I don't know how many times I reinstalled the software and still causes the problem. I don't even remember how many weeks I spent on internet and HP forum to see if there is a slight possible chance of having a fix or solution to the problem I have.

My alternative right now is to either buy a new AIO (but that would cost more than just a modem) or to have a modem in one of the PCs I have and make that PC dedicated to receive fax. I can send fax fine from the AIO I have, its just the software bundled with the printer is so crappy that I don't know how else to explain it.

 

[GregMal]

I'd get the cheapest Agere/Lucent pci modem.
Never had a problem with them..........

 

[magreen]

If you have Vista Home then make sure the modem comes w/ fax software, since Vista doesn't. I got screwed with a fax modem I paid for from Dell and no software to run it. It just sits there like a pci lump in my machine to this day.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: darkconz
Are all the 56k v.92 modems capable of transfering at the max speed of 33.6kbps?
...
My question is, will my old 56k V.92 support the fastest faxing speed? Or am I capped at some point?

You are capped at 14.4k fax speeds, though usually you'll hit a lower cap of 9.6k. That was the old standard at which all the stand-alone fax machines used, though newer ones and FAX modems can hit 14.4k.

 

[vailr]

Have you considered efax.com? They provide (for a monthly fee) a fax-only phone number that turns incoming faxes into email attachments.
AFAIK: any V.92 fax modem should be capable of sending and receiving at 33.6 kbit/s, if the other party is also capable of that speed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...Data_transmission_rate

I'd suggest looking at the For Sale/Trade forum:
http://forums.anandtech.com/categories.aspx?catid=45
There's three different V.92 fax modems for sale by me there (one: USR external serial port; one: PCI card; one: Apple external USB):
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=45&threadid=2142764

@magreen:
I find it hard to believe that there's no Vista driver for your modem.
Try a Google search. Or else, call up Dell and complain to them.

 

[magreen]

Driver shmiver, if there's no software, how can I send and receive a fax?

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: magreen
If you have Vista Home then make sure the modem comes w/ fax software, since Vista doesn't. I got screwed with a fax modem I paid for from Dell and no software to run it. It just sits there like a pci lump in my machine to this day.

Yeah also if you have old modem somewhere make sure Vista have a driver for your old modem...I have old one and vista doesnt have a driver so I might have to get new modem if I want to upgrade to vista

 

[vailr]

@magreen:

http://www.broadbandreports.co...-Software-for-Vista-64
Re: "Built-in Vista fax software":
"Only available with Vista Business or Ultimate."

Or:

Free to try for 30 days

Snappy Fax Version 4.0 is here ! (and yes it runs on Windows Vista)
www.snappysoftware.com

Download:
www.snappysoftware.com/download.htm

 

[boomerang]

I realize this thread is getting a little old, but my $.02.

My wife does the same thing at her office that you are looking to accomplish. The junk faxes got to be so great that she has her computer answer the fax line during business hours so she can weed out the junk. After business hours, the AIO answers the fax line. We simply set the computer up to answer on fewer rings than the AIO.

Not a full solution to the problem, but it's better than using the AIO all the time. Her complaint like yours, was printing out junk faxes.

She has an Agere/Lucent based modem that works just fine. No compatibility problems with other fax machines. I haven't heard any complaints from her and believe me I would.

Try the old one you have on hand. If it gives you trouble, you'll have to spend some dough.

Fax capabilities are not included in all versions of Vista. That is the problem some of the posters have.

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: vailr
@magreen:

http://www.broadbandreports.co...-Software-for-Vista-64
Re: "Built-in Vista fax software":
"Only available with Vista Business or Ultimate."

Or:

Free to try for 30 days

Snappy Fax Version 4.0 is here ! (and yes it runs on Windows Vista)
www.snappysoftware.com

Download:
www.snappysoftware.com/download.htm

Thanks! I'll look at that (wish there was a completely free one though)