How to send a fax to a cell phone?

I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
only one of the two questions got addressed.)

In the past there was no phone jack in the room with the printer/fax,
but now I have FIOS fiber optic internet. (Even thought the printer
sits on the bed across the aisle from the FIOS box, I can run a cord. It
looks tacky, but oh well.)

For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?

2nd question you might know the answer to. The FIOS box has two phone
jacks labeled L1 and L2. I only have one phone line, so that means that
L2 is not going to do anything, is that right?

On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 14:28:25 -0500, micky wrote:
> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?

I would guess that you need a fax app on your phone. The Google Play
Store turns up quite a few of them when searching for "fax" (no
quotes).

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

Am 19.11.23 um 20:28 schrieb micky:
> I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
> leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
> living in the 90's.

Avoid this doctor at any price! Hist treatment ...

--
"Gutta cavat lapidem." (Ovid)

On 2023-11-19 20:56, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 14:28:25 -0500, micky wrote:
>> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
>> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
>> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
>> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?
>
> I would guess that you need a fax app on your phone. The Google Play
> Store turns up quite a few of them when searching for "fax" (no
> quotes).

Or a fax service.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2023-11-19 20:28, micky wrote:
> How to send a fax to a cell phone?
>
> I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
> leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
> living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
> details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
> only one of the two questions got addressed.)

Ugh. :-(

Use paper mail. Really. No kidding.

If it is a different city, Correos in Spain has a service where you
email them a PDF and they print it on destination city, put the
envelope, and deliver it to destination address. It is faster than Plain
Old Mail.

> In the past there was no phone jack in the room with the printer/fax,
> but now I have FIOS fiber optic internet. (Even thought the printer
> sits on the bed across the aisle from the FIOS box, I can run a cord. It
> looks tacky, but oh well.)

Warning.

Old FAX may not work, or do it badly, over fiber (which is actually VoIP
with an adapter to POTS).

There is a "new" fax protocol designed to work over VoIP lines. You need
a new machine having it. I don't have any experience with this system, I
stopped working in the phone field before it appeared. I was there when
the problems started, though, and there was no solution except "get both
ends on POTS" or "modernize and switch to email".

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax>

«Fax Over IP (FoIP) can transmit and receive pre-digitized documents at
near-realtime[vague] speeds using ITU-T recommendation T.38 to send
digitised images over an IP network using JPEG compression. T.38 is
designed to work with VoIP services and often supported by analog
telephone adapters used by legacy fax machines that need to connect
through a VoIP service. Scanned documents are limited to the amount of
time the user takes to load the document in a scanner and for the device
to process a digital file. The resolution can vary from as little as 150
DPI to 9600 DPI or more. This type of faxing is not related to the
e-mail–to–fax service that still uses fax modems at least one way.»

....

« * T.37 The ITU standard for sending a fax-image file via e-mail to the
intended recipient of a fax.

* T.38 The ITU standard for sending Fax over IP (FoIP).

* G.711 pass through - this is where the T.30 fax call is carried in a
VoIP call encoded as audio. This is sensitive to network packet loss,
jitter and clock synchronization. When using voice high-compression
encoding techniques such as, but not limited to, G.729, some fax tonal
signals may not be correctly transported across the packet network.»

I would recommend finding some text like fax for dummies in the XXI
century. Dunno if anybody wrote it.

>
> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?

Ugh. I believe you need a fax forwarding service.

>
>
> 2nd question you might know the answer to. The FIOS box has two phone
> jacks labeled L1 and L2. I only have one phone line, so that means that
> L2 is not going to do anything, is that right?

My guess, and old memories:

You remove your house phone from the wall socket.

You connect L1 to the wall, and L2 to the phone.

when you get a phone call, the fax answers; if it sees it is voice, it
passes them to the phone(s) on L2.

For sending purposes, you only need to connect L1 to the phone line. Be
sure to configure your machine not to answer, or do so only manually.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 11/19/2023 3:59 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:

>>> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
>>> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
>>> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
>>> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?
>>
>> I would guess that you need a fax app on your phone. The Google Play
>> Store turns up quite a few of them when searching for "fax" (no
>> quotes).
>
> Or a fax service.

I used the FaxBurner fax service in the past to receive faxes on my phone.
https://www.faxburner.com/blog/how-to-receive-a-fax-on-your-smartphone/

There's also MyFax app fax services for receiving faxes on Android.
https://www.myfax.com/support/how-to-videos/receive-a-fax-with-the-android-app

And with FaxReceive, you can pay for each fax on a pay as you go basis
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actualsoftware.faxreceive

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
> How to send a fax to a cell phone?
>
> I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
> leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
> living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
> details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
> only one of the two questions got addressed.)

Write them a letter and get them to provide a written response which can
you pick up in person. I had to do that last year for a travel insurance
claim last year.

What kind of archaic practice is this? Even the Nhs has banned fax
machines.
https://cpe.org.uk/digital-and-technology/communications-across-healthcare-it/use-of-fax-machines-in-the-nhs/

> In the past there was no phone jack in the room with the printer/fax,
> but now I have FIOS fiber optic internet. (Even thought the printer
> sits on the bed across the aisle from the FIOS box, I can run a cord. It
> looks tacky, but oh well.)
>
> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?

Honestly this is a waste of time. There's always a better solution to afax.

On 2023-11-20 09:24, Chris wrote:
> micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>> How to send a fax to a cell phone?
>>
>> I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
>> leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
>> living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
>> details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
>> only one of the two questions got addressed.)
>
> Write them a letter and get them to provide a written response which can
> you pick up in person. I had to do that last year for a travel insurance
> claim last year.
>
> What kind of archaic practice is this? Even the Nhs has banned fax
> machines.
> https://cpe.org.uk/digital-and-technology/communications-across-healthcare-it/use-of-fax-machines-in-the-nhs/

Japan was using faxes quite a lot recently. I have the vague feeling
that the government intervened maybe a year ago to put a stop to it.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/6/1/fax-machines-and-cash-only-stores-japan-struggles-to-go-digital

https://theconversation.com/japans-love-affair-with-the-fax-machine-a-strange-relic-of-technological-fantasies-168674

And more articles, just google for "japan and faxes"

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 19 Nov 2023 21:59:53 +0100, "Carlos E.
R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

>On 2023-11-19 20:56, Stan Brown wrote:
>> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 14:28:25 -0500, micky wrote:
>>> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
>>> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
>>> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
>>> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?
>>
>> I would guess that you need a fax app on your phone. The Google Play
>> Store turns up quite a few of them when searching for "fax" (no
>> quotes).
>
>Or a fax service.

Yeah;, I've used a service to send faxes from my email and one to send
me email when it getr a fax, but didn't find one that would do both for
free. In this case, I'm asking for a reply and I can imagine the
doctor's uncooperative office staff faxing me back to the number on the
fax they get, ignoring the fax number I've included in my text.

In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:15:53 +0100, "Carlos E.
R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

>On 2023-11-19 20:28, micky wrote:
>> How to send a fax to a cell phone?
>>
>> I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
>> leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
>> living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
>> details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
>> only one of the two questions got addressed.)
>
>Ugh. :-(
>
>
>Use paper mail. Really. No kidding.
>
>
>If it is a different city, Correos in Spain has a service where you
>email them a PDF and they print it on destination city, put the
>envelope, and deliver it to destination address. It is faster than Plain
>Old Mail.
>
>
>> In the past there was no phone jack in the room with the printer/fax,
>> but now I have FIOS fiber optic internet. (Even thought the printer
>> sits on the bed across the aisle from the FIOS box, I can run a cord. It
>> looks tacky, but oh well.)
>
>Warning.
>
>Old FAX may not work, or do it badly, over fiber (which is actually VoIP

Darn. I almost need a new printer/fax because the red color has
clogged in this one and several attempts to clean it have failed.

But the reason I'm posting here is because I actually dreamt about the
printer last night. I wasn't thinking about it when I awoke, but your
post, seen 15 minutes after my waking up, reminded me that I had images
in my dream of all three colors coming from my printer!!

I still don't want to buy another one. I don't really need red, I don't
really need color printing that I do less than once in 2 years.

>with an adapter to POTS).
>
>
>There is a "new" fax protocol designed to work over VoIP lines. You need
>a new machine having it. I don't have any experience with this system, I
>stopped working in the phone field before it appeared. I was there when
>the problems started, though, and there was no solution except "get both
>ends on POTS" or "modernize and switch to email".
>
>
><https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax>

>«Fax Over IP (FoIP) can transmit and receive pre-digitized documents at
>near-realtime[vague] speeds using ITU-T recommendation T.38 to send
>digitised images over an IP network using JPEG compression. T.38 is

Complicated. I will read this later. If I ever do buy another
printer/fax, I will note whether it if FoIP or not.

>designed to work with VoIP services and often supported by analog
>telephone adapters used by legacy fax machines that need to connect
>through a VoIP service. Scanned documents are limited to the amount of
>time the user takes to load the document in a scanner and for the device
>to process a digital file. The resolution can vary from as little as 150
>DPI to 9600 DPI or more. This type of faxing is not related to the
>e-mail–to–fax service that still uses fax modems at least one way.»
>
>...
>
>« * T.37 The ITU standard for sending a fax-image file via e-mail to the
>intended recipient of a fax.
>
> * T.38 The ITU standard for sending Fax over IP (FoIP).
>
> * G.711 pass through - this is where the T.30 fax call is carried in a
>VoIP call encoded as audio. This is sensitive to network packet loss,
>jitter and clock synchronization. When using voice high-compression
>encoding techniques such as, but not limited to, G.729, some fax tonal
>signals may not be correctly transported across the packet network.»
>
>
>
>I would recommend finding some text like fax for dummies in the XXI
>century. Dunno if anybody wrote it.
>
>
>>
>> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
>> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
>> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
>> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?
>
>Ugh. I believe you need a fax forwarding service.
>
>>
>>
>> 2nd question you might know the answer to. The FIOS box has two phone
>> jacks labeled L1 and L2. I only have one phone line, so that means that
>> L2 is not going to do anything, is that right?
>
>My guess, and old memories:
>
>You remove your house phone from the wall socket.
>
>You connect L1 to the wall, and L2 to the phone.
>
>when you get a phone call, the fax answers; if it sees it is voice, it
>passes them to the phone(s) on L2.
>
>
>For sending purposes, you only need to connect L1 to the phone line. Be
>sure to configure your machine not to answer, or do so only manually.

I didn't get this all done yesterday but I have high hopes for today.

In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:23:32 -0500, Larry Wolff
<larrywolff@larrywolff.net> wrote:

>On 11/19/2023 3:59 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>
>>>> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
>>>> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
>>>> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
>>>> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?
>>>
>>> I would guess that you need a fax app on your phone. The Google Play
>>> Store turns up quite a few of them when searching for "fax" (no
>>> quotes).
>>
>> Or a fax service.
>
>I used the FaxBurner fax service in the past to receive faxes on my phone.
>https://www.faxburner.com/blog/how-to-receive-a-fax-on-your-smartphone/
>
>There's also MyFax app fax services for receiving faxes on Android.
>https://www.myfax.com/support/how-to-videos/receive-a-fax-with-the-android-app
>
>And with FaxReceive, you can pay for each fax on a pay as you go basis
>https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actualsoftware.faxreceive

Very helpful.

On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:15:53 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2023-11-19 20:28, micky wrote:
> > [quoted text muted]
> > leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
> > living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
> > details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
> > only one of the two questions got addressed.)

> Use paper mail. Really. No kidding.

I meant to suggest this but forgot, so thank you for bringing it up.

> If it is a different city, Correos in Spain has a service where you
> email them a PDF and they print it on destination city, put the
> envelope, and deliver it to destination address. It is faster than Plain
> Old Mail.

As far as I know, nothing like this exists in the US, unless some
private company is doing it. I imagine it would be expensive even if
it exists.

But since this is micky's doctor, the office is probably not a huge
distance from micky's home, so snail-mail shouldn't take more than a
couple of days.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 11:56:11 -0800, Stan Brown wrote:
>
> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 14:28:25 -0500, micky wrote:
> > For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
> > guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
> > and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
> > to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?
>
> I would guess that you need a fax app on your phone. The Google Play
> Store turns up quite a few of them when searching for "fax" (no
> quotes).

An additional option is to go to a UPS Store, Postal ASAP, or
similar. The UPS Store's website says you can send and receive faxes
there; ditto Staples. Postal ASAP also offers faxing, according to
their website -- they're in Tehachapi only, but similar businesses
probably exist most places. Heck, I'll bet some libraries even offer
faxing as a service, just as they do printing.

I suggest this (or postal mail) because it may be less hassle than
getting an app set up. What would you do if the doctor's office sends
you a fax but you find you can't receive it? I doubt they'd be
receptive to helping to troubleshoot your fax app.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

micky, 2023-11-19 20:28:

> How to send a fax to a cell phone?

*To* a cell phone? Or *from* a cell phone?

> I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
> leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
> living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
> details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
> only one of the two questions got addressed.)

There are online fax services - for example see here:

<https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-online-fax-services>

And there are also Android apps for that:

<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=fax&c=apps&hl=en>

--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

On 2023-11-20 16:31, micky wrote:
> In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 19 Nov 2023 21:59:53 +0100, "Carlos E.
> R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 2023-11-19 20:56, Stan Brown wrote:
>>> On Sun, 19 Nov 2023 14:28:25 -0500, micky wrote:
>>>> For testing purposes, I want to send myself a fax, to my cell phone I
>>>> guess, so I've done that twice. Where is it? I look in the cell phone
>>>> and there is no notification. Do I need to run to fax app? Do I need
>>>> to have it running at the time I send the fax? Can I do this at all?
>>>
>>> I would guess that you need a fax app on your phone. The Google Play
>>> Store turns up quite a few of them when searching for "fax" (no
>>> quotes).
>>
>> Or a fax service.
>
> Yeah;, I've used a service to send faxes from my email and one to send
> me email when it getr a fax, but didn't find one that would do both for
> free. In this case, I'm asking for a reply and I can imagine the
> doctor's uncooperative office staff faxing me back to the number on the
> fax they get, ignoring the fax number I've included in my text.

Use paper mail. Seriously.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2023-11-20 16:41, micky wrote:
> In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:15:53 +0100, "Carlos E.
> R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 2023-11-19 20:28, micky wrote:
>>> How to send a fax to a cell phone?

....

>>> In the past there was no phone jack in the room with the printer/fax,
>>> but now I have FIOS fiber optic internet. (Even thought the printer
>>> sits on the bed across the aisle from the FIOS box, I can run a cord. It
>>> looks tacky, but oh well.)
>>
>> Warning.
>>
>> Old FAX may not work, or do it badly, over fiber (which is actually VoIP
>
> Darn. I almost need a new printer/fax because the red color has
> clogged in this one and several attempts to clean it have failed.
>
> But the reason I'm posting here is because I actually dreamt about the
> printer last night. I wasn't thinking about it when I awoke, but your
> post, seen 15 minutes after my waking up, reminded me that I had images
> in my dream of all three colors coming from my printer!!
>
> I still don't want to buy another one. I don't really need red, I don't
> really need color printing that I do less than once in 2 years.

There are B/W laser printers, double side, at very nice prices.

....

I just did a quick google, and found several companies in Spain that do
sending/receiving of faxes for a fee. If I had to send faxes, I would
use them.

Only if I had a job somewhere that wanted to do faxing, I would then
seriously investigate the matter and buy adequate hardware.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

In comp.mobile.android, on Sat, 25 Nov 2023 14:21:06 +0100, "Carlos E.
R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

>On 2023-11-20 16:41, micky wrote:
>> In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:15:53 +0100, "Carlos E.
>> R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2023-11-19 20:28, micky wrote:
>>>> How to send a fax to a cell phone?
>
>...
>
>>>> In the past there was no phone jack in the room with the printer/fax,
>>>> but now I have FIOS fiber optic internet. (Even thought the printer
>>>> sits on the bed across the aisle from the FIOS box, I can run a cord. It
>>>> looks tacky, but oh well.)
>>>
>>> Warning.
>>>
>>> Old FAX may not work, or do it badly, over fiber (which is actually VoIP
>>
>> Darn. I almost need a new printer/fax because the red color has
>> clogged in this one and several attempts to clean it have failed.
>>
>> But the reason I'm posting here is because I actually dreamt about the
>> printer last night. I wasn't thinking about it when I awoke, but your
>> post, seen 15 minutes after my waking up, reminded me that I had images
>> in my dream of all three colors coming from my printer!!
>>
>> I still don't want to buy another one. I don't really need red, I don't
>> really need color printing that I do less than once in 2 years.
>
>There are B/W laser printers, double side, at very nice prices.
>
>...
>
>I just did a quick google, and found several companies in Spain that do
>sending/receiving of faxes for a fee. If I had to send faxes, I would
>use them.
>
>Only if I had a job somewhere that wanted to do faxing, I would then
>seriously investigate the matter and buy adequate hardware.

Well the printer above is a scanner/printer/copier/fax and it's wireless
because there is no room in this room for a printer, but for years there
was no phone jack in the other room. When I got FIOS fiberoptic they
installed two boxes, one in the next bedroom and one next to my desk in
this room, and by golly the first box has a jack, so I plugged it in and
tried to send the fax. Get this, after their insistence that I should
use FAX, THE OTHER NUMBER DIDN'T ANSWER. It's not that it was busy
taking or sending another fax. It just didn't answer.

So I sent the secretary an email last Tuesday. Thursday was a holiday
here and the office might have been closed on Friday too, and now it's
4:45 Monday aftenoon and no answer yet. (I just called the fax number on
the phone and it did answer. So I'll send a fax... Wow that turned into
a computer problem, and it didn't get sent. more maybe later when I
know more. )

In comp.mobile.android, on Sat, 25 Nov 2023 12:51:57 +0100, Arno Welzel
<usenet@arnowelzel.de> wrote:

>micky, 2023-11-19 20:28:
>
>> How to send a fax to a cell phone?
>
>*To* a cell phone? Or *from* a cell phone?
>
>> I have a doctor who has neither a portal nor an email address! I can
>> leave verbal messages iirc, and they push me to send faxes! like I'm
>> living in the 90's. Plus I want something in writing so I can include
>> details? (In the past the receptionist let me send an email to her, but
>> only one of the two questions got addressed.)
>
>There are online fax services - for example see here:
>
><https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-online-fax-services>

Thanks.
>
>And there are also Android apps for that:
>
><https://play.google.com/store/search?q=fax&c=apps&hl=en>

Thanks again.