Q: I sent a fax and the recipient and it is showing as successful but the recipient is not getting it. Why does this happen?
A: For outbound, if the receiver states they are not getting faxes but it shows successful in the history, this means the handshake was successful on the telecom level and the fax fully transmitted from our end successfully. In cases like this, it is best to have the receiver contact their provider to troubleshoot for inbound delivery issues.
Q: Why are outbound faxes taking a long time to send?
A: Outbound transmissions times can vary for multiple reasons. The number one reason is that the fax that is being sent, simply has a large page count. When sending larger faxes the transmission time will increase as there will be more data that needs to be transmitted over the call for the fax to complete.
Documents with heavy gradients or containing photographs may increase this transmission time as well. It is important to note that our system will automatically retry to send a fax up to three times before it is counted as a failure. The retry cycle that happens will also increase the perceived transmission time, but this is done automatically so you will not need to resend every fax manually.
The last reason could be that you are sending a large amount of faxes at one time. When sending a large amount of faxes, some will queue until an available outbound channels is open for your account. Those queued faxes will remain in processing until a currently transmitting fax completes. Once the fax completes, one of the processing faxes will take it's place and begin transmitting. This process repeats until all faxes are completed.
Q: What is a PCAP and why is it sometimes necessary for Documo to ask for one?
A: Packet Capture Files are commonly referred to as PCAPs. The file format is typically analyzed with a utility called Wireshark (free open source utility). The PCAP includes a sequential stream of network packets used in VoIP and FoIP sessions. The VoIP/FoIP session uses the SIP Protocol via network segments (sometimes internet) allowing telecom transport over flexible network endpoints instead of telephone lines or circuits.
PCAP files typically contains the following information in a parsable format to assist with troubleshooting VoIP or FoIP calls:
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) messages
RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) packets
RTCP (Real-time Transport Control Protocol) packets
T.38 (Fax Protocol over UDPTL) media and audio streams
G.711 (Audio Protocol over RTP) is a lossless audio protocol where initial fax signaling is sent between endpoints. These include things like the CNG (fax tone request indicator) and ANS (fax answer tone to start a fax session).
This typically applies to Documo users who SIP forward numbers. Meaning they manage their numbers through their own telecom provider and SIP forward that traffic to our fax gateways to be delivered through the Documo platform.
When there is inbound issues with SIP forwarded numbers, we have no insight into the underlying telecom (i.e. CDR, SIP Call Flow, PCAP, etc.) which severely limits our ability to investigate, diagnose, or troubleshoot inbound issues.
It is advised to check with your fax provider to verify the reported calls are successfully routing to the number.
If they are routing properly, the Documo team may ask for a PCAP file for these fax calls, as that will provide us with the necessary information to escalate to our engineering team to troubleshoot further.
Q: Is Documo HIPAA and PIDEPA compliant ?
A: Yes, Documo can be used in a HIPAA and PIDEPA compliant manner. For more information about Documo and HIPAA and PIDEPA compliance, please refer to our security page here.
Q: Why do faxes fail?
A: Faxes can fail for a variety of reasons. The most common reasons would be the normal and expected fax transmit failure.
This could happen for numerous reasons, i.e., a poor line connection, latency, dropped calls, etc. These error codes are one of the most common in fax. When there’s line quality issues, or anything that’s bad for fax (latency, dropped packets, etc.), these can all cause issues within the fax. If we're at the receiving end, we have no ability to alter any of these things and it would be advised to have the sender retry. If you are sending outbound faxes and encountering this error, please try again and if the issue persists contact the Documo support team to help troubleshoot further.
Information about how to check for fax failures, error codes and what they mean can be found here.
If you are seeing repeat failures to the same numbers without any pages transmitting, it would be advised to call the number from any phone line to see if the number you are attempting to send to is an active fax line. The expected result is that fax tone should pick up and be audible through the call. If it rings like a voice line or reaches a person or IVR, the line is not active for fax and that is why the fax is failing. You can also view if fax tone was presented on the fax that failed by selecting the info tab of the fax. This will provide information about the transmission including the reason and if fax tone was presented.
Q: What is ECM and why is it important?
A: ECM stands for error correction mode, and is an important part of the fax transmission process. This has a direct impact on fax quality, failure rate and other transmission issues that can occur. ECM is always enabled on the Documo side but it will also need to be enabled on the far end to work correctly.
The most important part of fax transmission, and one of the most likely culprits of incomplete or distorted fax data or even failures, is ECM. Without ECM all of the data may have been transmitted and confirmed successfully but some of that data could be corrupt which can result in quality issues and even fax failures. For more details about ECM and how to check to see if it is enabled on the far side, please review the ECM help article found here.
Q: Why is the document I am trying to send through the web portal asking for a password?
A: Documents that are password protected or encrypted in a way that can not be opened and rendered by our system will prompt for a password. When this happens, we would advise attempting to remove the password requirement or encryption. Another step that may help is running the document through the file converter as that will sometimes strip the document of the things that are preventing the fax from rendering.
For information on how to use the file converter, please review the help center article for it found here.
Q: Does Documo allow faxing in color?
A: No, Documo can only send and receive faxes in black and white or grayscale. We do not support color faxing.
Q: How to test if a number is a valid fax number?
A: You can call the number from any phone line to see if the number you are attempting to send to is an active fax line. The expected result is that fax tone should pick up and be audible through the call. If it rings like a voice line or reaches a person or IVR, the line is not active for fax and that is why the fax is failing. You can also view if fax tone was presented on the fax that failed by selecting the info tab of the fax. This will provide information about the transmission including the reason and if fax tone was presented.
Q: Do you offer voice services?
A: No, numbers on the Documo platform are used exclusively for fax. We do not offer voice services.
Q: Can I use a fax number I already own with Documo?
A: Yes! You will first need to submit a port request and have the number ported to Documo. Once the porting process completes will be able to start receiving faxes to that number within the Documo platform. For more information on how to start the porting process, please refer to the help center article found here.
Q: How can I port a number out of Documo?
A: You will submit a port request with the gaining provider and make sure to include a port out PIN. You can create a port out PIN for any number on your account from within the Documo web portal. This is the only requirement needed for approval. A help center article on how to set a PIN can be found here.
Q: Can I use a fax machine with Documo?
A: Yes you can! However it does require the purchase of a FMC device (Fax Machine Connector). This is a device that will connect to your fax machine and your network to send and receive faxes with the Documo platform. A fax line is not required, only a internet connection and a fax machine along with a FMC device purchased from Documo. For more information about how to purchase one of these devices, please review our help center article here.
Q: Do you provide a BAA?
A: Yes, we will provide a signed BAA to any Documo customer with an active subscription. However we can not provide a BAA to any of your clients, departments, or subaccounts. The BAA will be between Documo and the direct customer of Documo. To request a BAA please email our support team at support@documo.com
Q: How long do faxes stay in the Documo history?
A: By default the fax will stay in the users history for 12 months. This can be altered by one month intervals all the way down to purge immediately in the account settings. This includes faxes that have been archived.
For purging immediately the effect may not be instant and could take up to 10 minutes or longer depending on how many faxes are being purged.
When faxes are one year from their creation date, they will automatically move to Archive where they will remain for 30 days. After the 30 day holding period in the Archive, the metadata of the faxes (without attachments) will be available in Cold Storage. This information will remain indefinitely but the actual files will not be retrievable. If you need to store faxes indefinitely, you can store them local or within Drive which is free cloud storage included with every user account.
More information on cold storage can be found here.
More information on Drive can be found here.
Q: Is there a size limit to the faxes I can send?
A: Yes, there is a file size limit of 500mb for all attachments per fax, and each attachment cannot exceed 100mb via the web portal. Utilizing email to fax has a max size limit of 25mb.
For more information about accepted file formats, please review the help center article found here.