Goodby Fax machine

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Having just got a printer that apparently can send faxes – I won't be able to.
Lots on the news about the fax being fazed out (not a typo). I can't remember when I last sent one, maybe 25 years ago? I do remember when I was told during an exchange of long telexes to the USA that our company had got one so about 1978. In a couple of years there were lots of them on site in various offices so the telex office with its lovely operators was no more.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I should have faxed this message

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I think it is only dedicated fax lines that are being removed from the system. My faxes were always operated from my usual phone line, so nothing has changed on that score?

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

I think the first one we installed was the Class 1 machine, weighed about 40 lbs and was quite slow. Within a couple of years, it was replaced with a class 2 machine, much faster and lighter and compact. After that, the Class 3 machine was appearing on most secretarial desks. Before lap-tops, intelligent typewriters started to have FAX capability and became portable, having inbuilt multi class modems. Ah! the days of Oliveti thermal typewriter paper !

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

The truth is out there:

**LINK**

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2022/farewell-to-the-fax-machine

MichaelG.

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

One of my better faux pas was setting up turbocad in real world size and redrawing some building plan alterations for the architect's approval.. and sending it directly from turbocad as a fax – thus emptying the prodigious paper content of the receiving machine as multiple blank sheets and an occasional line….

pgk

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Posted by not done it yet on 02/11/2022 06:42:52:

I think it is only dedicated fax lines that are being removed from the system. My faxes were always operated from my usual phone line, so nothing has changed on that score?

Not quite. Fax machines require the pstn to support a specific class of voiceband modem, which the VoIP to the edge that modern fibre access networks use don't support.

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

When the phone network at work was changed over to a digital system we had to let the IT department know which phone sockets had to be left as analogue for FAX transmission and reception. Within a couple of years we no longer sent or received any as email replaced it as a means of communication.

Martin C

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

A little known fact was that in the past when companies had private automatic telephone exchanges they would not support FAX machines. So the FAX was generally on a dedicated line. This could be handy if you needed to make a international call or call to another number that was restricted by the exchange

Robert G8RPI.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

With Copper allegedly being withdrawn circa 2025 … I do hope they get VoIP compatibility better than it is now.

My ‘Full Fibre’ broadband uses a FRITZ!Box 2530 which is an amazing router … but it cannot connect my pacemaker monitor to the hospital, because there is a VoIP mis-match.

MichaelG.

.

Ref. __ https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530/technical-data/

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 02/11/2022 11:14:20

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

I have to say that I think it's not before time. Indeed, I haven't used fax on a personal basis for, I think, about 15 years, but then as a non-working person, I don't really have much need of it. I think the last time I used fax was to send some information to my GP – today they use email.

A few years ago I did have a spate of receiving faxes which were not for me and it took some tracking down to find out who they were intended for and then to get it stopped. The problem was that my Linux based computers did not do fax and I couldn't be bothered setting it up. Also, because of this, I was unable to read the faxes to determine their correct destination. Eventually, I found a telephone number of a firm that was sending them, telephoned them, and received a load of abuse on the lines of it's no-one here. I did then wish that I did indeed have a working fax as I would have sent copies back to them, probably multi-copies at that, the reason being that the originating telephone number was shown at the top of the fax so I had proof of where they were coming from.

Later, I found another telephone number for a different firm that was sending them, and this time I managed to get back to the person who was sending them only to find that they were being sent to a local performance car specialist firm. On contacting this firm, I discovered that they were indeed using my home 'phone number as their fax no. Needless to say, they changed tack pretty quickly once they knew. It transpired that it was all down to misreading the third digit of their fax telephone number.

As it was, we had a few weeks of receiving faxes with next to no come back. And I wasn't happy!

Having said all that, I do think that fax has been of use, but ii's time has now come to an end.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

[Bryan Cedar 1Participant @bryancedar1]

I do use Fax as this is the only way I can send money over the daily limit through my bank account. I do not have a local bank and use Fax to instruct my bank to send a CHAPS same day payment.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

A good friend of mine, and lodger at the time, used to work in software support for a firm which provided specialist software for various garment production companies.
One day a customer was having some problems, so she asked for a copy of the data they were inputting.
A few moments later the fax sprung into life with a copy of the 5 ¼" floppy disk.
Yes it's true, not an apocryphal tale.
Tee Hee

Bill

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

I had experience of receiving faxes for other people.Two were for the local police station,one was about a raid on a house in a local village giving names and details of the crimes,the other was far more serious a van driver on the M5 repeatably over took a car but as he did the last passing he was met with a gun through the car window.The van withdrew sharply according to the van driver.It was reported to the police and they sent this information to the Grantham police to go to the car owners address in Grantham and arrest him.I received this on a Friday but the fax ran out of carbon and I didn't renew the carbon unti Tuesday.On reporting the fax to the police they said this can't happen but I insisted and told them what was in the fax .Fastest response from the police station ever two burly detective came to the door in a very threatening manner and stupidly asked if I had read the fax they tried to say I had hung onto it deliberatley,jobsworths

Frank

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I think the fax machine was a most useful device in its day but that is long past. There are plenty of solutions to the passing of the fax machine. Our office machine was retired about 1999. Spam used to be when the fax machine burst into life and some unwanted advert used up the heat sensitive paper of our long in the tooth Toshiba fax machine.
Mike

[Anonymous]

Posted by Martin Connelly on 02/11/2022 08:30:55:

…… as email replaced it as a means of communication.

… and I've experienced at least one business recently that will not communicate by email – it has to be by texting.

What next?

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 02/11/2022 14:20:14

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

I had experience of receiving faxes for other people.Two were for the local police station,one was about a raid on a house in a local village giving names and details of the crimes,the other was far more serious a van driver on the M5 repeatably over took a car but as he did the last passing he was met with a gun through the car window.The van withdrew sharply according to the van driver.It was reported to the police and they sent this information to the Grantham police to go to the car owners address in Grantham and arrest him.I received this on a Friday but the fax ran out of carbon and I didn't renew the carbon unti Tuesday.On reporting the fax to the police they said this can't happen but I insisted and told them what was in the fax .Fastest response from the police station ever two burly detective came to the door in a very threatening manner and stupidly asked if I had read the fax they tried to say I had hung onto it deliberatley,jobsworths

Frank

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

"What next?"

Telepathy / voodoo (now taking cover)

FYI I and the folks I worked for stopped using fax about 2008 – but many doctors and dentists here still want stuff sent that way.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Jeff Dayman on 02/11/2022 18:01:10:

"What next?"

Telepathy / voodoo (now taking cover)

…

Artificial Intelligence. The day Smart Phones become smarter than their owners! Not long now…

Dave

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Last time I used a fax was to send some info to the NHS. They couldn't cope with email. Took me ages to find someone with a fax machine, and it cost me. At last they move into the 21st century.

the origin of the fax machine had 2 pendulums, the sender had a photosensor, the receiver had some kind of writing device (spark generator?). Set both pendulums swinging in phase and connect with a long bit of wire. as the penduli swung the paper both ends was inched through. OK in principle, but no idea how well it worked, must have been fun getting them exactly in synch

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Posted by Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 02/11/2022 14:19:48

What next?

I find an increasing number of (particularly small) business only communicate on Facebook. As I refuse to have an account, they don't get my business – but I don't suppose they care.

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

I have a vague memory of someone (Tim Hunkin maybe?) sending rudimentary faxes to a mate by converting their lathes into fax machines. I have never used a fax machine, but should the need arise, my lathe awaits.

[Anonymous]

Posted by Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 02/11/2022 14:19:48:

Posted by Martin Connelly on 02/11/2022 08:30:55:

…… as email replaced it as a means of communication.

… and I've experienced at least one business recently that will not communicate by email – it has to be by texting.

… and my bank has just started to go through 2-step verification every time a person logs on to online banking. But they won't send the code to an email address any more – either text or voice-phone.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

Email can be read by people other than your intended recipient – potentially anyone in the World with a computer and an internet connection – so sending personal data via email is not secure. Some text messaging, e.g. Apple iMessage, is encrypted, which might be why some are insisting on texting  

FAX was relatively secure because you would have to tap an individual copper phone line to intercept the contents. Not sure if this applies to a FAX sent by a computer over the internet though? – probably not.

Two factor authentication is done to prevent your account from being hacked and your money and life savings from being stolen; so not a bad thing really !

You can't use email for two factor authentication because of point one: email is not secure. Some text transports and voice via phone is more secure

 

Edited By John Doe 2 on 03/11/2022 15:48:48

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by John Doe 2 on 03/11/2022 15:41:09:

…

You can't use email for two factor authentication because of point one: email is not secure. Some text transports and voice via phone is more secure

I'd say text, email, and voice have different security problems rather one being better than the others! The main problem with email for Two Factor Authentication is it's not immediate. Too many people check their email once a day or less which is too slow for an authentication check intended to speed valid transactions through the system.

Text and voice are considerably faster and the second channel doesn't have to have strong security. It's enough that the bank has another method of contacting the customer that's personally linked to him. It assumes a criminal might have access to your card, but is unlikely, we hope, to have your phone and it's password as well.

My son's bank is a notch stronger than mine. He's texted and asked to reply with a unique number provided by a token device that he also has to carry. The unique number changes every 5 minutes or so. To break this, at least in theory, the criminal needs my son's account details, his mobile phone, and the token generator.

Dave

[Author]

Posts