Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#21

Post by LeoPanthera » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:25 PM UTC

This used to be possible over GSM, at least in the UK, and so I assume most places that use(d) GSM.

I did it from various generations of the Nokia Communicator. The phone would initiate a special kind of phone call (from memory, the same AT string used to start an ISDN connection) and then send digital data over the link, not audio tones directly.

This would emerge onto the analogue phone network as fax tones.

I suppose it's possible that the cellular networks simply don't support this anymore, but my first guess would be that it's handsets that lack the software to do it, now.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#22

Post by briandear » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:27 PM UTC

talles wrote: post #19

Genuine question: why there are folks still using fax?

A very good question. It’s like using email to send a telegram.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#23

Post by rabidonrails » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:29 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #18

rabidonrails wrote: post #16

Founder of Phaxio here. Doing fax well is an annoying problem because the protocols are finicy and the carriers don't usually want to spend time troubleshooting issues. Give our API a shot and shoot me a note for some extra credits as a h/t to a fellow HNer. (See profile for email.)

Great product. No affiliation, just a satisfied user.

Thanks! Our team works really hard so that every user feels like this :)

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#24

Post by TylerE » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:30 PM UTC

talles wrote: post #19

Genuine question: why there are folks still using fax?

Because legally it's the same as a physical document. Which is not true for printouts, emails, etc.

There is no technical reason for it to be so, but it is what it is.

Fax is actually ancient tech, predating the phone way back into the telegraph days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantelegraph

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#25

Post by reaperducer » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:30 PM UTC

Some older cell phones were capable of sending faxes. I don't know why today's phones don't have that option anymore.

My wife had one of them in the mid-2000's. It was a SonyEricsson, but I don't remember the model number. All I remember was that it was mustard in color and impossibly small.

A quick internet search shows that the SonyEricsson T39 had a GSM modem capable of faxing, but the pictures of it aren't what I remember from my wife's phone.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#26

Post by cgrealy » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:30 PM UTC

talles wrote: post #19

Genuine question: why there are folks still using fax?

Unfortunately, sometimes you have no choice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/nyregion/coronavirus-ny-u...

I think everyone would love fax to just go away and die, but there are still places where it's used (I believe pharmacies are an example?)

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#27

Post by SubiculumCode » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:31 PM UTC

talles wrote: post #19

Genuine question: why there are folks still using fax?

Legacy procedures, some legally mandated I think. I'm thinking about the CA DMV, who had ancient and byzantine computer systems that were quite difficult to replace, both from a technical and from a bureaucratic stand point.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#28

Post by oneplane » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:48 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #4

Would even Android allow that kind of access to your phone from a program?

It's not about the access, it's about that you can transmit over the phone network. If you can't transmit it it doesn't matter what client device you have.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#29

Post by gumby » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:50 PM UTC

talles wrote: post #19

Genuine question: why there are folks still using fax?

In the US, clinical medicine and law firms use it because it has an unusual legal status: it’s considered secure and positively delivered if some device at the other end acknowledges it.

In Japan many businesses are still wedded to a fax. It’s much easier to scribble a take out order on a piece of paper.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I send faxes from my phone?

#30

Post by ceejayoz » Sun, May 03, 2020, 9:52 PM UTC

rabidonrails wrote: post #16

Founder of Phaxio here. Doing fax well is an annoying problem because the protocols are finicy and the carriers don't usually want to spend time troubleshooting issues. Give our API a shot and shoot me a note for some extra credits as a h/t to a fellow HNer. (See profile for email.)

I used your service a few times when buying a house. One cURL call and it was done. Super easy and much appreciated.