2022-02-24
Is 2022 the End of the Line for Fax?
On July 26th, 2019 the FCC adopted order FCC-19-72 (FCC-19-72A1) which set out “an appropriate transition period” of three years in the continental United States (so, ending on August 2nd, 2022) in which incumbent telecommunications service providers would no longer be required to provide regulatory-priced POTS and TDM services to their competitors and the general public. You can read about that here:
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-grants-relief-outdated-burdensome-phone-industry-regulations
This order was long-awaited by most, if not all, incumbent telecommunications service providers who were frustrated by the cost of maintaining and servicing their legacy TDM networks and POTS offerings – especially when they were obliged to resell those services at wholesale prices.
However, as soon as this order was given numerous commentators began to spin the news as August 2nd, 2022 being “The End of the Line” for POTS, analog telephone equipment, and even fax. The reader should be encouraged to evaluate the motivations that may be had by the source of the reports that they may read.
Businesses selling Voice-Over-IP telephone services, equipment, and consulting services are eager to interpret the FCC’s order as a mandate for the demise of traditional telephony equipment – sometimes even proclaiming the end of the entire Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Let’s just say that these are misunderstandings and exaggerations if not outright misrepresentations.
Will the PSTN be terminated? Of course not. The PSTN is the network by which telephone numbers are utilized (in contrast to say, IP addresses and URLs). Telephone numbers are not going away.
Will telecommunications service providers decommission their TDM networks and POTS services? Quite possibly. In fact, many of these service providers have for years been giving notice to their customers of the decommissioning of those legacy services and proscribing alternative solutions such as VoIP connections, conversion devices, and other competitive and proprietary equipment. The FCC’s order does not, however, require service providers to terminate their TDM and POTS offerings. Indeed, a service provider may very well choose to continue to offer those services as they traditionally have done.
Will fax work reliably on alternative services? The answer will sometimes be yes, but unfortunately it will often be no. For example, Verizon’s Fios is known to work well for fax. However, most VoIP ATA devices connected to a typical internet-connected network do not. Fax operations through cable modems with analog telephone connections on them – typically provided by Comcast/Xfinity, Cox, Spectrum/Time-Warner, etc. – may or may not work reliably, depending on factors that are often outside the control of the subscriber and are sometimes even outside the control of the provider.
Unfortunately, the FCC’s order will necessarily mean that in some locations consumers will no longer have on-premise access to telecommunications services that will be suitable for reliable fax operation. In some locations consumers will continue to have access to those services, but may find that costs will increase or that they need to turn to a different service provider in their area for them.
Mainpine recommends that customers who wish to continue to use on-premise fax servers do so with IQ Express fax boards and scrutinize the service provider to ensure that any promises given about reliable fax operations on their networks are substantiated, ensured, or guaranteed. In particular, this will require the service provider to have some method of mitigating or eliminating jitter (packet loss of VoIP call audio data). Again, it is our experience that Verizon’s Fios works well, and Mainpine can recommend that service to our customers wishing to use on-premise fax servers.
For customers who cannot obtain on-premise access to telecommunications services suitable for reliable fax operation – OR – for customers who simply wish to avoid the concern entirely, Mainpine recommends the Mainpine On-line Fax Service for reliable fax operation.