Re: [hylafax-users] Question about Hylafax and Multiple Users

[Brian Thompson <brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Adam Tauno Williams wrote:

> > We need a solution available to anyone; without applying for two-stage 
> > dialling or distinctive rings. 5 different rings is no number, but a 
> > joke for a larger organisation. It is not possible to prescribe bar 
> > codes to our senders.
> >    
>
> Nah, any "larger organization" is going to be using PRI(s), and not
> POTS.  With PRI you can have as many true DID (Direct Inward Dial) lines
> as you want,  so the issue is just having hardware that supports DID
>  
Correct. A multi channel PRI is probably the best solution for a
larger organization if the organization needs to be able to receive
many faxes simultaneously without customers getting a busy signal. It
would also make more business sense if the organization is also using
the PRI for regular voice traffic. It's then pretty easy to piggy-back
the fax service onto the same PRI that's already installed. Then it's
just a matter of requesting the telco to add some more phone
numbers onto the PRI.

Next step cheaper would be a single channel analog DID line. Here
where I work we have 280 phone numbers assigned to a single
analog DID channel and it's worked out perfectly for many years.
The professors here rarely use the fax service but they all want to
have their own fax number on their business card. So, we assign
them one when they first hire on. Note, an analog DID line can
only be used for inbound traffic, so a different type of line (analog
POTS/ISDN BRI/PRI) is still necessary for outbound traffic.

As I mentioned some time back, using distinctive ring on a regular
analog POTS line would only work well for a small business where
only a few numbers are required. Might make sense up to two
three modems (10 or 15 numbers) before money wise on the
monthly telco bill it would make more sense to go with an analog
DID line.

It's also worth mentioning that although an ISDN BRI and PRI
are very similar in many respects, inbound DID is one area where
they're quite different. My initial idea many years ago was to use
an ISDN BRI for the professors and use it in the same fashion
as an ISDN PRI with DID information on the D-channel (but only
having two channels instead of 23). It turns out though that most
telcos won't assign blocks of numbers to a BRI. Even if they did,
there's still some SPID issues to deal with that aren't an issue when
using a PRI.

-Brian



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