[RobOnTheCape]

What an ordeal. We decided to sign up for the three in one Comcast deal where phone, net and cable are bundled. Internet and tv are fine, and voice clarity on the phone is great, however, I can't send or receive faxes at all. I have an HP laserjet 3150 and when the phone rings the machine says "incoming call", but doesn't pick up. HP tech was great. Practically no wait time, and they ran through different settings. Two techs/different days, same attempts. They mentioned the digital to analog problem and that I should contact Comcast. That's where the ordeal is. After spending much time on hold, transfers and denials I get one guy who says he'll send a tech out, but that I may need an analog line installed. Fine I say, whatever. He then puts me on hold, comes back and says his supervisor said we can't do that, but that Radio Shack sells a digital to analog phone converter for a few dollars and that is my best bet. It so happens I do some work for Radio Shack here on the island, and I run down there where no one has ever heard of this device, and that there website doesn't list the product either.

So, my biz depends on faxes and I'm down for the count. Does anyone have a solution/workaround? Other than the fax problem the service is fine. BTW, part that really sucks is that we were very specific before signing up, and asked if there would be any problems using a fax machine. Lying bastards.

Thanks if anyone can help.

[nonhuman]

Solution: avoid Comcast like the plague.

[Cold Warrior]

an online fax service will let you give people a real fax #. You can download your faxes or have them automatically emailed to you. Also, one or two services I've seen will let you email their system with attachments, which will then be automatically faxed.

[RobOnTheCape]

I'm hoping for a woraround using the existing service. I need to fax hardcopies on a regular basis, and I'd really like to keep my dedicated fax number.

[nerd]

I haven't heard many success stories with modems and VOIP. I know I could never get my DirecTV stuff to work with Vonage.

[medicman55]

Comcast is quite possibly the worst provider I've ever had to deal with. Yes, it might be possible that they are worse than AOL.

[nonhuman]

This is actually the third conversation I've been involved in today with three different people in three different states who have all had major problems with Comcast.

[goMac]

I actually have had no problem with Comcast. They have a local call center here (no people from India), and their internet support has been awesome.

That said, there is a such thing as a digital vs. analog phone line. (I know because we have digital lines at work, and I used to try to use my old Windows CE device with a PCIMIA modem on those lines and it didn't work.) I wasn't aware there was a converter though. And honestly, I don't trust VOIP from anybody. I know people with Vonage who have had issues too.

A better idea might be trying to move to some sort of digital faxing system like some other people have suggested. If you're interested in upgrading your gear, Xerox has some really awesome scanning solutions that can scan right to an email address.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by nerd 

I haven't heard many success stories with modems and VOIP. I know I could never get my DirecTV stuff to work with Vonage.

Same here.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by nonhuman 

This is actually the third conversation I've been involved in today with three different people in three different states who have all had major problems with Comcast.

I don't think it's limited to Comcast. I have never heard anyone having any consistent luck from VOIP data calls.

[starman]

Reason #159485 why I will never, EVER switch to these stupid VOIP systems.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

I don't think it's limited to Comcast. I have never heard anyone having any consistent luck from VOIP data calls.

Yeah, but as far as I can tell Comcast can't do anything right, not just VoIP.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by nonhuman 

Yeah, but as far as I can tell Comcast can't do anything right, not just VoIP.

That may be well and true, as far as my experience (and everything I've ever read), but all VOIP is very bad at data calls.

[RobOnTheCape]

Tried again, and this time after 31 minutes the tech checked my fax model number, did a check of the incoming service and deduced that the problem is internal to Comcast(no s#@t). She assured me that the problem will be addressed within 72 hours, but much more likely much sooner. Who knows if it will be resolved, but she sounded on top of her game, no putting me on hold while she gets someone to help her help me.

Interesting, she was kind of ticked as well. She has a list of fax machines that are compatible with VOIP, but since she says they can take care of the problem on their end she didn't share the list. She was ticked because she said the sales rep who we did the deal with should have asked for my fax model number to be assured compatibility.

and so it continues. Does anyone have VOIP and successfully send and receive faxes on that line?

[RobOnTheCape]

I originally started this thread back in mid December, only then after many hours of phone time. I thought this was a lost cause, but finally I have fax via VOIP. After yelling, taking names, asking for ticket numbers I finally got bumped up to "senior support services", There I found someone who went online and investigated the settings for my specific fax machine and promptly called me back. Finally found that the four wire phone cords I had originally been using weren't compatible with the voip. four wire into the fax, then a two wire from fax to phone,

amazing, but finally business is up and running again.

[jryssin]

Can you explain the four line, two line thing in a little more detail? I don't understand. I have an HP 6110 office jet all in one. Nobody told me that there may be compatibility issues. After the tech spent about 2 1/2 hrs at my house trying to figure out why it wouldn't work, I decided to forget this phone service and go back to what I had. I called customer service (which was in Montreal, me in SF Bay Area with a different time zone) and all they can say is that now that I've switched I can't go back. Calling tech support I was told that Comcast doesn't have differentiated ring tones. I've been without my fax for many months and haven't had time to deal with it. On top of that, I recently upgraded my Mac from 10.3.9 to 10.5 and now the scanner won't work. Any suggestions in very simple, non techy English? Or should I forget it and get a new machine? Thanks.

[Teronzhul]

While I haven't experienced his exact problem, your typical phone cable has either 2 or 4 internal conducting wires. These are visible inside the RJ-11 plastic jack and for the two standard wires, they are typically jacketed with green and red insulators. The jack also has the capacity to use 4 conductor wires, usually cat-3 cable, with orange/blue/orange-white/blue-white jacketed conductors. I don't know why there would be a difference causing one to function, and not the other, but apparently he needed only a telephone cable with the green/red 2 conductor wires.

[RobOnTheCape]

That's about right. I don't know why, but the tech guy tried it as a last resort, and it did the trick. however, as I mentioned, they turned off my service and it hasn't been right since. I can send, but not receive. I'll just hear it trying to handshake, but it won't go. I'm going to go with efax or something similar.

This was the first time I've experienced that Big Brother hell so many talk about. All the while I get these responses such as "Oh yes, it definitely works, you shouldn't have any problems at all...".

[synthfiend]

Every time I use bittorrent, my phone service dies until I am done seeding.
No joke, and it is 100% reproducible.

Comcast is "looking very closely" at the problem.
And has been for 6 weeks with no response.

I think I'll be switching to my city's wireless plan at the end of the week.
I'll end up paying for phone service from Verizon, but at least I won't have my phone go out if I download the latest linux OS. It really burns me that I'm not breaking the law, but am treated like I do. I hate Comcast.

[Cold Warrior]

Originally Posted by synthfiend 

Every time I use bittorrent, my phone service dies until I am done seeding.
No joke, and it is 100% reproducible.

Comcast is "looking very closely" at the problem.
And has been for 6 weeks with no response.

I think I'll be switching to my city's wireless plan at the end of the week.
I'll end up paying for phone service from Verizon, but at least I won't have my phone go out if I download the latest linux OS. It really burns me that I'm not breaking the law, but am treated like I do. I hate Comcast.

Comcast blocks BitTorrent seeds by sending a RESET message. It does this by scanning all outbound traffic and forging TCP headers to get the RESET message to stick.

If their methods confuse this with your VOIP packets, then it's no surprise you're having VOIP issues.

They can't tell you to not use BT, and they probably can't easily or quickly tweak their blocking method (Sandvine), so they are at fault all around. A normal tech support person probably doesn't even know about their company's BT blocking methods.

Use that to try to get a refund each month on your VOIP until it's fixed, or to get out of the contract without termination fees.

[AAADiver]

Wow, I was at a loss until I read this thread. Thanks!!! I recently installed an HP 6110 to replace an older Officejet. Simply replaced the units like for like and immediately both my Comcast VOIP, internet, and fax failed. The Fax off-Hook like came on solid and comcast modem went into failure mode. I couldn't believe it and spent hours fussing with cables and splitters. I had all but given up until I read this thread. Thought it was a long shot to replace my 4-Wire phone lines with older 2-wire lines while keeping them daisy chained (Modem to Fax, Fax to phone) but wah-la IT WORKED!!! Thanks you guys!As my 7-yr old would say, "YOU ROCK!"

[sek929]

Originally Posted by medicman55 

Comcast is quite possibly the worst provider I've ever had to deal with. Yes, it might be possible that they are worse than AOL.

I don't have VoIP, but Comcast internet service here is incredibly reliable and incredibly fast. I have a ping of 25ms and my DL/UL is 30mbps/10mbps.

I am VERY happy with my Comcast internet.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by sek929 

I don't have VoIP, but Comcast internet service here is incredibly reliable and incredibly fast. I have a ping of 25ms and my DL/UL is 30mbps/10mbps.

I am VERY happy with my Comcast internet.

Mine here is very fast, same as yours, but the reliability is horrible. Internet goes down somewhat frequently, at least once a week.

[Warhaven]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

Mine here is very fast, same as yours, but the reliability is horrible. Internet goes down somewhat frequently, at least once a week.

Had Comcast at my apartment, and it sucked ass. Internet would slow to about, oh, 300 bps on weekends. Never got anywhere near the 16mb we were paying for. Maybe half that at 4 am on a Tuesday. Oh, and my connection to games would drop and Web pages would halt if the channel was changed. So, we dropkicked Comcast and got U-Verse. Couldn't be happier.

[Anglerno1]

Well I too have Comcast Triple play and a HP 6110 printer. I got the triple play hooked up about a year ago and have been E-faxing ever since. The tech hooking me up told me there was voltage in the phone wire coming from the fax machine that was knocking the modem off line. He offered to not install the triple play but I figured there would be an easy solution, and I went ahead with the install. I checked with HP and got no help.

Anyways, thanks for the two wire idea. I was going to buy a two wire cable, but at $10.00 plus $9.50 shipping, I said the heck with that. I broke out my x-acto knife and slit my cable jacket and cut the black and yellow wires. I bent them back and taped the cable. Plugged it in and sent a fax! Woot!Thanks again for the info.

[Snow-i]

4 wire phone lines are lines meant to carry 2 lines, which is why your fax gets confused with the Comcast eMTA.
2 wire phone lines carry just one line.

[jimbo1]

Originally Posted by Anglerno1 

Well I too have Comcast Triple play and a HP 6110 printer. I got the triple play hooked up about a year ago and have been E-faxing ever since. The tech hooking me up told me there was voltage in the phone wire coming from the fax machine that was knocking the modem off line. He offered to not install the triple play but I figured there would be an easy solution, and I went ahead with the install. I checked with HP and got no help.

Anyways, thanks for the two wire idea. I was going to buy a two wire cable, but at $10.00 plus $9.50 shipping, I said the heck with that. I broke out my x-acto knife and slit my cable jacket and cut the black and yellow wires. I bent them back and taped the cable. Plugged it in and sent a fax! Woot!Thanks again for the info.

Have you been able to receive faxes? I have an HP6480, and I can send, but can't receive.

[pollyo]

Yep. Qwest phone and internet in my office were always in and out with horrid reception so I switched to Comcast. Now phone and internet are clear and I can no longer use my fax machine which is an HP all-in-one from about 6 years ago. The two-wire phone wire fix did not work. So I am having Qwest (!!!!) come and install a single fax line. I called to complain to Comcast and they knew all about the faxing problem.

I hate not having more than 2 choices for stuff......

[sakuranokaori]

OK LISTEN UP KIDS!

I hope this works for you all. First let me list what fax model I have and the things I used to get my fax to work with Comcast.

HP Fax model 640
Comcast triple play service
modem = Arris (from comcast)
a two wire cable


So the key is to get yourself a TWO WIRE cable. I looked around for a two wire cable around my house and I found the one I had gotten from at&t a while back. It's a red cable they give to you when you get their DSL service, but I think any two wire cable will work.
If you want to know whether it's a 2 or 4 wire cable you have in your hands, just look at the heads, if it has two little metal "teeth" then it's a 2 wire cable which you'll need! If the head has four little metal"teeth" then it's a 4 wire cable which you need to get rid of!

Step 1: get your 2 wire cable, connect one end to your fax , connect the other end to your modem.
Step 2: check for a dial tone (if you have a dial tone then jump up and down with joy!, it means your fax has life!)
Step 3: Send and receive a fax to test if everything is working correctly.

*NOTES: Use the TAM mode setting in your fax if you have an external answering machine connected to your fax.. TAM mode is for when you have an answering machine connected to your fax machine(called an external fax machine), or another phone connected to the fax.
My fax comes with a phone but I don't use it because it doesn't have an answering machine. So I kept my old phone which does have an answering machine. So I have my phone & it's answering machine connected to my fax, therefor I have it on TAM mode.
TAM mode is optional , it's only if you want to connect an answering machine to your fax. Mess around with the settings until you get something right.


Good luck kids!



I hope this helps some of you out there. Let me know if it worked!