

Show HN: Fax Robot – a GPL'ed web app and API for sending faxes - rubbingalcohol
https://www.faxrobot.com

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kevin
There's so much to like about your execution here. I think my favorite is that
the contact email for Fax Robot is human@faxrobot.com.

I would highly recommend putting the information that you need to buy $2 worth
up front.

Finding that out in an FAQ doesn't feel right to me.
[http://cl.ly/image/0P270O2E2b39](http://cl.ly/image/0P270O2E2b39)

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mmastrac
That's awesome. I can't believe that fax is still a thing, but sometimes
there's just no easy way to get N pages into somebody else's hands. Scan-to-
email is good, but the usability for various products is all over the map.

edit: I think the Github link on the FAQ is busted. Should probably link to
[https://github.com/lyonbros/faxrobot-
www](https://github.com/lyonbros/faxrobot-www) or
[https://github.com/lyonbros/faxrobot](https://github.com/lyonbros/faxrobot)

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ChuckMcM
I think it is a great service and I built a manual version with a server and
an old FAX modem. The challenge for me is that with a service, if your
infrastructure gets compromised, and you have a fax that I sent to my bank
asking them to say 'reroute my checking account', it becomes trivial to have
my bank reroute it again. The problem for me with FAX is that it is both
massively easy to spoof and considered so freakin' authentic by the folks who
demand faxes.

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SwellJoe
I _just_ needed to send faxes related to payroll taxes a few days ago, and
ended up with another pay-as-you-go type service. Wish I'd seen this first.
Since it's been three or four years since I've previously needed to send
faxes, I'm unlikely to become a regular Fax Robot user, but the price is right
(I'm paying .11 per page) and the simplicity of the thing looks great. Minimal
hassle, no monthly fee, etc. were among my qualifications when I made a
decision about which service to use.

Historically I used MaxEmail which was always fine, and a good deal if you
need incoming faxes, but since I didn't need that and canceled my account with
them a few years back, it was unnecessarily expensive.

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finnn
>NOTE: The device for your faxmodem must be accessible by the user account
you're running the worker.py process under. (hint: add your user account to
the dialout group)

So you have like, a server with a fax modem hooked up to a landline? Wouldn't
this be much cheaper to do as VoIP?

~~~
rubbingalcohol
You can use a virtual hardware device like IAXmodem[1] to go over a VoIP
channel, while identifying itself to Linux as a normal dialup modem. That's
outside of the scope of Fax Robot as a project, but certainly a good option
for scaling it up.

[1]: [http://iaxmodem.sourceforge.net/](http://iaxmodem.sourceforge.net/)

~~~
contingencies
Yep. True story: that's how I ran my hotel reservation network in China about
... oh ... 8 years ago now. E1 link (30 simultaneous lines) plus a Sangoma
interface card, Asterisk, IAXmodem and a lot of configuration, custom web-
based call center operator distributed web interface. Faxes would come in to a
human workqueue based on caller ID (we could tell which partner hotel were
sending them). We'd store them as PDFs, ask someone to pick a page and place
to 'stamp' (hah!) them to signal agreement or receipt, then automagically
digitally fax them back. Presto: paperless office! Usually 3-5 people, we
scaled to about ~3500 partner hotels (at the time, the same network size as
the 2x leading competition, both Nasdaq listed) by being more efficient. I'm
seriously considering re-launching this now, if anyone's got a fat China-scale
marketing budget lying around.

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threeio
Thanks Fax Robot! You served your purpose today when I got the random email
asking for some data to be faxed to them for expedited service... (seriously,
an email requesting a fax.. thanks world.)

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infinitone
Good execution. But I usually use hellofax [1], plus they give you up to 5
free docs to fax i think.

[1] [http://hellofax.com](http://hellofax.com)

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toomuchtodo
How is this different from Phaxio [+]?

[+] [https://www.phaxio.com/](https://www.phaxio.com/)

~~~
rubbingalcohol
I found this was easier to answer with a bulleted comparison. The main thing
is Fax Robot is free for anyone who wants to run it on their own network.

Phaxio: \- _Just_ an API \- More features than Fax Robot API \- More expensive
\- Closed source

Fax Robot: \- An API and a web app \- Less API features than Phaxio (send
only) \- Less expensive \- Open source (GPL)

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Animats
That reminds me, I should cancel my MaxEmail fax account. I haven't needed to
receive an inbound fax in years.

