choady

Ok...so we have RightFax 9.3 working with my Altigen! The problem I had was that I had to set the E1/T1 trunk access number to something else. All the ports on the Primary PRI board use trunk access number 9. (Dial 9 to get outside line.)

I set my secondary E1/T1 card with a trunk access number of 8. That is, if the outbound call is intended to be a fax, then an 8 must be dialed prior to the call taking place. (This is handled by RightFax as an automatically dialed digit prior to the actual fax number being dialed.) This is all handled in the System Configuration menu under the NUMBER PLAN tab.

Now...the key to these "tie lines" is contained in 3 places:

1. In System Configuration under the CALL RESTRICTION tab, you MUST check mark the box next to "Enable Hop off for T1, ISDN, and VoIP Tie Trunks"

2. Under Trunk Configuration for each of the various T1 board channels you want to use with this, you need to check the box next to "ENABLE TIE TRUNK"

3. From the BOARDS window, you need to double click the T1 card that you have connected to your fax server. Then, under SPAN INFO, you need to double click the span itself to bring out another menu (the E1/T1 configuration screen) At the very bottom left is a button called PROTOCOL. Click this button and a "Protocol Configuration" window pops up. Ensure that the check box next to ENABLE TIE TRUNK is also checked.

Now you may have to play with various settings between the fax server you use and the Altigen as far as the protocol configuration of the T1 card. In my case, the Altigen is configured using NI-2 PRI NETWORK protocol, while the Brooktrout digital faxboard is configured to utilize NI2 PRI protocol.

Finally, I am using DID fax numbers. Therefore, I had to set up virtual extensions for all my DID fax lines. Then, you must configure these to disable the voicemail boxes, allow calls to be transferred or conferenced to an Outside number, and then in the ANSWERING tab, enable a call forward to an OUTSIDE NUMBER. Using the pulldown for trunk access code (8 in my case) and then put in the DID number of the extension you are configuring.

What does this do? Well it allows any INBOUND phone call placed to one of your DID lines to be picked up by the Altigen, then recognized as a DID FAX number, then forwarded to the trunk card that is attached to the digital fax board, and finally, it references the DID phone number that was dialed so that your fax software can properly route it. RightFax integrates with Exchange and therefore it knows what email account is attached to what DID fax number. I think other fax software works in a similar way.

It was a bit crazy ironing out all this, but in the end it is totally worth it and saves my users lots of time!

If you have any questions, feel free to post it up and I'll try to help as best I can.

Cheers!