How to fax with Vonage – sending, receiving, alternatives, and more
Last Update: August 9th, 2021
Vonage offers optional add-on feature to add a fax line to the regular voice service.
It is not possible to connect a fax machine (or computer with fax software and a fax modem) to a Vonage phone line. VoIP phone services (such as Vonage’s phone line) are incompatible with fax machines.
Popular alternatives to faxing through a Vonage phone line are:
- Vonage’s optional add-on fax service.
- An online fax service. Some of them combine both phone and fax in the same package.
- A fax machine (or computer with fax software) connected to a landline phone line.
- Printing the fax and sending it from a store with fax services (such as copy/print shops or a library).
Can I send and receive faxes with a fax machine connected to a Vonage phone line?
No. According to Vonage, there is no support for a physical fax machine.
Vonage offers an add-on feature for a fax line.
VoIP services such as Vonage are known to be very incompatible with fax machines. Even when a connection between a fax machine and a VoIP phone works, it is not reliable.
Frequently asked questions about Vonage and fax
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Contact us for any questions about Vonage and fax not listed here.
Question: Are there any online fax services that are compatible with Vonage?
Answer: Vonage offers its own online fax service.
As an alternative, someone with a Vonage line can also use an online fax service from a different company as a different service from Vonage.
Many fax services can be connected to an email system, giving access to both email and fax in the same inbox.
Question: Can I fax documents such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word through Vonage?
Answer: Yes, with Vonage’s fax line addition, or with a separate online fax service.
You can not, however, connect a computer with a fax modem to a Vonage phone line and fax documents.
See the explanation above and our suggested alternatives.
We also have specific resources for faxing a PDF or a Microsoft Word document.
Question: My fax machine was working with my Vonage phone line before – what changed?
Answer: We are not sure what changed. Sometimes one fax is successful, and the next is not.
Fax is a problem over VoIP because of how the VoIP phone line changes the audio signal to digital. A change in the VoIP environment can result in a transmission that worked no longer working.
Larger page counts, more graphically intense documents, changes on the internet, and changes with other fax machines can cause problems with the fax.
Question: Can I receive a fax with my Vonage phone number?
Answer: If the fax machine is properly working on the Vonage connection, it should be able to receive.