Instant Fax Portal

The SkySwitch Instant Fax service gives PBX Users the option to view received faxes and send outbound faxes directly from the PBX portal or by email.

Note: SkySwitch does not support international faxing.

Receiving Faxes

Configuration for the Instant Fax service is accomplished in the Telco Phone Numbers Portal. To enable it, follow these steps.

1. From the Partner Dashmanager, click on Phone Numbers from the Telco dropdown menu.
   
2. Purchase a new DID or click on Manage Inventory from the left side menu and edit an existing DID.
3. Make sure to check the box on the left side of the DID and click the Edit Route (signpost) icon on the right side.
4. Open the Fax tab and set Deliver To setting to Instant Fax Portal then choose the domain and user to assign the DID to.
   
5. Click the Apply Routing button to finalize.

Note: It is not possible in our system to have both services of calls and faxes to a single DID.

Inbound faxes will appear in the Fax Inbox and will be emailed to the email address of the PBX User.  

Note: Inbound faxes are retained until they are deleted in the portal

Email Notifications for the user should be enabled for faxes to be sent to the user's email address.
You can choose one of the notification types listed below:
1. None
2. Notification only (no link or attachment)
3. Send w/ hyperlink
4. Send w/ attachment (leave as new)
5. Send w/ attachment (move to saved)
6. Send w/ attachment (move to trash)

This can be found under the Voicemail tab when editing a user in Manage PBX.

Sending Faxes

To send a fax using email to fax, view the Email to Fax article.

To send a fax from the PBX portal, click the Send Fax button on the Fax Inbox page.

Note: There is no limit for Sent Fax history. Sent faxes are only cleared when the Fax Portal User manually deletes them or if the PBX Fax Portal User is deleted.

Step by Step Instructions to Send a Fax:

1. Click the Send Fax button.
2. Choose the appropriate Cover Page option:
   
   1. None
   2. Compose - This option will allow you to enter the text that will be sent as a cover page.
   3. File - This option will allow you to choose a file that will be sent as a cover page. The system accepts the following file formats for the cover page: html; pdf; doc; docx; jpg; png; odt.
3. Choose a file to be faxed. The system accepts the following file formats for the fax document: html; pdf; doc; docx; jpg; png; odt.
4. Select the Caller ID number that you wish to appear on the outbound fax.
5. Enter the phone number of the fax recipient in the Phone Number field. 10 or 11 digit phone numbers are accepted but not 7 digits.
6. Click the Send button.
7. When the fax is accepted by the Fax Server, a notification message will be displayed. 

Instant Fax Caller ID

When sending an outbound fax, you will be allowed to choose any DID that has been configured as Instant Fax Portal as the Fax CallerID that is already routed to the portal user.

If there is no Instant Fax Portal configured DID currently routed to the portal user, then the system will use 13214246840 as the Caller ID for outbound faxes.

Only subscribed users to the DID that is configured as Instant Fax Portal are able to use the DID as Fax CallerID. Instant Fax Portal does not support caller ID spoofing.

When a user sends a fax from the Instant Fax Portal, the User's fax number is shown in the header of the fax document that is sent. It is not possible to show the User's fax number in the actual caller ID of the call to the receiver's fax machine

The Caller ID number selected by the User will be inserted in the header of the fax document as shown in the highlighted area below.

Fax Notifications

Once a fax is uploaded to the fax server for delivery, it will be placed into an outgoing job queue for delivery. The fax server will try to deliver the fax in up to 6 attempts. If the fax is not delivered after the 6 attempts, the job will be aborted. Common reasons for non-delivery of faxes include busy numbers and humans answering the destination fax line. Users will receive a notification stating the status of the fax.

Notification regarding the status of sent faxes will be placed into the Sent Folder of the Fax page and a Fax Status Update email notification will be sent to the sender for both successful delivery and failed attempts.

Note:
Send/Receive Fax limit: 20Mb or 100 pages (whichever comes first).

HIPAA compliant fax options

• Utilizing the user's portal to retrieve faxes is considered HIPAA compliant as long as email forwarding options are not used.  
• Faxes should be sent by a single individual to the single intended recipient, not a group fax accessible option. 
• FAX Portal transmission (TLS encrypted) is considered HIPAA compliant for sending or receiving faxes.

HIPAA compliance requires policies & procedures.  A technology solution alone is simply not enough. Please consult with your SkySwitch support team if you have any questions or concerns about HIPAA compliance. 

Dear SkySwitch Partner,

If you provide phone service to healthcare providers in the United States, then HIPAA Privacy Rules dictate that you should provide a Business Associate Agreement ("BAA") to your customers ("Covered Entities"). As a potential recipient of your customers' protected health information, SkySwitch is required to provide you with a Business Associate Agreement as well. SkySwitch will not provide a BAA to your customers.

If you believe that this applies to you, we are requesting you to please complete this form so that we can send a BAA to the appropriate person in your organization.

Thank you,