FreePBX alternative with built-in fax: what to look for
FreePBX is a solid way to run Asterisk, and plenty of offices use it happily. The question usually comes up when fax enters the picture. A clinic or law office needs to send and receive fax every day, and suddenly the phone system has extra moving parts.
1. Is fax part of the product or an add-on?
Check whether fax to email works out of the box or needs a separate module, license or server. The difference shows up on the day something stops working, because you want one place to look.
2. How does it handle T.38?
Fax over IP is fragile. T.38 support gives much better results than sending fax as a normal audio call, but your SIP provider has to support it too. Ask which trunks the vendor has tested.
3. Can you see what happened to a fax?
A good system logs every fax with status, page count and the email it was delivered to. Without that, "we never got it" becomes a long argument.
4. Who supports it?
With open-source tools you are often on forums. That is fine if you have the time. If you do not, pick something with a person you can email.
5. Does it fit how you sell?
If you are an IT company or ISP, check for multi-client management and white-label options, because that decides whether you can resell it.
That is the list I wrote Telvora around. If you want to see how it compares, read the side-by-side comparison or ask for a demo.