View source for Fax/Pager Gateway

==How does the email-to-fax/pager service work? ==

We use a publicly available software package, known as [http://www.hylafax.org/ HylaFAX],  along with our own scripts. When you send a fax, HylaFAX simply takes  the place of a fax machine. It dials up the specified number and transfers  the data you provided. The pager gateway works much the same way,  but it dials a general number to the pager company, gives the phone  number to deliver the message to, and then the data/message to be  delivered.  


==Can I send messages to pagers without using this service? ==

Most pager/cellular companies, now, associate an email address with  all their numbers. The syntax is usually 10digitnumber@pagercompany.net,  but you'd need to check with the individual companies to be sure.  This method sends the message directly to the pager company to, then,  be delivered to the recipient. This surpasses the need for our system  to dial the pager company directly. 


==Are there any coverage limitations? ==

These services are currently available only for calls made locally  in the greater Salt Lake City metro area. (All pager companies listed  have local data numbers.) Expansion of these services to our remote  dial-up locations are in the planning stages. Please email fax@xmission.com  for more information. 


==How do I send a fax using the fax gateway? ==

Using ''mail.xmission.com'' as your SMTP/POP mail server, an email addressed to: ''Addressee_Name@5551234.fax''

would send an XMission cover page addressed to '''Addressee_Name''' followed by your email to the fax machine answering at '''555-1234'''. By default, the service will attempt to deliver the message up to three times in a 20 minute period. 


==How do I send a pager message using the pager gateway? ==

Using ''mail.xmission.com'' as your SMTP/POP mail server, an email addressed to: ''verify@airtouch5551234.pager''

would send the '''Subject:''' line of your email to the pager answering  the Airtouch pager at 555-1234 and a verification of your page to  your email address. If you don't want the verification message sent  to you, replace ''verify@'' with ''silent@''. 

The pager message will contain your account name/email name followed  by the subject of the email. Anything in the body will be stripped  from the message.

If the '''Subject:''' was "Aliens are invading Tooele! Head for the hills!", the recipient would see something like: 

''acctname:Aliens are invading Tooele! Head for the hills!''
 
<div class="messagebox metadata">'''Note''': If you send an alpha-numeric page to a numeric-only pager, the letters will be stripped and only the numbers will be sent.</div> 


==What pager/cellular services are supported? ==

The following pager companies have been verified to work with our email-to-pager gateway:

#airtouch (Verizon)
#westlink
#american
#att-national 
#att-slc 
#att-ogden 
#att-logan 
#att-pcs 
#pagenet 
#pagemart (for pin numbers starting with "13") 
#pagemart16 (for pin numbers starting with "16")
#skytel-ut 
#westlink (Qwest)
#voicestream 
#voicestream PCS 

The following companies have  '''not ''' been verified. Please [mailto:support@xmission.com let us know] if they do or do not work.

#skytel 
#skypage 
#mobilecomm 
#gte 
#worldcom 
#mci 
#sprint-spectrum 
#sprint 


==Can someone send me a fax using this service? ==

Unfortunately, no. Incoming faxes are sent as images instead of ASCII  (plain text), so there's no way to extract individual information  from a fax and then send it to the appropriate mailbox. There are  image-to-text converters, but they're less than reliable. Since the  original fax is sent as a scanned image, much like a copy machine,  any number of factors can cause it to be mis-aligned, incomplete,  or otherwise not perfectly readable. 


==Can someone send me a pager message using this service? ==

Not directly, because the SMTP server needs to be set to XMission's  mail server. However, you can set up one of your four free aliases*  as your pager address, and this will allow the message to be sent  to XMission's gateway via our mail server. 
<div class="messagebox metadata">'''Note''': POP-only accounts do not come with free aliases.</div> 


==Can this service be used to notify me of new email? ==

Yes. Using your shell account,  create a ''.forward'' file in your home directory. On the first  line, enter <tt>\acctname, silent@pagercompanyPAGERNUMBER.pager</tt>  (filling in your information where indicated). Please note that most  pager/cellular companies will charge for pager messages exceeding  the contract limit. Make note of your contract limit and try to stay  below it, as XMission will not be responsible for resulting charges  from your pager/cellular company. 


==Are there a limit to how many pages or faxes I can send? ==

There is currently no limitation on the number, frequency or size  of fax/pages sent. However, these services were  '''NOT ''' intended  for unsolicited fax/paging. Use of these services to send unsolicited  fax/pages will result in  '''IMMEDIATE ''' termination of your account,  probable legal action and collection of fees at $50 per incident and  $100 per hour involved. [http://www.terabyte.net/Title47.htm#fax FEDERAL  LAW REFERENCE].