Direct Inbound Routing, PBX configuration

What is a direct inbound routing (DIR) of faxes?

This is a very interesting function that enables every user to have his/her own fax number (or some users / user groups to have their own fax number). If a fax is subsequently sent to this fax number, it arrives directly into a mail box of the owner. It is thus not necessary for the faxes to be re-distributed by the secretary.

Direct routing of incoming faxes into mail boxes of individual users requires two basic conditions to be met:

FaxChange shall be connected behind the Private Branch Exchange.
The Private Branch Exchange shall enable the DTMF/PABX routing.

Then you can just configure the FaxChange and assign the numbers to individual users.

How does the DTMF/PABX routing work? Can our Private Branch Exchange do it?

The DTMF/PABX routing is basically the re-routing of more branch lines to one line. It is, however, necessary that the Exchange not only re-routes the line, but also repeats the line telephone number. In this case FaxChange can then determine who the fax is destined for.

A simple example for explanation: The FaxChange fax server is connected to the branch telephone line 61388 500; the virtual branch lines for direct routing are 61388 400 through 61388 450. If the fax comes to the line 61388 401, it is re-routed by the Exchange to the line 500, and after the FaxChange connects to the line, the Exchange repeats line number of the original call; in this case it is 401. The FaxChange captures this number, according to it, it automatically routes the incoming fax directly into the mail box of the 401 line owner.

You have to find out from the Branch Exchange supplier whether the exchange enables DTMF/PABX to be set. This setting is usually made by the technician or the PBX administrator.

When can I use the direct routing?

In essence there are three options:

The Branch Exchange can do the DTMF/PABX routing -- then everything works without problems.
The Branch Exchange cannot do the DTMF/PABX routing; this drawback can be overcome by supplementing an additional module to the FaxChange fax server, which acquires the necessary information via a serial line -- currently this option is available with the Ericsson MD 110 Exchange. In essence this solution is universal for all similar situations.
The Branch Exchange cannot do the DTMF/PABX routing, but a special module from the producer can be supplemented which would add this function into the Exchange. This applies to the following exchanges: AT&T (Lucent Technology) Definity and Kapsch.

Exchanges in which the direct routing of incoming faxes for the FaxChange fax server was tested.

Producer / name	Status
Alcatel type 4400	It works directly, without problems.
AT&T (Lucent Technology) Definity	The Exchange has to be equipped with the Vectoring Basic software or with the additional module from the AT&T company, which is added between the Exchange and the Server FaxChange fax server.
AT&T (Lucent Technology) Merlin	It works directly, without problems. It has to have a sufficient number of free digital ports. PABX length = 15 PABX mask = "*xxx?" (without inverted commas)
Bosch	It works directly, without problems.
Ericsson MD 110	For the FaxChange, it is necessary to make an additional purchase of the software module that acquires information from the Exchange via the serial line.
Kapsch	It is necessary to add an additional module by the Kapsch company between the Exchange and the FaxChange.
Philips SOPHO IS 3000	It works directly, without problems. PABX length = 16 PABX mask = "*xxxx?" (without inverted commas)
Siemens Hicom 300	It works directly, without problems.

How to configure the direct routing?

Set the Exchange so that it sends the PABX pre-selection using DTMF.
Select the Line tab in the FxCfg program
Set the PABX length item for each line - insert the PABX length sent by the Exchange into it. If your Exchange sends PABXs with various lengths, fill in the maximum possible length. The PABX Mask item is shared by all lines. It enables the unnecessary characters to be removed from PABX. The following characters may be used in the mask:
* - ignore any number of characters
? - ignore one character
x - use one character
If then your Exchange directly sends the three-digit line number, enter here 'xxx'. If the call is within the exchange, the AT&T Merlin exchanges send the succession #2#876#123# (from the 876 line to the 123 line); if the call is outside (to the 123 line), the succession sent is #1#123# - the suitable mask is then '*xxx?'
In the program FxUserM, set the fax routing from virtual lines to specific users on the "routing" tab.

Possible problems with PABX/DIR setting

Do you think that the PABX exchange sends faxes but FaxChange does not receive them or receives them incorrectly?

Connect a regular telephone apparatus instead of the fax card. Call one of the virtual fax numbers from a different telephone apparatus. The telephone apparatus connected instead of the FaxChange should ring. Pick up the receiver. Immediately after you have done that, you should hear the sequence of the "dialling tone" -- of the regular tone selection. If you cannot hear it, the exchange is not sending it, and the defect is in the exchange setting.

If the interval between the picking up of the receiver and the start of the DTMF sequence is longer than approximately 1,5 second, the FaxChange no longer waits for the DTMF selection. This can be set -- in the registry in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Datasys/Faxchange/global/timing/dtmf key, the maximum interval (in milliseconds) between PABX individual characters can be set. If another character is not accepted in the timeout, the PABX receiving is terminated. A standard value is 1500 ms. Thus if the exchange waits for three seconds after the call is connected and only then sends PABX, it is necessary to increase this value to 3500.

How to check that the PABX/DTMF exchange sends?

Set the PABX length for all lines to 24. Restart the FaxChange.LineDrvBT service. Stop the FaxChange.SysAtt and FaxChange.Server services.

Now after every fax reception, in the faxchange/fax/in/ directory one file with the TIF extension and one file with the CTL extension appear. You can open the CTL file using Notepad. Find the PABX= line. This line contains exactly what the exchange sent as PABX, without masking (the masking is done in the server).