Does anyone have any experience in the dial through industry regarding setting up an 08?? dial through service, or a "fax to email" service?
Obviously I appreciate that we are trying on this site to avoid 087? & 084? numbers, but we have an understanding if such numbers are valid.
Technical and/or financial experience preferred, but obviously sensible theories welcome.

Not sure if it's what you want, but Windows XP has a fax programme,  
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/crawford_02october21.mspx

Or there is some info here:- http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=492406&highlight=fax

Regarding the fax to email, I was thinking of something like this http://www.efax.co.uk/search.html?VID=38707&gclid=CJ_bw7jni44CFQQdEgodWD1gDw (Only used as an example, NOT an agent of)
whereby you send a fax to an given number, which then (and this is the bit I'm interested in) forwards it to your specified email address.
Thus you are able to collect your faxes, wherever you are, as long as you have email access.
Obviously as a one person set up, it would be easier to join a service. But I'd like to set up my own if possible.

The same thought goes for the 08 dial through. Who knows, you might be going through my service in future!

a very nice man wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2007 at 3:17pm:

Regarding the fax to email, I was thinking of something like this http://www.efax.co.uk/search.html?VID=38707&gclid=CJ_bw7jni44CFQQdEgodWD1gDw (Only used as an example, NOT an agent of) whereby you send a fax to an given number, which then (and this is the bit I'm interested in) forwards it to your specified email address. Thus you are able to collect your faxes, wherever you are, as long as you have email access. Obviously as a one person set up, it would be easier to join a service. But I'd like to set up my own if possible. The same thought goes for the 08 dial through. Who knows, you might be going through my service in future!

I use eFax and it works perfectly; all my faxes are forwarded to e-mail. As I pay a subscription I can also send faxes using fax-to-web ie: from any browser. Incidentally, being a true 'son of Noto0870' they provided me with an 01x fax number at no extra charge ;)

However, what I am trying to ask for is............
How do I go about setting up a service for myself, with the intention of selling it on to others, as a commercial enterprise, in a similar vein to eFax?

Sorry i cant help, but a Free Fax to E-Mail service using 0845 is already available here.

http://customers.aceinternet.co.uk/telco/

That's just it. I can get free fax to email services, with the sender paying the bills.
In fact I can get any amount of them with a 30 second Google. But what I cannot seem to find is the info of how to actually set up my own company offering the service.
For this instance I don't mind the service using an 0870. It's in the other party's interest to send it, and I don't want to tie up my phone with a fax. And before anyone says that the machines can pick up when it a fax signal,.. the phone is always diverted to the mobile, and there's nothing worse than listening to a fax screaming through your earpiece when you are driving.

I don't understand why you want to do it yourself, however here you go...

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+Fax+to+email

Using Asterisk (the open source pbx) you can do it.  Sign up for a free voip acount that gives you an incoming number, and use that as your fax number.  Just google about (or follow the links elsewhere on that website) and you can get free NGN and geographic numbers in the UK or abroad.  Asterisk will run under any UNIX-like operating system, and I think there is a port for windows.  It can even run directly on your router as a package under OpenWRT (though I don't know if that way generally has got the power to do faxes).

If you don't have a *nix machine about, but do have a spare PC, then trixbox have downloadable install discs that will (wipe it, and) set up a complete system for you, complete with easy to use web based interface, I believe,

Rob

a very nice man wrote on Aug 24^th, 2007 at 5:37pm:

That's just it. I can get free fax to email services, with the sender paying the bills. In fact I can get any amount of them with a 30 second Google. But what I cannot seem to find is the info of how to actually set up my own company offering the service. For this instance I don't mind the service using an 0870. It's in the other party's interest to send it, and I don't want to tie up my phone with a fax. And before anyone says that the machines can pick up when it a fax signal,.. the phone is always diverted to the mobile, and there's nothing worse than listening to a fax screaming through your earpiece when you are driving.

I don't understand this either

If it were possible to get a free fax to email ordinary area code number, why would anyone either get a free 0870 number one instead, or pay for the other?

Andy9
I'm not quite sure where the misunderstanding is, but.....................

I wasn't looking for a free to everybody service, where they issue a landline number, do all the donkey work, and expect nothing in return.
I can get, and have since got, a fax to email service that operates at no cost to me, whereby the sender pays 10p per min on an 0871. It's in the sender's interest to send it (trust me, it is) and I get a fax receiver whereby I can get my faxes wherever I have email access. As I often go abroad, or sometimes need further instructions which need a paper copy issued whilst on the road, this service is great for me.

If it's good enough for the likes of eFax to operate a business offering this service, then why not me? Hence the question posed in the first post. Subsequent explanation in the third post, and reiteration in the fifth and seventh posts.

Thank you Irrelevant for the pointer to the asterix set up. It would appear my current supplier operates in the same way. So obviously this is the method I need to study more.

But it still leaves the other question about setting up a dial through service.
But if fax to email caused problems then who knows what will happen with dial through.
Any thoughts on the last bit?
let's consider the F T E service dealt with.

a very nice man wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 6:48pm:

But it still leaves the other question about setting up a dial through service. But if fax to email caused problems then who knows what will happen with dial through. Any thoughts on the last bit?

Oh that's even easier...

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/index.php?page=Asterisk+cmd+DISA

DISA - Direct Inward System Access

i.e. incoming calls get given an "internal" dialtone from which they can then dial out to anywhere that your routing rules allow.

For your application, just make sure you only allow outgoing calls to destinations that cost less than the revenue you get from the incoming calls..


Asterisk is a bit of a learning curve, especially if you get "deep and dirty" with the configuration files and not use one of the friendly GUI applications, but it has the power to do pretty much anything you want, telecoms wise.

So in reply to Irrelevent.

My Very Basic interpretation.
I buy 50000 minutes of voip time. The suppliers of voipstunt etc offer this facility.
This will allow me to dial europe for 0.2p per min (example only)
I configure Astrix to only allow access to these countries.
I rent an 08?? number with multiple lines. (how many pcs would be required?)
This line charges at 1p per min with 0.5p going to BT (example) for carrying the initial call.
I sit back and rake in 0.3p per min, every min. Paying for rent etc from my cut.
Have I understood correctly?

This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires!

a very nice man wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 6:48pm:

Andy9 I wasn't looking for a free to everybody service, where they issue a landline number, do all the donkey work, and expect nothing in return. I can get, and have since got, a fax to email service that operates at no cost to me, whereby the sender pays 10p per min on an 0871. It's in the sender's interest to send it (trust me, it is) and I get a fax receiver whereby I can get my faxes wherever I have email access. As I often go abroad, or sometimes need further instructions which need a paper copy issued whilst on the road, this service is great for me.

I think people already knew what you were talking about.

An 01xxx number is even more in the sender's interest, but if you can't find this, then use an 0845 or 0870 number.

I suppose I could forward an 0871 to the other number and make a few pence, but why - I didn't think that was the ethic of this place

a very nice man wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 7:26pm:

So in reply to Irrelevent. My Very Basic interpretation. I buy 50000 minutes of voip time. The suppliers of voipstunt etc offer this facility. This will allow me to dial europe for 0.2p per min (example only) I configure Astrix to only allow access to these countries. I rent an 08?? number with multiple lines. (how many pcs would be required?) This line charges at 1p per min with 0.5p going to BT (example) for carrying the initial call. I sit back and rake in 0.3p per min, every min. Paying for rent etc from my cut. Have I understood correctly? This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires!

0.2c a minute ???

France     0.89 to 0.908c
Germany 0.74 to 1.004c
UK           0.55 to 0.70c

Electricity bills, rent and rates, vat ...

Marketing ... ?

a very nice man wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 7:26pm:

Have I understood correctly?

Yup.  Though I'd be inclined to haggle for better prices!


Quote:

This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires!

Remember to deduct your hardware costs, bandwidth costs, number rental costs (if any) and of course the vast amounts on advertising you will need to do, to persuade enough punters to use your service...

Here is some suggested hardware requirements for different numbers of calls.  Bandwidth I can't find examples for the moment, but assuming 9600bps per call (as per GSM) a 2Mbps SDSL or leased line would support up to 100 simultaneous calls. (in+out*10Kbps*100).  A typical ADSL line with 256Kbps upstream would theoretically support 12, if you could cope with the unreliability at that speed, and until youhit your usage allowance.  Of course, better codecs will take more bandwidth...

Your 50K mins at 0.3p/min profit would net you £150.  You'll probably need three times that a month to cover an SDSL line rental, which works out at 7 simultaneous calls for 12 hours a day.  More still to cover the other costs.  Then you want to make a profit..

You could start small, run on a cable or ADSL line, only taking occasional calls, but your profit from the calls would be pennies a month...  How much do you value your time?

My quote
This will allow me to dial europe for 0.2p per min (example only)

Note....... I said example only. This was purely for figurative speech only.



"An 01xxx number is even more in the sender's interest, but if you can't find this, then use an 0845 or 0870 number. "
For me to get an 01 etc number would require payment for the service from me. They need me to have the fax. Their work depends on it. Why should I pay?
I tried voipfone who use an 0870, after all, it's cheaper for the sender.
A test fax was sent at 1420 on Sunday. It hit my mail at 1355 on tuesday. I consider that to be crap!

I signed to Faxtastic, who use 0871.
Within 10 mins of signing up a test fax was sent. I was able to view it 2 mins later, including log in time.
And the winner is.............?

a very nice man wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 8:24pm:

For me to get an 01 etc number would require payment for the service from me. They need me to have the fax. Their work depends on it. Why should I pay? I

Never mind a callthrough service; think about setting up a call centre

People want to speak to your staff, their finances might depend on it, so why shouldn't they call your lovely new 0871 numbers?

From various postings in the past, you will have read that I have done virtually everything to reduce the cost to my customers.

I have an 0800 number that diverts to my land or mobile at my expense.
I offer the land and mobile numbers for those on inclusive packages.
I accept email & text communication, calling back at my expense if necessary.
But short of setting up a fax to email service of my own, again at my expense, there appears to be no sensible alternative to getting the faxes. Especially if the distance between 2 known points in a 4 hour period could be 1500 miles.
I can work without their info.
They can't function properly without giving it to me. Due to some British Standard crap that only slows business down. Probably ISO9002 or similar.
I don't have a reason to pay £30 + per year for a service i don't need.
We are agreed generally throughout the forums that there can be a justified use of a number. I fully believe my use is justified.
Was there something I missed?

Irrelevent.
You obviously play with Asterix for fun.
The figures quoted were just for mathematical purposes only.
At the moment I'm on the 20mb service from Virgin (and about bl**dy time Richard!) so I assume more calls could be carried. But obviously that would depend on the upload speed.
The bigger companies must just work with the numbers, and have such a high throughput, that even if it was only 0.3p per min (maintaining example) it works for them. Small profit, quick turnover.

Perhaps it's a bit out of my league for a while. Heck, the only Asterix I knew of before this site used to drink a funny liquid to change his behaviour, and hang around with a semi naked man with man boobs!

Thanks for your input.

a very nice man wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 9:34pm:

Irrelevent. You obviously play with Asterix for fun.

Wel, I did for a bit, until the box I was using died.  But it was an old Tiny box, so no wonder...  I did, however, get a feel for what it can do.  I really must set it up again, so I can get all my phones working again...


Quote:

The figures quoted were just for mathematical purposes only. At the moment I'm on the 20mb service from Virgin (and about bl**dy time Richard!) so I assume more calls could be carried. But obviously that would depend on the upload speed. The bigger companies must just work with the numbers, and have such a high throughput, that even if it was only 0.3p per min (maintaining example) it works for them. Small profit, quick turnover.

Well all my figures were back-of-an-envelope type workings; but they should be in the ballpark, so you've got some idea on practicality.

For your own, personal, use, it's entirely practical.  I woudn't try and set up a business around it, though, unless you have a lot of knowledge in the market you'd be operating.

a very nice man, you could try switchnumbers.co.uk, they offer fax to email on a very big range of number types.

This was a site I had looked at, Getagrip, and passed over.
However, they include the one thing that I was trying to avoid, a personal cost.
The most basic setup, using an 01 etc number has the following table.
This didn't quite copy / paste properly.
Setup
Charge      £0.00      £50.00      £99.00      P.O.A.
Annual
Charge      £25.00      £25.00      £50.00      P.O.A.
                                     
Peak (min)      2.00p      2.00p      2.00p      2.00p
Off Peak (min)       2.00p      2.00p      2.00p      2.00p
Wkend (min)           2.00p      2.00p      2.00p      2.00p

Peak (call)               0.00p      0.00p      0.00p      0.00p
Off Peak (call)      0.00p      0.00p      0.00p      0.00p
Wkend (call)             0.00p      0.00p      0.00p      0.00p

As you can see, it will cost me at least £25 before I can even start.

If however, I chose an 0904 number, it would cost them £1.50 per min, but I'd get £1.15 for my trouble.

You asked about fax to email.  I was abroad and needed to see a letter that had arrived at home.  No scanner/email was available and no fax where I was staying.  

Went to http://control.inweb.co.uk/ and got an 0844 number free.  A fax to their 0844 numbers costs the sender 5 p per minute.  Of course they sell other numbers incluing 0870 and 07 numbers.  But it worked  for me - 5 minutes after registering I had the document in an email.  It took 1:05 minutes to send so I probably got billed 2 minutes = 10p.  

This is not an endorsement - I have not checked for overcharges etc but it appears to have solved my needs at the time.

~ Edited by Dave: Blank lines removed