Advantage of Faxing

A primary advantage of sending documents via fax is the extra error checking and reporting available.

Fax works by sending information via a telephone call. During the call, each fax machine communicates to confirm pages were received successfully. If a fax is not received, the sender is alerted.


Technology behind sending a fax

To explain this process further, for every fax transmission there are a few stages:

  1. Pre-processing of the fax message (TNZ preparing your fax for sending)
  2. Call initiation (TNZ dialling the receiving fax number)
  3. Call acceptance (the receiving fax machine answering the fax call)
  4. Call negotiation (TNZ negotiating details with the receiving fax machine, eg Caller ID, sending speed, etc)
  5. Transmission of data (your fax document being sent)
  6. Confirmation of transmission (the receiving fax machine confirms the fax page was successfully received
  7. Step 5 and 6 repeat individually for each fax page)
  8. Completion of call (receiving fax machine acknowledges all pages have been successfully received)
  9. Call ends


Once the fax transmission completes, the sender of the fax will be able to view a Delivery Report detailing the fax results. There are two parts to the Delivery Report:
Status outlines the overall outcome of the fax transmission (either "Success" or "Failed")
Result details a more specific outcome (eg "Sent OK" or "No Answer")

If there is a fax failure at any of the above steps, the Status may be "Failed" and the Result code will outline why.
Eg if the call fails at step 1, the Result will be something like 'Bad Number', whereas if the call fails at step 2, the Result will be something like 'No Answer'. 

Fax Result Codes and what these mean

A full list of Result Codes is as follows:

Status Result Explanation
Success Sent Ok Delivered and acknowledged (Steps 1-9 completed)
Success Sent OK - No Confirmation All pages were delivered (Step 7 completed, but the receiving fax machine ended the call without providing Step 8)
Failed Unable to create a fax output file from your input The fax document submitted has a fault (Step 1 failed during preparation as the document is not supported, missing, or corrupt)
Failed Rejected-Non routeable-Invalid Email Address The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination is an invalid email address)
Failed Rejected-Service Disabled-Service is Disabled for your Account The fax number is incorrect or you do not have rights to fax this number (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination is an invalid email address)
Failed No Permit Record There is a fault; contact TNZ (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination fax number is unknown)
Failed Rejected-07-Invalid Number The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination fax number is known to be invalid)
Failed Invalid Number Format The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination fax number is known to be invalid)
Failed Rejected-Barred - Voice Line-Voice Line The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination fax number is known to be invalid)
Failed Rejected-Barred - Customer Requested-Customer requested no messages (OptOut) The fax number is blocked (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination fax number is on your account's Blacklist)
Failed Invalid Fax Number (RP) The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 failed during preparation as the destination fax number is invalid or too short)
Failed Bad Number The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 completed, but Step 2 failed as the destination fax number could not be dialled)
Failed Unallocated Number The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 completed, but Step 2 failed as the destination fax number could not be dialled)
Failed Unable to connect call (CR) The fax number is incorrect (Step 1 completed, but Step 2 failed as the destination fax number could not be dialled)
Failed Temporary Failure The fax needs to be resent (Step 1 completed, but Step 2 failed for an unknown reason; possibly a TNZ issue)
Failed Exchange_Routing_Error The fax needs to be resent (Step 1 completed, but Step 2 failed as a downstream exchange/carrier has a fault)
Failed Busy The fax number is busy/engaged (Step 1 completed, but Step 2 failed as the destination fax number could not be dialled)
Failed No Answer The fax number is not answering (Step 1 completed, but Step 2 failed as the destination fax number rang for 60 seconds without answering)
Failed Call Timed Out There is a fault; contact TNZ (Step 1-3 completed, but a subsequent step failed and the call was held up for too long)
Failed Voice The fax number is incorrect (Step 1-3 completed, but Step 4 failed as the call was answered by a human voice)
Failed Modem The fax number is incorrect (Step 1-3 completed, but Step 4 failed as the call was answered by a modem)
Failed Max Duration There is a fault; contact TNZ (Step 1-3 completed, but a subsequent step failed and the call was held up for too long)
Failed Communication Error There is a fault; contact TNZ (Step 1-5 completed, but Step 6 failed, likely due to a connection, receiver or document issue; see Communication Errors
Failed Unspecified Hangup There is a fault; contact TNZ (Step 1-3 completed, but a subsequent step failed for an unknown reason
Failed Job Aborted The sender aborted the fax manually before sending (Step 1 failed)

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