Why did my fax fail to send? Common issues and how to prevent them

Updated March 01, 2024 14:30

Due to various factors, your fax transmission might occasionally encounter failures. Below, you'll find a list of the most common errors along with their causes:

Error Message	Why Does It Happen and How to Avoid It?
Insufficient Credit	When your credit is insufficient or you've exhausted your monthly quota, you'll encounter the "Insufficient Credit" error. Keep in mind that, depending on the fax's destination, a single page might be counted as multiple pages. For additional information, refer to our Rates page. To resolve this, either top up your credit or subscribe to a plan, and then attempt to send the fax again.
Destination Number Blocked	The number you attempted to send a fax to is either prohibited due to local regulations or is categorized as a special service number, rendering it unsupported by our telecom providers. Although uncommon, this situation arises when our providers identify the number as high-cost or high-risk, leading to restrictions on sending faxes to this destination.
No Fax Detected	This error indicates that we've initiated the call but couldn't detect a fax machine at your intended destination. To resolve this issue, it's advisable to ensure that the destination is equipped with a functional fax machine. Alternatively, you can inquire with the operator at the receiving end to activate their fax machine before transmitting your fax.
No Answer	This error indicates that while we initiated the call, there was no response from the other end, be it a human or a machine. If you encounter this error, you can resolve it by attempting to send your fax again when you are confident the recipient will answer or when their fax machine is set to auto-answer.
Communication Error	The 'Failed (Communication Error)' may occur due to various reasons: The call gets disconnected before the fax transmission can complete. This often happens when the recipient terminates the call. The fax service made several unsuccessful attempts to send the same message. This could result from poor call quality. If you attempt the process again, your fax might successfully go through.
Fax Negotiation Failed	The 'Fax Negotiation Failed' error can occur due to various reasons: The system initiated a fax transmission, but synchronization with the far-end fax failed. A remote fax machine was detected, yet communication could not be established between the sending and receiving modems. The fax service received an unexpected message within the current context. An unexpected response was received while querying the fax machine's capabilities. Following a successful page transmission, the remote fax machine responded with a disconnect message. Depending on the remote machine's behavior, it might have still printed the sent page and any preceding pages. A call was established, but no response was received from the far-end fax machine.
Number Busy	If you encounter a 'Number Busy' error, it indicates that we attempted the call, but the destination was occupied. Please wait for a few minutes before resending your fax.
Invalid Destination Number	This error message suggests that the destination fax number is invalid. Please double-check the number and make sure you've included the appropriate country code along with the area code at the beginning of the destination number. For example, when sending a fax to the USA, please ensure you include +1 at the start of the number.
File Conversion Issue	Fax files are transmitted via the telephone system using audio-frequency tones, which means that digital documents must be converted into analog format. Please ensure that your document isn't password-protected, as such files cannot undergo this conversion process. If your document isn't password-protected, refer to our Status page to verify if there are any ongoing issues.

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