Make your fax work over the NBN

Make your fax work over the NBN

Do you need to send and receive faxes but don’t know how to make your fax work over the NBN?

One of the biggest challenges of moving to the NBN is making your analogue devices (like faxes) work.
There is a lot of confusion about whether fax machines will work over the NBN. Read the below guide on how to make your fax work over the NBN.

The simple answer is that fax machines will work over the NBN.

*There are very few cases where a fax machine won’t work over the NBN.


How to make your fax work over the NBN: a fax machine is an analogue device designed to work over an analogue network (ie: PSTN) whereas the NBN network is a digital network that needs to talk to IP devices.

Steps to make a fax machine work…

  1. Give it an IP address
    1. We do this by installing a phone adaptor, like a Cisco SPA112.
    2. The SPA112 costs approx $60
    3. The instructions to configure the SPA112 are below.
    4. This will effectively make your fax machine a network device
  2. Link it to a SIP/VoIP account
    1. You need a SIP/VoIP account with a provider
    2. eg: Rosh-Tech IT, Integrated Technology Solutions
    3. They will provide you with
      1. SIP/VoIP host address
      2. user account
      3. password
    4. Your fax number
      1. you can port your existing fax number to the SIP/VoIP provider
      2. alternatively you can get a new fax number
    5. The fax number that you are using from the above Item 4 needs to be linked on your SIP/VoIP account with your provider


Configure the Cisco SPA112

  1. Plug the SPA112 into the network
  2. Scan the network to find the SPA112 IP address
  3. Open a browser and type in the IP address
  4. Log in to the SPA112 with username/password admin /admin
  5. Open the Voice page Line 1
  6. Enter the proxy as the address of your SIP/VoIP provider
    1. normally something like
  7. Display name: any label that suits
    1. eg:Reception
  8. User ID: This is the user account of your SIP/VoIP account
  9. Password: This is the password of your SIP/VoIP account
  10. Submit
  11. The SPA112 will then reboot and register and you are good to go
  12. Check that your fax can send and receive


This post is intended to be a bare-bones guide to make your fax work over the NBN network. There are dozens of other settings available in the SPA112 and your individual fax machine that can be tweaked.

If you decide that you want to move away from your fax machine and onto an eFax system then Roshtech provides an online portal where you can send and receive faxes. You don’t need any additional hardware and the cost is $0.20 per fax to send and receive. This is a great way to keep the option of a fax going indefinitely into the future and you only pay for the faxes that you actually send and receive.

If you need assistance with this issue or any other IT issue feel free to call the Helpdesk on 1300666040.