Introducing sFax

After deploying this network, we knew we needed to test it, and that not just any test would do. We know that end users expect faxes to be bulletproof, and “to just work,” so we came up with the most extreme test we could think of. We sent a 10 page fax in “fine” quality to a recipient in Virginia (from Vancouver, WA) over a satellite internet connection… while we maxed out the upload speeds via speedtest.net… and stood in front of the dish. Spoiler alert: it worked.

We conducted this test with a Brother MFC Fax/Printer/Scanner all-in-one, and a specially configured Cisco SPA 112 ATA adapter. This was our test setup (yes, those are goats in the background):

During that test, we observed a maximum latency of ~570ms, an average latency of 300-400ms, and a maximum packet loss of 30%:

We also ran an MTR at the same time to track where the latency was most significant, and understandably, it was most significant when the fax… got into outer space: