(pronounced as separate letters) FoIP, short for
fax over Internet Protocol, the technology that enables the internetworking of
fax machines with a
packet-based
network. Using FoIP, a
fax is transmitted via the
Internet rather than the traditional method of sending faxes via the telephone line. Using FoIP, the
digital data from the fax machine is separated into packets for transmission (as opposed to the traditional method of converting the fax data into
analog to be sent over the
PSTN). The digital data requires less
bandwidth than the analog data, so FoIP is more efficient than analog faxing.