Copper is dying: fax carries on

Key dates, warning signs, solutions and your number: the decisions ahead.

Orange has not sold new PSTN lines in France since November 2018. Since late 2023, the operator has been transitioning traditional telephony to IP, region by region, and from 31 January 2025 it has been progressively switching off the copper network, town by town, until 2030. Fax endures this transition without difficulty: your numbers stay reachable and the T.30 protocol remains unaffected. What breaks is the device plugged into a wall socket, disconnected from its line on that day, or redirected through a router whose voice compression distorts the signal. Four options exist: a T.38 adapter, email-to-fax, online sending via Faxeroo, or any other channel your contacts are comfortable with. Before choosing one, ask yourself: do you actually receive faxes, or do you only send them?

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“Telephony and networks” covers several pages, each tackling a distinct question. Choose the page that fits your situation.

Copper, PSTN, IP: let's clarify the terms

Two successive switch-offs are often confused with each other. Initially, it's the PSTN — traditional circuit-switched telephony — that gets phased out: the copper pair stays put, but voice calls now travel over IP. Then comes the turn of the copper line proper, running between your wall outlet and the local exchange; once a municipality completes its switch-off, no signal passes through anymore — neither voice nor ADSL. From that point, fibre or a 4G router carries everything.

When it comes to fax, the basics haven't changed and remain dependable. Fixed-line numbers retain their worth, T.30 continues as the universal protocol across all fax machines, and public administrations, medical practices, and labs that once accepted faxes still do so today. Only the transmission route varies: an internet-based sending platform requires zero migration, since your PDF departs directly from the browser and Faxeroo connects to the recipient's line.

Are you affected?

Four quick checks, in this order.

  • Trace the machine's cable

    If it runs to a wall socket (T or RJ11) and not to the box's “telephone” port, the machine lives on the classic copper line. It will stop dead the day your town switches over.

  • Check the name of your subscription

    A line billed separately from internet access — “analogue line”, “telephone subscription” — signals a PSTN subscription. Your operator will confirm in a few minutes.

  • Look at your failed sends

    Faxes that once went through now drop every other attempt, especially since a new box showed up: the typical sign of a line already converted to IP. Chances are the machine itself isn't at fault.

  • Reread the operator's letters

    Subscribers receive several months' notice before their area closes. That date is the only valid one for your address: two neighbouring towns can switch years apart.

Fax and VoIP: a fragile coexistence

A classic fax machine translates each page into modulated tones, emitted the way a conversation is. On a digital line, however, those sounds pass through codecs shaped for the ear: compression, jitter, packets lost and blindly rebuilt. Voice copes with those approximations; the fax modem stalls: it loses the thread and gives up, often mid-document.

T.38 tackles the problem from a different direction: as soon as the fax signal enters the IP network, it's transformed into data packets, and the remote device reconstructs the original signal. This requires a carrier that allows it, along with compatible equipment at both ends of the IP segment. Before investing in an adapter, ask your provider for written confirmation that T.38 is supported on your plan. Should they decline, the uncompressed G.711 codec might serve as an alternative — though no outcome is assured.

Four solutions to keep the line

  1. Retain your existing fax machine, paired with a T.38 adapter

    An ATA adapter hooked up to a plan that tolerates T.38 keeps the machine and your paper habits alive. Be ready to handle hardware setup, configuration and testing — the most technical path, and also the most fragile.

  2. Choose email-to-fax

    A specialised provider allocates you a number — freshly assigned or transferred — and delivers incoming faxes straight to your inbox as PDF files; outbound faxes follow the same route. No more paper, no more dedicated phone line — in return for a monthly fee, with document security tied to whatever protection your email account offers.

  3. Adopt online sending with Faxeroo

    Sending only? There is no migration needed: a browser and the document are all you require — no account creation, no software setup. The first page is free; every fax from page two onwards is charged at €3.99 incl. VAT, whether your file spans 2 pages or 40. As for receiving, Faxeroo does not provide a number and does not accept incoming faxes — see the two options outlined above.

  4. Drop fax, where that's an option

    Ask your main contacts: many have opened a portal, an encrypted messaging service or a dedicated address. If nobody imposes fax on you any more, the copper closure becomes an opportunity to slim down your tools.

Keep your fax number

Your line is not tied to the copper network that originally supplied it. In France, fixed-line portability applies: you can switch it to another operator or to an IP fax service. The receiving side triggers the transfer, using your RIO (operator identity statement), which you can obtain by dialing 3179 on the line in question. Headers, forms, and address books continue to function.

Follow the order: choose the solution, begin the portability, then let the old line fade out on its own. If you cancel first, the number may be gone for good, and with it every contact who has known it for years.

Copper switch-off: frequently asked questions

When will my town switch over?
It depends on which batch your town falls into under Orange's schedule, extending to 2030. Your operator warns you months in advance, while Orange releases the towns concerned one batch at a time.
Will my fax machine stop abruptly?
The copper line is down: the device immediately stops, with no dial tone, so there is nothing left to send or receive. The line has already switched to IP: the signs are subtler, the machine attempts to dial, the connection opens, then the transfer cuts off unpredictably from one page to the next.
Would a new machine settle the question?
Most often no: it is the transport of the signal that is at fault, not the machine. A brand-new model behind the same box will hit the same obstacles. Check instead whether your box and your operator support T.38.
No phone line at all: is faxing still possible?
Affirmative. Faxeroo lets you send your PDF using your web browser, after which our infrastructure takes over the line on your behalf to reach the remote terminal. You do not need any physical connection or hardware at your location: the copper shutdown has no effect on your outbound calls. The first sheet is free; if your file exceeds that, the whole dispatch is charged €3.99 incl. VAT, regardless of the page count.

Keep reading

Pages chosen to help you prepare a send, track it, or keep proof of it.

See also