Short answer
Yes. What is disappearing in France, area by area, is the classic analogue line, not fax. A fax machine plugged into a wall socket will eventually lose its dial tone, but an online sending service like MondialFax does not use your line and keeps working.
What goes, and what stays
In France, the public switched telephone network (PSTN) — the analogue line over a copper pair — is closing progressively, area by area. What is disappearing is this type of line: not fax numbers, and not the ability to send and receive faxes.
What changes for a fax machine
A fax machine plugged straight into a wall socket eventually loses its dial tone when its area closes. Replugged into an internet router, it sometimes works poorly: voice over IP compresses sound for the ear, which distorts the fax's modem signal and causes failures.
The four solutions
A T.38-capable adapter or router, T.38 being the standard that carries fax over IP; a fax-to-email service, which keeps a number for you to receive faxes on; an online sending service such as MondialFax, which does not use your line; or dropping fax altogether, when the recipient accepts another channel.
The choice hinges on one question: do you only need to send, or also to receive? If you only send, an online service is enough and requires no equipment.
Key points
- The PSTN switch-off removes the analogue line, not fax.
- A fax machine on an IP router often fails without T.38 support.
- Four ways out: T.38, fax-to-email, online sending, another channel.
- MondialFax does not use your line: it keeps working.