Using Fax on my regular phone line

H

Harriett Wright

When I got a cable connection I disconnected my second phone line. However,
the service comes with a certain amount of dial up access, which I thought I
could use to send and receive faxes, so I installed Microsoft Fax and hooked
my computer up to my regular phone line. It seems to work OK for sending a
fax, but I had to disable the receive function, because it tried to answer
all my regular incoming phone calls. I would pick up the phone and my
conversation would be immediately interrupted by that awful fax-answering
noise. The fax monitor would then report: "ringing" . . . "ringing" . . .
"the call was answered" . . . "an error occurred while receiving the fax."

Is there some way to configure the thing so it will quietly answer calls
sent by a fax device and pop them into a folder without ringing my phone?

Thanks,
Harriett
 
M

Mike

Harriett Wright said:
When I got a cable connection I disconnected my second phone line. However,
the service comes with a certain amount of dial up access, which I thought I
could use to send and receive faxes, so I installed Microsoft Fax and hooked
my computer up to my regular phone line. It seems to work OK for sending a
fax, but I had to disable the receive function, because it tried to answer
all my regular incoming phone calls. I would pick up the phone and my
conversation would be immediately interrupted by that awful fax-answering
noise. The fax monitor would then report: "ringing" . . . "ringing" . . ..
"the call was answered" . . . "an error occurred while receiving the fax."

Is there some way to configure the thing so it will quietly answer calls
sent by a fax device and pop them into a folder without ringing my phone?

Thanks,
Harriett

Faxing is still best done on a dedicated fax machine.. at least they can
distinguish between a regular call and a fax.. where I live in Canada, dial
up is all that we can have (other than really expensive satellite).. I do
send faxes out when required, but receiving them is a nightmare.. I have to
set fax to receive after two rings if I know that I am going to get one
otherwise voice mail cuts in.. and then I have to reset to enough rings such
that it somebody wants to leave voice mail, they are not interrupted with
fax handshakes.. I tried a device that claimed to overcome the problem few
years ago but it was entirely useless.. the battle continues.. :)
 
V

Victor D.

If you are referring to the Window XP fax program, it does not support
distinctive ring. Therefore it will answer all calls. You can go into
options and select manual answer.
 
P

Pavel

If you are referring to the Window XP fax program, it does not support
distinctive ring. Therefore it will answer all calls. You can go into
options and select manual answer.

Try VentaFax & Voice (www.ventafax.com). Fax & answering
machine (2 in 1). Distinctive ring service is available even in
Windows 2000 and XP.

Pavel
 
H

Hal Hostetler [MVP DTS]

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