ratan@altos86.Altos.COM (Ratan Tipirneni) (05/04/91)
I am considering buying a Fax. My question is, do I have to get a seperate line for the fax or can the same one that I use for my telephone be used for the fax also? In the later case how does the fax machine detect that the incoming call is from another fax ? I also would appreciate any recommendations for buying a fax machine. I am looking at the lower to mid range. Thanks For any information. Ratan Tipirneni (ratan@altos.com)
wendt@parsons (Alan W) (05/22/91)
In article <289@altos86.Altos.COM> ratan@altos86.UUCP (Ratan Tipirneni) writes: > >I am considering buying a Fax. My question is, do I have to get >a seperate line for the fax or can the same one that I use for >my telephone be used for the fax also? In the later case how >does the fax machine detect that the incoming call is from another >fax ? > There are a number of fax/modem/voice switch boxes on the market. I think Heartland and Comb (mail order discount houses) have switchers for about $100. I do not have these phone numbers, call 1-800-555-1212 for 800 area information. Black Box sells one for about $200 that has a recording to tell people to "punch 3 to talk to a person, or 2 for fax". Black Box's phone # is 412-746-5530. Command Communications makes one that has worked well for us after some EPROM hacking. Their # is 303-750-6434. The first ones we bought were made by Hi-Tech Resources of Ellsworth, Maine, but this company is apparently out of business. If anyone knows anymore about Hi-Tech's products I would appreciate hearing about it. Some fax machines do not send CNG tones so switching voice vs. fax automatically is problematic; the Black Box technique with the recording should work well unless the caller has a dial phone. Otherwise, the best that can be done is to ring the fax and see if it connects, or to ring the person and let them decide and manually re-route fax calls. Switching modem/fax is not too difficult, the systems generally require the calling modem to send additional touchtones to switch to the modem line, and if no humans will be using the line it is possible to tie the fax and voice output lines together, which makes things pretty reliable. Alan Wendt
johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) (05/23/91)
In article <15091@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> wendt@parsons (Alan W) writes: >In article <289@altos86.Altos.COM> ratan@altos86.UUCP (Ratan Tipirneni) writes: >>do I have to get a separate line for the fax or can the same one that I use >>for my telephone be used for the fax also? ... >There are a number of fax/modem/voice switch boxes on the market. >I think Heartland and Comb (mail order discount houses) have switchers >for about $100. ... Black Box sells one for about $200 that has >a recording to tell people to "punch 3 to talk to a person, or 2 for fax". Yuck. I get a lot of my faxes from unattended equipment that won't dial any extra digits, in which case these extra-digit line splitters don't work very well. Also, as noted elsewhere, some fax machines don't send the pilot tone that tells the listening splitters that it's a fax calling. What I did was to order distinctive ringing, known around here as RingMate, on my phone. For $5/month, I get two new phone numbers that makes a double or triple rather than single ring. (One extra number is only $3/month.) I use an $80 Autoline Plus from ITS Communications in Endicott NY which listens to the first ring cycle and connects the appropriate device, a regular phone and answering machine for a single ring, modem for a double ring, and fax for a triple ring. It works very reliably, and since the fax and voice have different phone numbers, there is no need for a caller to dial extra digits or send funny tones. An added advantage is that it handles contention on outgoing calls as well. If one device is using the line, neither of the others can butt in until the first one hangs up. -- John R. Levine, IECC, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869 johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {ima|spdcc|world}!iecc!johnl Cheap oil is an oxymoron.
susan@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Susan Frontczak) (05/25/91)
ratan@altos86.Altos.COM Ratan Tipirneni at Altos Computer Systems, San Jose, CA |I am considering buying a Fax. My question is, do I have to get |a seperate line for the fax or can the same one that I use for |my telephone be used for the fax also? In the later case how |does the fax machine detect that the incoming call is from another |fax ? If your line is an analog line, you can share it with a fax. (We recently had digital phones installed, and therefore need separate lines for the fax machines. Aren't advances in technology wonderful?) We recently bought a Canon FAX-245. It can be used as a phone or a fax machine, all on its own. It even has a speaker built in to record a message. On "automatic receiving" you get fax transmissions if it is a fax machine calling you, or if it is a person, then it "rings". In addition, if a person is calling and you are'nt there, it will play a message recorded by you; you can connect your answering machine to record their message. Of all the fax machines I've seen, this one has the best scanner. This is particularly apparent when transmitting photos. There is no discernable "pattern" in the background, so they must have a very good dithering algorithm. The machine costs just under $1000, which is hardly low to mid range - but the quality is excellent. Susan ****************************************************************************** _ UTD - User interface Technology Division __ ,_ _ _/_' Collaborative Tools Group /\ /\ ,__\'_/ ) )_/ Hewlett-Packard Company / \/ \/\ 3404 E. Harmony Road, MS 74 / / \ \ Ft. Collins, CO 80525 Susan M. Frontczak phone (303) 229-2569 susan@hpfcda.fc.hp.com fax (303) 229-2446 ******************************************************************************
palm@srl.mew.mei.co.jp (Steve [kiwin] Palm) (05/28/91)
.> |I am considering buying a Fax. My question is, do I have to get .> |a seperate line for the fax or can the same one that I use for .> |my telephone be used for the fax also? In the later case how .> |does the fax machine detect that the incoming call is from another .> |fax ? A while back... i was also concerned about seperating the incoming Phone calls and i used the following info from Robert Chesler. I purchased the unit and am very happy with it. Steve Palm Stephen [Kiwin] Palm palm@mew.mei.co.jp Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. TEL: -81-6-908-6752 Information & Communication R&D Lab FAX: -81-6-906-0520 1048 Kadoma, Osaka 571, Japan MIC: 2134 ---------------------- From: rtc@westford.ccur.com (Robert Chesler) Newsgroups: alt.fax Subject: Re: FAX Machine at Home: Options for Incoming Transmissions Date: 29 Nov 90 17:48:11 GMT Reply-To: rtc@westford.ccur.com I'm very satisfied with my Autoswitch TF505. [ or TF555 ] Previously, I had a TF300 which I didn't like. The TF505 answers the phone on the first ring. I have a ringer in parallel with it so that I know when an incoming call comes in so I can answer it promplty. It listens for FAX CNG tones, reverse modem carrier (the dial with answer carrier tone), or Touch Tones; while generating a pseudo-ring signal to the caller. It also rings the phones and answering machine while it does this. If it detects FAX CNG it routes the call to the FAX machine, generating a ring voltage on that line, and still generating the pseudo-ring tone to the caller. If it detects the reverse modem tone, it similarly routes the call to the computer. If it detects the sequence of touch tones for FAX, it transfers to FAX, and similarly for the modem. I use 91 and 92 for the extension numbers. Otherwise, the answering machine picks up after 4 rings and my announcement message states "press 91 to send a fax" at the end, so callers hear in my voice the proper instructions. The caller can transfer to either the FAX or the modem from this point, or can just talk to the answering machine. When I call the answering machine remotely to check messages, I send the * touch tone code to tell the autoswitch to do no further transfers for this call just in case I were to send the extension codes while remotely controlling the answering machine. I originally set the device up with extension codes 1 and 2, however two voices on a telephone talking at the sime time can set up a harmonic that sets off the "1" detector circuitry, and causes an awful transfer to the fax machine at the most inappropriate time. I then have to run over to the fax machine and power it off while lifting up the handset so that I can retrieve the voice call, and apologize to my caller. Two other nice features it has are that when one of the three "lines" off the device are using the line (such as fax in progress, or computer using the line) the other two are locked out with a pseudo-busy-signal generated. All three can try for service at the same time, and when the current one using the service finishes, the device gives the outgoing line to one of the devices. It does this in its own sequence, however - fax has highest priority, then computer, then voice phones. The only thing I wish it had that it does not is the ability to emulate the Central Office so that I could dial the fax machine from the computer or dial the answering machine from the fax machine - so that I could play with the remote features of these devices without having 2 phone lines (which I don't have) tied up. [ as in a previous thread ] The device cost me approximately $140 at a local department store, Lechmere. -- Stephen [Kiwin] Palm palm@mew.mei.co.jp Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. TEL: -81-6-908-6752 Information & Communication R&D Lab FAX: -81-6-906-0520 1048 Kadoma, Osaka 571, Japan MIC: 2134