Fax Machine Question

[Christopher]

Hello Everyone,
I have a H.P. All in one that is supposed to distinguish between phone calls and faxes but does not and I turn it on when I need to fax something. I cannot leave it on because it will answer with fax sounds and I will not get any messages. The machine is about 6 or 7 years old. Does anyone have a fax machine that you share on the same phone line and it actually works correctly? I cannot afford a separate fax line right now so that is why I need one that will work on the phone line. Thanks for any help.

[Jon]

Christopher I have used HP all in one's for years, my current one is HP OfficeJet 6110 and it works perfectly well.

A couple questions for you, did you set it to answer faxes one one ring or 4?
Do you use DSL for your Internet connection and if so are the filters installed on the phone line?

Do you have call waiting and if so is the fax connected to a regular phone line with that function, if so and if I recall correctly it has to be disabled in order for the fax to answer.

Check the manual that came with it but it also might be time to invest in the latest technology and spend about $300 for a new one.

I would stick with the HP brand unless you want a stand alone fax and use the old one as a printer only.

[One Tough Pressure]

I have the HP 621 and it works fine. As Jon said you need to set the ringer. If you have a answering service thru your phone company rather than a machine, that can cause problems too.
Mine is set to answer faxes at 4 and answering machine at 5.

[bill3752]

I assume you are not using a separate phone number, i.e. distinctibve ring? I have an HP printer/fax with dist ring, and there is a special menu setup you need to go through.

[Christopher]

I do have DSL but do have filters on the phone jacks that have telephones on them and the fax. I forgot how many rings I had it set to but it would always answer with the fax eventhough the auto answer button is not pushed or lighted up. I will be buying a new fax ONLY machine this week. I have a separate scanner, printer and then this all in one junk. Tell me more about the distinctive ring and is it the one for the same line but new number? Or is is different? Any suggestions on a good plain paper fax machine? I hate thermal fax machines. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[charlie]

Call the phone company for a distintive line mine costs me $5.00 a month. When it rings twice in a row I kno it is a fax.

Charlie

[the_GUNN_man]

My fax machine will still work even if the answering machine picks up. Once it hears the fax tone it answers and the answering machine cuts off.

[Christopher]

I have DSL and have the filters for all the phones. Can you use the distinctive ring with dsl?

[Christopher]

I got the Distinctive ring for $5.00 per month and bought a new fax machine. I will get it hooked up tonight. Thanks for all the help.

[PLD]

I throw my hat in for Efax. $10 a month, no machine necessary! I use my machine ONLY to send.