Im starting up a small business and i want to be able to recieve faxes
and telephone calls at my home (its a home based business). Heres my
situation.

What I have:
1 main telephone number

What I need:
Seperate phone # for business calls (SBC charges 10.49/month for another #)
Fax capabilities

Ok what im wondering is how can I recieve faxes and phone calls on the
same seperate phone number? As things currently are for my mother's
fax setup, you have to turn the fax machine on, be expecting a fax,
let the phones ring 2 times, then the fax machine picks up the fax. If
you pick up the phone because you dont know the fax is coming, you get
that annoying high pitched data sound.

I want it to be so that if the phone rings, i know its an actual phone
call and if a fax is coming in, i want the fax machine to immediately
pick it up without having 2 rings going off. I've heard that
'fax/phone switches' might be able to do this but im not sure and i
really dont want to add a 3rd number (2nd for voice, 3rd for fax) but
if i have to, please tell me. Thank you

We have "distinctive ring" service from Verizon, which allows the same
line to support two numbers (fax and voice).  The service costs only a
few bucks a month.  The fax machine is programmed to answer only when
it "hears" two rings in quick succession.  And, of course, when we
hear those two quick rings, we know that the fax machine will pick it
up.

So do you only need a single phone # for that?

No.  You have two numbers that ring on the same line, one of them with
a "normal" ring and one with a "distinctive" ring that the fax machine
recognizes.  The downside, of course, is that you can't make a phone
call while a fax is being received.  However, it is a handy and
inexpensive feature if you don't want to pay full price for an extra
line.

So i would be paying 2x$10 for the 2 seperate numbers?

You will have to check with your local telephone service provider to
get the price for "distinctive ring" service.  Assuming that your
phone company offers the feature, the second number for your voice
line will undoubtedly cost less than a separate dedicated phone line
for your fax machine.

Unless you have a dedicated *number and ring cadence* used for faxing,
nothing you plug in will be able to discriminate between voice and fax
before answering - because your equipment has no way of telling what
an incoming call is until is answers it and listens for fax tone.

If you aren't going to receive many faxes why not use a fax-to-email service.

Owain

An alternative to the above suggestions would be to buy an Avro Fax
Friend or similar fax switch. These devices allow you to share a
single phone line/number with a fax machine and telephone/answering
machine.
When a call comes in you answer the phone, or the answering machine
does. The fax switch listens to the first few seconds of the call and,
if it detects a fax tone, routes the call to your fax machine.
Hope that helps.

You can get the Avro Pacific Fax Friend Fax Switch at
http://www.lps-belfast.co.uk/fax.htm

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