OT: Phone Line Splitting

[mikebartnz]

Unless you are a pyromaniac you would have more fun with a sledge hammer.
With most people on the net these days I don't see the point in them but you do get a confirmation slip with them if you need the evidence.

[Baldy]

> I thought they also held faxes until the line was
> free, isn't that part of the faxbility service? Means
> there are no busy signals and when you are offline
> the faxes come rolling in.
> robo.
> PS I hate faxes, I want to burn my fax machine.

Ummm, not when I was working from home Robo. Maybe you need something more than a basic fax machine that has a memory built in. But as I said in my previous post, faxability is nothing more than a charge for a different telephone # which you dedicate to your fax machine

[bk T]

> You need jetstream.
>

I agree with you, metla. It's either Jetstream or a second phone line.

[supergran]

The second phone line isn't always practical. We live just outside Christchurch, and when I started spending more time online, we thought it was time for a second line. Our house is under 30 years old, and telecom said if we want a second line, it is going to cost minimum of $1000 to put the extra cabling in, as we live down a back section, and the present phone cable has only enough for one line. Well that threw that idea out the window, so now rely on cell phones if anyone wants us in the evening. And no, Clear/telstra isn't an option out here, all we have is telecom.

[Poppa John]

Two comments made on "Faxability" here.
I thought it was different, like this,
One pair of wires into house, say red & blue, one phone & number.
One pair of wires into house. Phone ! connected across red & earth, one phone one number. Phone 2 connected across blue & earth, one phone one number. Tell me this IS SO?? What is the point in having Faxability if you cannot use the Fax & the phone at the same time?? PJ

[Elephant]

Way back in the days of Win3.11 there used to be a hardware box called a fax catcher. This was a box which plugged into the wall socket and directed calls to the PC if a FAX and the phone line if not a FAX. Just one phone line used.

I have no idea if such items are currently sold.

One box plugged into wall or skirting board telecom socket and two outlets. One outlet to PC to grab Fax and one outlet to phone. For an incoming FAX this was directed to PC and was handled by BitFax or WinFax software.

The other outlet handled incoming voice calls.

Needless to say one phone line will not handle both at the same time.

Like if I dial out on a modem on ONE phone line then incoming calls either from voice or fax will just get a busy or engaged signal.

The box I referred to could tell the difference between incoming voice and fax.

Chris can get another phone line with dedicated FAX. Can get Jetstream etc. All of which will cost.

My solution is not to use Fax at all and use a scanner to send docs using Email. I use a wireless ISP so my one phone line is available all the time.

[godfather]

PJ, the purpose of faxability is to provide a separate number for the fax, and have the fax only answer those calls.

Trust me, its all delivered on the one line though, just the ringing pattern is different to allow a compatable fax to recognise it and pick it up. Its not split at the plug or anywhere. I have installed several of them so I am not guessing.

Elephant, I use a genuine "fax catcher". It answers the phone and listens for the CCITT fax tones, and if they are detected it switches the call to the fax. If not, the calls go to the phone outputs. It will also recognise modem incoming calls and direct them to a data circuit (apparently) but I don't use that function. Also acts as a telephone exchange and allows the transfer of calls between the different "extensions"

They were very expensive though (around $600 from memory when this one was new)

As you say its all on 1 line though so such things don't help Chris.

[csinclair83]

I've just readed all these..

and I've decided that I'll have the net on whenever but not online between midnight and 11am and the ppl who wnant my fax on have agreed to that times so hope that works out without having extra lines or jetstream...


thanks peeps for all ur comments