Fax and answer machine

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bee
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B

Bee

I use Vista Business. I've set up my Windows Fax and Scan to automatically
answer calls. Is there a way to redirect calls to my answer machine if it is
not a fax call?
 
No = no fax software can do this. You can purchase and add a device to your
phone line to do this. Ask your phone company what to use.
 
My USRobotics software that came with my USRobotics fax modem has software
that will detect if the call is fax or voice and redirect to the proper
application. It does not redirect to an answering machine, instead it uses
its built in answering machine that runs on the computer.
It also supports multiple voice mail boxes.
My software version is for Windows 95 and might run one Windows 98 (I don't
remember).

I can probably run the software on a virtual machine running Win95/98 and
using the serial port com1 or com2, so I can pseudo run it on Vista.
 
Yeah, lotsa things worked under Windows 95/98 that quit with the advent of
Windows 2000, one of which was the ability of the Windows TAPI service to
detect and use Distinctive Ring (which differentiates a Fax call from a
voice call). There's only two ways to overcome this, either the Fax
software must do it's own Distinctive Ring detection, or one must get an
external gadget and attach it to the phone line. I suppose running Windows
95/98 in a virtual machine would work, too, but it seems to me a whole lot
simpler to just spend a few bucks on a hardware gadget and be done with it.

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/emersonswitchboard.html
Emerson Switchboard
http://www.command-comm.com/products.html
ComSwitch®

Third party Fax software that has it's own Distinctive Ring support:

http://www.faxtalk.com/
FaxTalk Messenger Pro

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com
 
The software I mention uses the audio of the incoming call to detect if the
caller was a fax machine or a human voice. It then uses the appropriate
application to either receive a fax or use the answer machine software.
It does not use any distinctive ring technology. It just answers the phone
and listens for the tell tale sounds of a incoming fax or a human voice.
 
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