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Receiving faxes
Q: My fax never answers. What’s wrong?
A: Check to make sure your fax machine is properly connected to a working
AC
power outlet and phone jack (see page 1.8). If you are using a second phone
with your machine, make sure it’s connected properly (page 1.11).
Q: Sometimes when I answer my machine with the handset, I hear a beeping
sound that repeats every few seconds. Is this a fax?
A: Yes. When you hear such fax tones, someone is trying to send you a fax. Next
time, press
START
and hang up the handset. Your fax will receive the message.
Q: Does my fax machine have to be plugged in to a power source just to receive a
message?
A: Yes. You can’t receive a fax unless your fax machine is plugged into both the
phone jack and the
AC
power jack. Make sure your fax machine is always
plugged in so you never miss an important fax message.
Q: Can I receive a fax if I’m using the phone on my machine?
A: You can receive a fax from the person to whom you are talking. When that per-
son has a document ready in his/her machine’s feeder, press
START
. However,
like any regular one-line phone, your fax machine can handle only one call at a
time.
Polling
Q: What’s the purpose of polling?
A: Polling lets you automatically “pull” a document from another fax machine.
You can poll whenever you need to retrieve information and don’t want the
source to pay for the phone call. With polling, you pay for the call and get the
information you need.
Working with your answering machine
Q: People have complained that they call my fax machine and hear my answering
machine’s message, but are cut off before they can send a fax.
A: Any remote fax machine attempting to send a fax must “hear” responding fax
tones within 40 seconds of the person at that machine pressing the start key.
That 40 seconds includes getting the dial tone, dialing the number, “listening”
to the pause before the ringing starts and the remote fax machine answering
the ring. Only after that time does your message play
That’s why we urge you to make a short outgoing message. The shorter the
overall waiting period, the more likely it is that the remote fax machine will
proceed with the transmission. Please make an outgoing message that is no
longer than 10 seconds (see page 1.23 for a suggestion).
How your fax machine works
The concept of how a fax machine works is simple. Here’s a simple analogy. Let’s
say you want to mail a gift to a friend:
• You take the item, wrap it and send it.
• Days later, your friend receives the package, unwraps it and uses it.
Now, let’s apply that to fax communication.
You put a page into your fax machine’s feeder and call a fax number. Your machine
makes a connection with the other machine, and then …
• An image scanner in your fax machine examines the information on the page.
That’s how your machine takes the document.
• Your fax machine translates the scanned information into a numeric code and
compresses the code for the fastest possible transmission speed.
That’s how your machine wraps the document.
• Finally, your fax machine sends the compressed code.
That’s how your machine sends the document.
On the other end of the line …
• The remote fax machine receives the code.
• The remote fax machine uncompresses and deciphers the code, turning it into a
representation of the scan your machine made.
That’s how your machine unwraps the document.
• The remote fax machine prints the representation.
Now, the recipient can use the document.
… and that’s how fax works!
The only difference between a regular telephone call and a fax call is the content of
the transmission:
• On a regular call, your telephone sends your voice.
• On a fax call, your fax machine sends a coded image.
If your fax machine is in
T
/
F
Ready mode and you have other telephone extensions
on the same line, all the other phones will ring. In fact, there is no way to tell if an
incoming call is from a fax machine or from a person until you answer, or your fax
machine answers. You will know it’s a fax call if, upon answering, you hear a beep-
ing sound that repeats every few seconds. This sound is each fax machine’s way of
identifying itself to a machine it calls. It’s much like tour making a voice call and
Just in case …
3.13