Fax Machine Doesn’t Automatically Answer Incoming Faxes
Our old fax machine use to automatically answer an incoming fax even if you answered the phone thinking it was a voice call. With our new fax machine we have to pick-up the fax machine receiver and press the start button if you answer the phone and it is a fax. How can we get back to the way it was?
The fact is that your old machine was just not as polite as the newer machines out today. The older machine just went ahead and answered all the calls, assuming that everything that came through the phone line was meant for it. That’s why it would keep going even if you accidentally picked up the line, thinking you were getting a voice call.
But the new machine is “better behaved,” if you will. If you accidentally pick up the phone when a fax is coming in, your newer machine assumes you know what’s best. Because of that, it won’t automatically answer the incoming fax. After all, you picked up the phone, so maybe you know something it doesn’t. So, your new machine will not do anything except politely wait for you to tell it that, no, in fact this is a fax and that the machine needs to start doing its job.
You could always get a dedicated fax line, so that you’ll never think twice when that line rings, or an Internet fax service — but those are probably unnecessary expenses in this case. You could also go back to our old fax machine, which will pick up every call, but that’s probably not a practical solution either.
What you’re left with is reading the owner’s manual for the new machine. Chances are that the problem you’re experiencing is the default setting on your machine, and the manual might give you an idea of what you can do to make it so that your machine continues with a fax without you having to press “start” whenever you accidentally pick up the phone.
Do you have a question about faxing? Send me your fax question.