Re: [hylafax-users] Hardware or software?

["Michael Stowe" <mstowe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Hiya guys.
>
> Can this scenario be done with an ordinary US Robotics Faxmodem and
> HylaFax?

Yes and no...

> Facts:
>
> - HylaFax installed on a Debian i386 machine
> - A USR modem attached via com1 to the Debian machine

I've gone through a few models of USR modems, and experienced hard lockups
when receiving faxes about 3-5% of the time.  (This was, of course,
completely unacceptable to me.)

> - One telephoneline with the modem attached - aswell as an ordinary
> telephone
>
> Scenario:
>
> When someone calls in, an ordinary normal call phone to phone, the modem
> and hylafax will not answer and someone haveto pick up the ordinary phone
> an answer.

That's tricky -- because it has to make the distinction somehow.  You can
use distinctive ring, which is a second phone number, and requires
cooperation from your phone company and a modem that supports it.  Or, you
need to pick up the phone and listen for the FAX tones.  This is supported
via hardware or software through the use of an autoattendant, which would
listen for the tones while playing a general message.

> When someone calls in, a fax from an ordinary fax of some kind, the modem
> and hylafax sense its an incoming faxtransmission and answers, preferrably
> before the phone even rings.

(see above)

> Or is this something impossible to do with this setup, is a commercial
> hardware switchboard to achieve this?

To provide the autoattendant functions upstream, many SOHO switches
support this.  One popular model in the States is BBS Telecom's 308 or
416, which is a cheap, reliable hybrid switch.

Some software is capable of doing this, but only with hardware that's
capable of transferring calls.

> Regards,
>
> Niclas


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