Faxes

[Snowyowl]

Sorry, this has nothing to do with photography only about computers but i thought that one of our knowledgeable members might have an answer.
I need to send a form by fax. I installed the Windows fax add-on and configured it as seemed correct.
I scanned my form that was to be faxed, switched my default printer to fax and tried to send the fax. I get a message that there is no dial tone or that the receiving fax machine is turned off. Any guesses as to what I'm doing wrong? I've tried sending at several different times of day but get the same result so I believe it's a problem with my setup not with the receiving fax machine.
I used to send faxes all the time from my previous machine using a program called Communicate Pro but can't install it as a. it's a very old program b. I've lost the serial number.
I hate to have to buy a fax machine to do something that I know I should be able to do through my computer but since I'll have send forms on a fairly regular basis, if I can't solve my problem that may be my only option.

[Saphire]

Dan, I haven't done it myself for quite some time I would have thought it would be straightforward with window fax. I used to use to use winfax pro which was very easy. I will load the Windows software and have gave a go myself.

[Snowyowl]

Thanks, Christine.

[kennymc]

you can always scan the form and click on print... Then you can choose the fax instead of your printer... just select and follow the instructions...

[Snowyowl]

Trouble is, Kenny, that's procedure that doesn't work even though I believe it should.

[Saphire]

Dan, I have been playing for hours I can't get it to see my broadband connection, It keeps asking me to install a modem. Sorry I can't help.

[Snowyowl]

So maybe the problem is with the fax software. Thanks for trying. I'll keep trying to solve it.

[Lello]

I don't think you can fax with Broadband, (only with dial up)

[Tannin]

Lello is correct: faxes have nothing to do with broadband or any orther form of internet connection, except insofar as a fax (any fax, including the old-fashioned stand-alone paper-based fax machine) uses a sort of modem to transmit and recieve. It's not the same sort of modem that you use for dial-up internet, nor the sort that you use for ADSL broadband, nor the sort that you use for cable broadband - all these are different, the only thing they have in common is that they all MOdulate and DEModulate the signal - hence the term modem.

Nearly all ordianary dial-up modems made in the last 10 years or so are "fax-modems". The term implies that they are the sort of modem you use for faxing, but actually they are dual-purpose devices: an ordinary modem, plus the extra firmware to use the same hardware to send faxes as well. A more accurate term would be something like "telephone data modem/fax modem" but no-one ever bothers to express it that way.

Now, to practicalities. Can you dial out onto the internet using your modem, Dan? Or are you using broadband instead? Most desktop computers made these days don't even have a modem, as the majority of people are on broadband and will never use one. If you don't have one, they are very cheap (typically less than AU$30 for an internal one) and easy to install (depending on the brand - some of the cheapest ones are a bit tricky).

All modern modems come with the ability to fax as well, and last time I checked, they all come with some sort of faxing software.

Let us know if you have a modem, and if you do, go into the mdem properties in the Windows device manager and confirm that the "listen for dial tone" checkbox is NOT ticked. (Many, perhaps most, modems default to listening for a US dial tone which, of course, they will never ever get if you live in some other part of the world. So you switch that off and it works fine.)

[kennymc]

Sorry, I presumed you computer was attached to a phone line in some way... I use broadband but still have an extension line running through the computer because you must have a phone/fax number to fax with...