Hi Leah, I'm sure I'm missing something here.
From what I've read, it sounds like you've done a banner job of diagnosing the problem and eliminating it - two misbehaving modems. And if those two out of the four were the ones used for sending your faxes, then it looks to me like you have two other modems from which to choose. A side comment - I don't understand why anything would be currently wired to the two suspect bad modems period. Hopefully, that was just part of your test and those connections have been subsequently removed. So I'm not real sure what the remaining issue is. And I don't believe there is any difference whatsoever in using the analog ports built into the phone and those you would plug into directly i.e. wall phone jack. Now with all that said, I'm sure many in this group are asking the same thing. Why fax? Your answer should be that your client still lives in the stone age and has no internet connection, still relying completely on fax machines. And if that is not the case, I would think saving everything you want to send to a client in a .pdf file before attaching to an email would be the way to go. Only my opinion. Ward Oldham On Jul 24, 2007, at 9:33 AM, Leah Dienes wrote: > Hello! > > I have an interesting problem. We had a new phone system installed at > our office. > > The basic issue is that we have four internal Macintosh modems (set > to only send faxes - the modem doesn't receive any faxes) and one > fax machine connected to a single fax line. If all five devices are > connected to the line then no calls can be made or received. After > unplugging the devices one by one then the problem starts to clear > up. Two modems were identified as causing troubles on the line. With > these two modems unplugged, then calls can be made and received. Note > that the two modems which now cause the trouble are the only ones > that sent faxes before the new phone system was installed. > > If one of the two "bad" modems are plugged into the fax line, then > when the line is called the incoming call receives a busy signal. If > the "bad" modem is unplugged then the call will come into the fax > machine properly. Then this modem was unplugged again and left off > line. > If the second modem is plugged into the line, when the line is called > it rings approximately 1 1/2 times. The call is then answered and > dropped immediately. If the "bad" modem is unplugged then the call > will come into the fax machine properly. > > So to bypass any trouble that may be on the fax line, a line was > removed from their telephone system and wired to the two "bad" modems > only. When both of the test were performed again, one by one, then we > received the same results. > > It should also be noted that there was a new telephone system > installed at this site. The old system was an Avaya Partner telephone > system. The telephones that were on the old system had analog ports > attached to the bottom of them. The modems were plugged in directly > to the analog ports on the phones, and not into direct dial tone as > they are now. The new telephone system does not have these analog > ports on the bottom of the telephone. Is it possible that by using > the analog ports on the old system it was masking an existing > problem? If anyone has any ideas or solutions they would be greatly > appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Leah > > ________________________ > Leah Dienes > Fearless Designs > 622 E. Main St., Ste. 206 > Louisville, KY 40202 > P: 502.584.1333 > F: 502.584.1332 > fearlessdesigns at bellsouth.net > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > The next Louisville Computer Society meeting will > be July 24 at MacAuthority, 128 Breckinridge Lane. > Posting address: MacGroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu > Information: http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
