Many small businesses need a fax but only use it a few times every month.
With a quality fax switch they no longer need to pay the monthly bill for
the fax line. The fax switch automatically routes fax calls to the fax
machine over an existing voice line thus eliminating the need for a
dedicated fax line.
Savings amount up quickly so this " magic box " pays for itself in a few
months. After that it's money in the bank or more appropriately "money in
your business."
Now there are two types of single line sharing devices. The main difference
is whether you need more than one phone number or whether you prefer to use
a single phone number to access your fax, phone, answering device or modem.
Tone detection: Here the box immediately answers the phone call but the
caller (if it's a voice call) doesn't know it. The switch generates a ring
tone identical to the so the caller thinks the phone is ringing but what the
box is doing is listening.
It listens for one of three things:
cng tones (the tones a fax machines identifies itself with),
dtmf (touch-tones pushed on the keypad or appended to the dialing string),
or
the lack of a signal (typically used for voice or answering machine).
The box listens and quickly identifies what type of call it is and then
routes it to the proper device.
This product is called the Stick.
http://faxswitch.com/stick.html
Tone Detection requires no extra phone company services.
The other way to detect calls is with Distinctive Ringing Service from the
phone company.
Distinctive ringing: Distinctive ringing is a service offered by your local
telephone company that you pay about $2.50 a month per number for (similar
to the way you pay for call waiting and other features).
Distinctive ringing gives you up to three phone numbers on one line. Each
number issues a different ringing pattern so if it's a normal ring you know
its phone number one, a double ring is phone number two and so forth.
A distinctive ringing line sharing device monitors the line and then when a
call comes in, it routes it by phone number to the specific device for that
phone number. The box never actually answers the phone to listen. With this
type of application, you have two or three phone numbers sharing one line.
You actually have a fax number and a voice number.
Using a distinctive ringing switch is just like having 2 (or 3) dedicated
phone lines except you can't have more than one call going at a time. You
call one number for your fax and another number for your voice.
This product is the SR.
http://faxswitch.com/sr.html
The solution depends on user preference. The main difference is how many
phone numbers the small business requires.
With the Stick, you have one phone number for both fax and modem (and voice
if you prefer). The Stick routes the call on one number and one line to the
correct device (fax or modem). The Stick requires no additional phone
company services.
The SR-2 would give you two phone numbers, one for your fax and one for your
modem. The SR-3 would give you the choice of two or three numbers on one
line and allow for future expansion. The SR products do require that you
subscribe to your local phone company's distinctive ringing service for them
to route calls to the right device.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Rob Higgins
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