Screening for Fax Calls with Panther?

Peter Brodsky asks: "Panther advertises faxing as one of its cool, new features. If you're like me, and you have one land line, which you use for DSL and voice, you don't want to hook up a fax machine that will answer after X rings, because if after X rings it picks up and starts beeeep, beeep, bleeeeping at you, you cut yourself off from voice mail... which is programmed to pick up after Y rings. Is there a way to make your Panther box 'screen' for fax calls before it picks up?"

Faxes?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who Faxes Anymore?

Multi-ring

[krray]

Well ... as I'm not sure if the Apple modem's support mutli-ring service ... you could always get a second phone number (typically $5/mo from the telco) which will come in multi-ring. There are devices to route calls based on ring (Radio Shack used to carry one, not sure anymore).

Now -- if you're smart you'll get a new number and make that your base number. Your home phone will be the multi-ring #. The benifit is that the multi-ring number is not listed or published. I did this for years (upon getting a new home number) to instantly do away with telemarketing calls. All sales people and stores get the base/fax/whatever number.

Today -- I still do the same except my base ISDN# is just always busy (unless I am expecting a fax). The second number is for voice. Other benefits include multi-line home number, always send the busy # out on CID and give that number to store clerks or use it for fax as needed -- including the fact that since it is a digital circuit (SBC now) it is automatically non-listed/published as well. Literally no telemarketing calls for years.

I know my parents still do the multi-ring setup with one device as the POP box. Multi-ring calls go out to the house line and straight rings are routed (silently) to the newly run fax line in the den. Telemarketing calls? Also -0-

iChat and the digital hub

[Offwhite98]

I was looking into a voicemail solution for OS X when my old answering machine finally gave out. I looked and figured that with the new phone number portability in the US I will simply move to a new provider and that voicemail solution should suffice.

But this question got me thinking. I would never need to use OS X as a voicemail/fax system if I move entirely to a cell phone, but it sure would be great if Apple could work with the cellphone providers to make my voicemail and faxes available from my broadband connected home computer. I could get faxes as a PDF and voicemail and an MP3. I do avoid listening to my voicemail on my cellphone because it is very awkward and difficult to hear. Apple should more closely integrate Apple Mail, iChat, and the Address Book with a cellphone service which would make fax and voicemails easily accessible from the desktop as a communications hub, and it could all be done over my broadband connection.

It definitely IS an hardware issue

[Romain 101]

"You're talking about the GeoPort"

No I wasn't. The performa 5200 didn't have a Geoport included (see Apple's product description [apple.com]).

The sound was excellent, much better as anything recorded on tape or using a crapy digital encoding like in todays answering machines.

All in all I was very satisfied with it, and wouldn't have an air plane company totally crashed it after landing, I would still use it today as a very convenient answering machine/fax.

The money they gave me to compensate the dramatic lost of this BIG answering machine covered partly the cost of the G4 I have now. And whatever anyone thinks about OS X, if it's stable enough to run 24h/day 365days/year, it's then stable enough to be also an answering machine (as well as much more). I don't see why this should be worst than using a G4 to browse the web, listen to MP3's, were, for that use, a Quadra would be enough :)