Telephone services
Your fax machine supports the Caller ID and Distinctive Ring subscriber telephone service that some telephone companies offer.
If you have Voice Mail, Call Waiting, RingMaster, an answering service, an alarm system or other custom features on your telephone line, it may affect the way the fax machine works. (See Custom features on a single line on page
If you have Voice Mail on your phone line, please read the following carefully.
Distinctive Ring
Brother uses the term ‘Distinctive Ring’ but different telephone companies have other names for this service such as SmartRing, RingMaster,
What does your telephone company’s ‘Distinctive Ring’ do?
Your telephone company’s Distinctive Ring service allows you to have more than one number on the same phone line. If you need
more than one phone number, it is cheaper than paying for an
extra line. Each phone number has its own distinctive ring pattern, so you will know which phone number is ringing. This is one way you can have a separate phone number for your machine.
Please call your telephone company for availability and rates.
What does Brother’s ‘Distinctive Ring’ do?
The Brother fax machine has a Distinctive Ring feature that allows you to use your machine to take full advantage of the telephone company’s Distinctive Ring service. The new phone number on your line can just receive faxes.
You must pay for your telephone company’s Distinctive Ring service before you program the fax machine to work with it.
Do you have Voice Mail?
If you have Voice Mail on the phone line that you will install your new fax machine on, there is a strong possibility that Voice Mail and the fax machine will conflict with each other while receiving incoming calls. However, this Distinctive Ring feature allows you to use more than one number on your line, so both Voice Mail and the machine can work together without any problems. If each one has a separate phone number, neither will interfere with the other’s operations.
If you decide to get the Distinctive Ring service from the telephone company, you will need to follow the directions below to ‘register’ the new Distinctive Ring pattern they give you. This is so your machine can recognize its incoming calls.
You can change or cancel the Distinctive Ring pattern at any time. You can switch it off temporarily, and turn it back on later. When you get a new fax number, make sure you reset this feature.
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