Chapter 7

Telephone Service for New Zealand

FaxAbility

FaxAbility is a service offered by Telecom that allows you to have an additional number on one phone line, with its own distinctive ring pattern. This way, when you get an incoming call, you can identify the number being called by its ring.

How Will the Fax Machine Treat All Other Numbers?

FaxAbility mode ensures that the machine will answer calls to the FaxAbility (secondary) number. When a call comes in to your main number, all the phones will ring. You can set an external answering device (TAD) to answer calls on the other number(s).

(See the chart in the following page.)

What is the Advantage of Using the FaxAbility Function?

Using FaxAbility is the most efficient way to receive both fax and telephone calls on the same line. It is much easier for your callers who dial manually. The fax machine will answer with receiving tones so they will not have to press an activation code. And the people who call to talk on your main number will not have to talk to your fax machine. Basically, it gives you two independent numbers without the higher cost of a second line.

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How Does FaxAbility Work?

Your telephone number will have the standard ring pattern of long, long tone, while the new number will have a ring pattern of long, silence, long, etc. When FaxAbility is On, you will not hear the first ring of all incoming calls on the fax machine. Extension phones will ring as usual. If the fax machine recognizes the ring pattern, all ringing will stop and the fax machine will answer and automatically receive the fax message. Otherwise, you will hear the extension phones and the fax machine continue to ring. The fax machine always listens to the ring pattern before it answers, so do not pick up the phone during that time. You will quickly learn to recognize the ring pattern for faxes, so you will not be tempted to answer that number. Either you or a telephone answering device can answer the main number(s).

Flowchart Sequence of Incoming call

Incoming Call

(either Voice or Fax)

All extension phones ring twice, fax machine is silent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Registered

 

 

 

Main number

Duet (Fax)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Voice Number)

Number

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fax machine

 

 

Fax machine

 

 

automatically

 

 

begins ringing

 

 

receives and prints

 

 

on third ring.

 

 

fax message

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

without ringing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You answer the call

 

 

Telephone Answering

 

at an external phone

 

 

Device (TAD)

 

or an extension

 

 

 

answers the call.

 

phone or at the

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

machine's handset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note

After you have set the FaxAbility feature to On, the receive mode is set to Manual automatically. Unless you have a TAD or Voice Mail set up on the FaxAbility number, Manual mode means you must answer all the call yourself. You can not change the receive mode to the other mode while the FaxAbility is set to on.