How to test fax in customers office.

[Hansen88]

How do you test a fax in the field? In the office we have a line simulator box and we connect two fax es together and send and recieve back and forth. But say in a customers office if fax sends but not receiving, how would you test to see if it is the line or the fax unit? Is there a testing box that does not require two units to be connected to test box? Thanks for any suggestions.

[kingarthur]

send a fax to your mobile phone, if your phone answers, it works, alternatively, phone that fax number, if you get the "handshake", it receives

[Vincent128]

Younglings are going to have a hard time with fax....I grew up with it so I have knowledge you can't find easily anymore.

I have a but set, I jump in the line on monitor and send/receive faxes to our office and can listen and tell what parts of the communication are what.
knowing by sound what is part of the handshake negotiation is and at what baud they wound up on is not something one can teach without time.

Using a cellphone will only let you know the machine will pick up but nothing about what's going on after that.

There are places you can go online to send test faxes to and they will send one back - I don't like them, you are signing the customer up for junk faxes (spam)
Some manufactures have a dedicated test line / function - HP has one I believe. Toshiba T2 will also and they can send protocol dumps off to the propeller heads to be analyzed.

[LDC242S]

HP has a test fax service that will fax you back.
Test fax setup with the HP Fax Test Service | HP(R) Customer Support

1-888-HPFaxme (1-888-473-2963)

[Hansen88]

Thanks for the responses. I use those troubleshooting tips also. But what would you do if you get dial tone, machine sends out but wont receive. I have had these situations and have been line going to fax, or the main fax line problem or the fax itself. All trial and error. I am just seeing if there is a way to troubleshoot and no for sure what the problem is without a lot of guesswork ect.

[copiertec]

It seems that Fax line issues are always blamed on the copier by the phone line providers. I always try to bring another fax card with me if possible and will listen to the line signals. I just had an instance where the customer had fax line issues and they spoke with their provider and was told that it was the fault of the copier because everything tested good on their end. When I arrived, I put the fax on speaker mode and listened to the line, it went into busy mode right away, I told the client what I had discovered and they started to question me. I went as far as swapping out the card, which I already knew would not fix the issue, showed the client and had them listen to the busy dial tone. It was a service provider issue as I followed up a few days later and it was fixed. It was a billable our company to come out and diagnose the issue and call BS on the phone provider.
I also carry an analog phone with me as well to listen to the line.

[KenB]

It seems that Fax line issues are always blamed on the copier by the phone line providers. I always try to bring another fax card with me if possible and will listen to the line signals. I just had an instance where the customer had fax line issues and they spoke with their provider and was told that it was the fault of the copier because everything tested good on their end. When I arrived, I put the fax on speaker mode and listened to the line, it went into busy mode right away, I told the client what I had discovered and they started to question me. I went as far as swapping out the card, which I already knew would not fix the issue, showed the client and had them listen to the busy dial tone. It was a service provider issue as I followed up a few days later and it was fixed. It was a billable our company to come out and diagnose the issue and call BS on the phone provider.
I also carry an analog phone with me as well to listen to the line.

I think you can still buy USB connected modems for your PC. They always seem to come with fax siftware.(No notebook PCs have modems any more.) I bought one about 8 years ago, it was about $30 at the time.

You can plug your PC in to replace the machine to check alot of basic functionality, and send to another machine, such as your office.

If the customer has an available analog POTS line to plug into, you could then send and receive between your PC and the customer's machine.

I also found a butt set online for about $12 on eBay (Professional ones are big $$$.) Also quite a handy tool, as already mentioned.

[blackcat4866]

There's a simple test that you can do if it won't receive. Connect your handset to the phone line. Call the fax number from your cell. Does it ring?

No? Then you're done. It doesn't ring. So the fax will never attempt to answer. It's the phone service.

Yes? How does it ring? Distinctive ring? How is the fax set to answer, and to what ring?

Were you thinking about any specific manufacturer? =^..^=