Topic: Axxess & Fax Machines

[KeithB]

We have an InterTel Axxess with 4 incoming phone lines. One rolls to the next if the first is busy. We also have 2 fax machines. One is in the office and one out in the warehouse. We really don't get many faxes at all anymore as most everything is email. I would like to just make the faxes have their own extension off our Axxess and drop the two phone lines I'm paying for each month for the faxes. The guy who put in the phone system said making the faxes have their own extension is no problem, but there is no way to make the phone system recognize that an incoming call is a fax and automatically transfer it to the correct extension. So I asked about those fax switches, but he said we'd need 4, and they don't work very well. So I tried calling 3 other companies who work on these,and they all tell me it can't be done with this system, but one guy did tell me to ask here because he got an answer to a problem he couldn't solve once.

Please tell me there is a way. This phone system works great, and it doesn't make financial sense to buy another just to drop to phone lines.

[Ken The Phoneman]

Please tell me there is a way.

Hi Keith,

There is a way, but I don't have all the details. I Just know that we've done it for several clients and it requires some outside the box voodoo thinking that was dreamed up by Trace whose board name appropriately enough is MacGyver. Never try to tell him something can't be done. I just sent him a text and he said he'd be online shortly to reply.

[KeithB]

SERIOUSLY!!!!!

Thank you!!! I will wait for him to reply!

[MacGyver]

Ken do I need to remind you that it was you who taught me how to work on Inter-Tel?    What are you doing remoted into the office on a weekend anyway? This can't be good?  

Hi Keith and welcome to the board.  I have a few questions for you and then I think I can give you the information you'll need.  It does require some tech level programming, but once I explain how we do it, your vendor will probably understand completely.  Don't hold it against him that he didn't know this trick, because it's not something that he would have learned formally.

Do you have any cordless phones or anything that requires a single line card? If you don't know that's ok.

Do your four incoming lines all have the same phone number, or could you actually give someone a number that would ring line 2, 3, or 4 if they weren't busy?

What version of software is your cabinet running?

Oh and is Caller ID enabled?  Do you see the calling party's information?

[KeithB]

THANK YOU!

We do have two cordless phones. Everything else is system phones and the lines have different nubers but they roll if busy. After hours we call in on line 4 so we know whoever is calling is family or an employee. My son says thinks 5or 6 but he could be wrong and yes we see caller id when the phone's ring.

[Ken The Phoneman]

Ken do I need to remind you that it was you who taught me how to work on Inter-Tel?    What are you doing remoted into the office on a weekend anyway? This can't be good?  

Yes but as usual grasshopper you have surpassed the teacher. I'm not remoted, I'm actually at the office but about to leave and trust me you don't wanna know.

[MacGyver]

Yes but as usual grasshopper you have surpassed the teacher. I'm not remoted, I'm actually at the office but about to leave and trust me you don't wanna know.

It's lonely at the top.

Keith office drama aside, the good news is it sounds like you already have everything in your cabinet that you'll need to make this work.  Just send this over to your vendor and you should have no problems.  If they need more information, the tech can create an account here and I'll be glad to walk him or her through it.

It sounds like your single line card has extra ports available so each fax machine will get an extension off that card.

Have your vendor program the extension to be a "House Phone" and when the fax machine goes off hook to dial out, program the House Phone field to automatically dial 8 for an outside line.  If you have call waiting on your lines it will also need to be programmed with a 1170 or whatever the code is in your area to disable call waiting for that call.

The next thing you need to do is to go create two free Google Voice numbers.  These will be your new fax numbers.  If you don't know how to do this, just Google it.  You're going to set your Google voice numbers to forward to two of your four incoming phone lines.  What I mean is that one GV will forward to one number, and the other GV will forward to another one of your incoming lines.  The reason is that Google won't let you forward two GV numbers to the same phone number.

Once you have set up your two GV numbers and set them to forward, this is key.  Set your options in the GV control panel so that it does not announce the call, and set GV to transmit the number of the GV, not the number of the caller.  So in other words, if I send you a fax, your caller ID would show the GV number on your screen, not my number.  Don't worry, if you ever need to see the caller's CID you can just log into the GV box and it will be stored there for you.

Now tell your vendor to program your switch so that all four of your lines ring into a Call Routing Table.  The CRT must be configured to route by incoming CID.  Then program the table so that if the number from the first GV box rings in, it automatically routes to the extension for the office fax.  If the number from the second GV box rings in, the CRT will route it to the warehouse fax extension.  If any other number rings in, then it will ring to wherever you have them now, such as an automated attendant, reception desk, etc.

If your vendor needs more information, we'll be glad to help.

[KeithB]

It's lonely at the top.

As a business owner I know the feeling Macgyver.

You guys are halarious and off the hook crazy good. I did what you said and emailed what you wrote to our phoneguy. I got a phone call from him almost immediately. He does not know how to do that programming but he knew someone else who can do it. Neither of them understood the google number part though but my teenage son knew exactly what you meant though. So these two phone guys are thrilled about this saying if it will work they will be able to use it a lot. So they are both coming here tomorrow morning to trade out. My son is going to show them how to set up the google numbers and they are going to set up the phone system.  I cannot thank you enough but will let you know how it goes.

[MacGyver]

You're welcome Keith, and we'll be looking forward to hearing back from you. 

One more thing I'll offer is that it's a good idea to use an email address that actually gets checked when you set up the Google Voice numbers.  The reason is that down the line you may from time to time get notifications that you haven't used the number in a while and they'll want you to log in and reverify the account.

It sounds like you should be up and running in no time.  I may be a bit slow to reply tomorrow, but if they run across any challenges just let us know. 

[KeithB]

They both work PERFECT! I cannot thank you enough.

[MacGyver]

They both work PERFECT! I cannot thank you enough.

Awesome Keith.  Thanks for getting back with us to let us know how it went. 

[Marc Haycook]

He does not know how to do that programming but he knew someone else who can do it. Neither of them understood the google number part though but my teenage son knew exactly what you meant though. So these two phone guys are thrilled about this saying if it will work they will be able to use it a lot.

Tell them they need to sign up here to ask questions directly to the experts.