Many small businesses need a fax but only use it a few times every month. With a quality fax switch they no longer need to pay the monthly bill for the fax line. The fax switch automatically routes fax calls to the fax machine over an existing voice line thus eliminating the need for a dedicated fax line.

Savings amount up quickly so this "magic box" pays for itself in a few months. After that it's money in the bank or more appropriately "money in your business."

Now there are two types of single line sharing devices. The main difference is whether you need more than one phone number or whether you prefer to use a single phone number to access your fax, phone, answering device or modem.

Tone detection: Here the box immediately answers the phone call but the caller (if it's a voice call) doesn't know it. The switch generates a ring tone identical to the so the caller thinks the phone is ringing but what the box is doing is listening.

It listens for one of three things:

1. cng tones (the tones a fax machines identifies itself with),
2. dtmf (touch-tones pushed on the keypad or appended to the dialing string), or
3. the lack of a signal (typically used for voice or answering machine).

The box listens and quickly identifies what type of call it is and then routes it to the proper device.

This product is called the Stick.
http://faxswitch.com/stick.html
http://faxswitch.com/stick_next.html

Tone Detection requires no extra phone company services.

The other way to detect calls is with Distinctive Ringing Service from the phone company.

Distinctive ringing: Distinctive ringing is a service offered by your local telephone company that you pay about $2.50 a month per number for (similar to the way you pay for call waiting and other features).

Distinctive ringing gives you up to three phone numbers on one line. Each number issues a different ringing pattern so if it's a normal ring you know its phone number one, a double ring is phone number two and so forth.

A distinctive ringing line sharing device monitors the line and then when a call comes in, it routes it by phone number to the specific device for that phone number. The box never actually answers the phone to listen. With this type of application, you have two or three phone numbers sharing one line. You actually have a fax number and a voice number.

Using a distinctive ringing switch is just like having 2 (or 3) dedicated phone lines except you can't have more than one call going at a time. You call one number for your fax and another number for your voice.

This product is the SR.
http://faxswitch.com/sr.html
http://faxswitch.com/sr_next.html

The solution depends on user preference. The main difference is how many phone numbers the small business requires.

With the Stick, you have one phone number for both fax and modem (and voice if you prefer). The Stick routes the call on one number and one line to the correct device (fax or modem). The Stick requires no additional phone company services.

The SR-2 would give you two phone numbers, one for your fax and one for your modem. The SR-3 would give you the choice of two or three numbers on one line and allow for future expansion. The SR products do require that you subscribe to your local phone company's distinctive ringing service for them to route calls to the right device.

Either product can be ordered securely online at http://faxswitch.com/ or toll free by phone at 1-866-337-0734.

Additional questions please contact Rob Higgins or visit our website at: http://faxswitch.com