Sent fax comes to MY OWN fax machine!

Question

Sent fax comes to MY OWN fax machine!

When I fax through the print dialog, the fax appears to be sent to the number I put into the "send to" field. Even the fax log shows that the fax has been sent to the correct number. Yet, the fax comes to me! When the phone line is free, my own fax machine receives a fax, and it's the one I just sent out. Weird! Why?

PB G4 17 w/everything, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Jul 12, 2006 5:12 PM

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Answer 1

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jul 13, 2006 3:15 AM in response to Bambi Vincent

Hi there,

Are you using a fax subscriber service? I ask because you cannot receive your own fax a minute after you have sent it. Faxes use a two-way communication. One sends some data and the other replies and it is instant. For you to receive your own fax it would have to be at the same time you send it and you would have to have a separate phone line for sending and receiving and a fax modem on each line.

My guess is that it has been received by some other service or fax and it has been sent back to you due to an inability to send it. Normally the header of the fax page would show this. There would be two lots of text, your CSI and TSI (which is your name and fax number and probably the date/time) and the same for the machine that sent it back.

Regards,

Paul

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Answer 2

Jul 13, 2006 2:35 PM in response to PAHU

Hi Paul,

Thanks for taking the time to think of my issue. You're right on all counts: I'm using two phone lines, and my "fax-receiving" line is currently set to forward faxes to eFax. And yes, the fax I get has two lines of info, both the outgoing and incoming. Still, this shouldn't happen. I should be able to make a regular outgoing call, even if it's a fax. This has happened in many different permutations over the past year. For example, when I have fax forwarding turned off, the fax I'm sending prints out of my own machine. Why, when the OS fax app is presumably dialing someone else's number?

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Answer 3

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jul 14, 2006 9:40 PM in response to Bambi Vincent

The question we need to ask here is that is the fax you are receiving being sent back to you because it cannot be delivered or is it because the relay service is having an issue with the header information coming from your Mac. If it is a case of it misreading your fax number and thinking that this is the destination number then it may be something you need to address with the relay company.

Can you explain how you normally send a fax. Do you dial the relay service's number, add a separator such as a # and then follow it with the destination number?

And at any stage do you enter any details about your fax number when you dial?

Regards,

Paul

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Answer 4

Jul 15, 2006 5:01 PM in response to PAHU

It's much simpler than that. I have two phone lines: L1 used for incoming calls, the other (L2) used for outgoing and also receiving faxes. A fax machine is attached to L2. Usually, I set the fax machine to forward incoming calls to my eFax number, since I receive no voice calls on L2.

When I fax from my Mac, I usually plug in L2 and let OS X's fax function dial the remote fax. No relay service, no separators, nothing. Just the recipient's fax number. The fax seems to be sent okay, and the fax log shows that it went to the recip. But then I receive the fax on L2 -- either on paper, or via eFax to my email. (I don't remember -- perhaps when I get the fax on paper I'm using L1.) In any case, it's strange, since I'm only dialing a recipient's fax number, nothing else!

Bambi

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Answer 5

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Jul 15, 2006 5:43 PM in response to Bambi Vincent

Hi Bambi,

Thanks for the explanation. Well, it sounds like there is a issue with OS X. For whatever reason it does sound like it is dialing your own number instead of the destination.

I never experienced this with my PowerBook, but then I only have one line so maybe when I did get a busy signal it was actually me and not the destination? Anyway, I mostly use my MacBook now which has no modem and the majority of my customers are on email so I don't fax that often. And of course when I did do a test on the PB minutes ago it worked 🙂

It is strange that the fax log is showing the recipients number. It would suggest that the OS X log is based on what number you have entered into the recipient field/address book, rather than the actual number programmed into the other fax. And I would say that when you do receive it on the fax paper then the Mac is connected to L1, as it wouldn't work if it was on the same line as the fax.

As a workaround you could try changing the Mac advertised fax number (Sys Prefs > Print&Fax > Faxing > My Fax Number) so that it included the country code and area code (this was the standard at one stage for fax headings). For example, in Australia I would first enter a 61 (country code) then a 2 (area code) followed by the fax number. Then, if the Mac is sometimes dialing your own number instead of the destination, the resulting number would be too long and you would get a busy tone instead of it being received by your fax.

As to the fix, well I could only suggest the latest combo update (if you haven't done so already).

Regards,

Paul

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