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COMMAND COMMUNICATIONS CS5500 FAX AUTOSWITCH
Nearly all businesses have a dedicated phone line to
handle fax transmissions. However, smaller
companies, home-based businesses, and even
non-business users of fax machines do not need or
cannot afford a second line just for faxing.
Receiving faxes on your voice line can be annoying
to hear a beep when answered, or even impossible,
especially to those sending the fax that cancel the
transmission when a voice is heard on the other end.
This is the problem that the Command Communications
CS5500 aims to resolve. It intelligently
monitors incoming calls and automatically routes it
to the fax machine if a fax tone is detected.
Otherwise, the call is sent to the phone or
answering machine ports.
Installing the CS5500 is simple - just connect the
phone lines as shown above, and plug in the 12V
power adapter. The fax can be a dedicated fax
machine, or even a data/fax modem connected to a PC.
The CS5500 can monitor the phone line in two
different ways: Fully automatic mode instructs
the CS5500 to answer all incoming calls for a fax
tone. Semi-automatic mode will let all
extensions ring normally, but still monitors the
line for a fax tone. To those using DSL, the
CS5500 works with DSL lines, but requires at least
two filters. And for the few still using
dial-up, the CS5500 is compatible with modems as
well. It can also take advantage of
distinctive ringing features, sending calls from a
distinct ring to certain ports/devices, or even call
a certain number to let you know that you have a
fax, message or voicemail waiting. Caller ID
is no problem for the CS5500 as well.
We tested the CS5500 in a single-line environment
without distinctive ringing. The fax machine
was a Brother MFC 7280N laser fax machine.
Sending faxes through the CS5500 is the same as
without it, nothing changes here. Faxes were
sent at the same speed, up to 33.6k, and the quality
of the received fax seems to be unaffected.
Receiving faxes worked as advertised. The
CS5500 picks up the line, listens for fax tones,
then routes to the appropriate device. In our
small office test setup, there were no extensions
connected. All telephone devices emanated from
a single jack connected to the CS5500. The
office's six phones are all cordless and its base is
connected to the CS5500. The answering machine
works fine, and so does outgoing voice calls.
During a power failure, one may wonder if standard
telephones would ring through the CS5500.
Testing without its power adapter shows that an
old-school phone will still function properly.
Fax switching will not work of course, unless your
fax machine and the CS5500 are plugged into a
suitably-sized UPS.
All in all, the CS5500 allows those of us with a
single phone line to receive fax without the
disruption of listening to another fax tone after
saying "hello?". It routes faxes very well,
and is a highly recommended product to anyone
sharing fax and voice on one phone line.
If you already have a dedicated fax line and are not
sending/receiving too many faxes and voice calls,
the CS5500 may be an ideal replacement for that
second line, saving you the monthly charges.
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