How to Set Up a Fax on a Phone Line

Connecting your fax machine to your phone is a straightforward process.

Setting up your fax machine on your home phone line is a great way to avoid the cost of getting an additional fax line for your home. Even though the history of the fax machine dates back to the 1840s, most fax machines are set up to work in concert with your phone, so that receiving faxes on the same phone line you use for making calls is entirely doable.

Things You'll Need

• Standard two-wire telephone cord

Instructions

1. Disconnect all phones and answering machines from your phone line. Having phones connected directly to your phone line can interfere with your fax machine's ability to receive faxes.

2. Connect your fax machine directly to your phone line using a standard two-wire telephone cord. Do not use any switchers, routers or other telephones to connect your fax machine to your phone line. Connect your two-wire cord directly from fax machine to the phone jack in your wall.

3. With a telephone cord, connect your phone to your slot in the fax machine that says "Ext." or "Extension." Your fax machine will now distinguish between phone calls and faxes, and will print faxes and send all phone calls to your phone.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have an older fax machine, it could have trouble distinguishing between faxes and phone calls, in which case you will want to purchase a fax switch, which you can plug into your phone jack, and connect your phone and fax machine to the fax switch using the ports labeled "Phone" and "Fax," respectively.

References

• Hffax: A brief history of facsimile
• Technikum29: History of fax machine
• "Fax, Modem, and Text for IP Telephony"; David Hanes; 2008