Phone, fax and internet - how does it work on Broadband?

I'm currently using an ISDN connection, but Broadband will finally be coming
to this part of Wales in a couple of months.

With my ISDN connection we subscribe to BT's Home highway and our ISP is
Demon. We have three separate numbers for the phone, the fax and the ISDN
internet connection.

We can use any two of the three at the same time, but if, for instance,
someone was faxing me while I am connected to the Internet, if someone
phoned me they would get the engaged signal. This set up is fine for me, as
it is very rare for all three services to be in use at the same time.

I'm getting confused as to how I would manage these three things when I've
installed Broadband. Will it still work in the same way as ISDN or do I
need to rethink my set up? E.g. do I need a separate line for the fax
machine?
--
Slartibartfast
To reply by email, remove the FJORDS from my address

Slartibartfast wrote:
> With my ISDN connection we subscribe to BT's Home highway and our ISP is
> Demon. We have three separate numbers for the phone, the fax and the ISDN
> internet connection.
> I'm getting confused as to how I would manage these three things when I've
> installed Broadband. Will it still work in the same way as ISDN or do I
> need to rethink my set up? E.g. do I need a separate line for the fax
> machine?

At the moment you have any two out of three. With broadband, your
internet is always on, so you will be left with *either* fax *or* phone.

If you have a lot of faxes you may want a separate phone line. Or you
may be able to use fax-to-email services. Or you can get a BT 'Twintalk'
device along with Call Sign service, which gives you two numbers on the
same phone line. Each number has a different ringing cadence, and the
Twintalk device switches between two sockets depending on which cadence
a call is ringing in. Some faxes already support Call Sign / distinctive
ringing, so you won't need the Twintalk device, but you still neet to
rent the Call Sign service from BT

Depending on your local exchange you may be able to get the ISDN
analgoge port numbers that you use for phone and fax transferred to an
analogue line number and Call Sign number.

Owain

Slartibartfast wrote:
> I'm currently using an ISDN connection, but Broadband will finally be
> coming to this part of Wales in a couple of months.
>
> With my ISDN connection we subscribe to BT's Home highway and our ISP
> is Demon. We have three separate numbers for the phone, the fax and
> the ISDN internet connection.
>
> We can use any two of the three at the same time, but if, for
> instance, someone was faxing me while I am connected to the Internet,
> if someone phoned me they would get the engaged signal. This set up
> is fine for me, as it is very rare for all three services to be in
> use at the same time.
> I'm getting confused as to how I would manage these three things when
> I've installed Broadband. Will it still work in the same way as ISDN
> or do I need to rethink my set up? E.g. do I need a separate line
> for the fax machine?

Rethink time, for DSL all you require is 1 telephone line, so you will have
the 24hrs DSL & whatever usage you want for the telephone at the same time.
If you want fax, voice & broadband, at the same time you will require
another line..

"Slartibartfast" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


> I'm getting confused as to how I would manage these three things when I've
> installed Broadband. Will it still work in the same way as ISDN or do I
> need to rethink my set up? E.g. do I need a separate line for the fax
> machine?

No. But you will to remove ISDN from the line to make it a standard
line again. Then the ADSL will be enabled. Once that happens, you will
be able to use the phone line for voice or fax as normal, and be surfing
the net at the same time.

--
Patrick (Durham UK)
PCRRN Internet Services
Web Design for the Community
http://www.pcrrn.co.uk
Do not reply direct, email via website above.
"There are 10 types of people in the world - those that know binary and
those that don't."
__________________________________________________ ___________________

Slartibartfast wrote:
|| I'm currently using an ISDN connection, but Broadband will finally
|| be coming to this part of Wales in a couple of months.
||
|| With my ISDN connection we subscribe to BT's Home highway and our
|| ISP is Demon. We have three separate numbers for the phone, the fax
|| and the ISDN internet connection.
||
|| We can use any two of the three at the same time, but if, for
|| instance, someone was faxing me while I am connected to the
|| Internet, if someone phoned me they would get the engaged signal.
|| This set up is fine for me, as it is very rare for all three
|| services to be in use at the same time.
||
|| I'm getting confused as to how I would manage these three things
|| when I've installed Broadband. Will it still work in the same way
|| as ISDN or do I need to rethink my set up? E.g. do I need a
|| separate line for the fax machine?
|| --
|| Slartibartfast
|| To reply by email, remove the FJORDS from my address

You will have to either convert your Home Highway to analogue. IIRC BT
charge £40 for the 1st Channel & £99 for the second. (they did on business
highway) on residential it ought to be £75 for the new line.

If you go with BT broadband, they will do the conversion of the first
channel for free. If you stop there, you will, of course, lose your second
channel anyway as you only have one physical line.

To do what you propose, you need a POTS line for your broadband, which you
could also use for fax or voice and one other.

Slartibartfast wrote:
|| I'm currently using an ISDN connection, but Broadband will finally
|| be coming to this part of Wales in a couple of months.
||
|| With my ISDN connection we subscribe to BT's Home highway and our
|| ISP is Demon. We have three separate numbers for the phone, the fax
|| and the ISDN internet connection.
||
|| We can use any two of the three at the same time, but if, for
|| instance, someone was faxing me while I am connected to the
|| Internet, if someone phoned me they would get the engaged signal.
|| This set up is fine for me, as it is very rare for all three
|| services to be in use at the same time.
||
|| I'm getting confused as to how I would manage these three things
|| when I've installed Broadband. Will it still work in the same way
|| as ISDN or do I need to rethink my set up? E.g. do I need a
|| separate line for the fax machine?
|| --
|| Slartibartfast
|| To reply by email, remove the FJORDS from my address

You may want to convert your Home Highway to analogue [1]. IIRC BT
charge £40 for the 1st Channel & £99 for the second. (they did on business
highway) on residential it ought to be £75 for the new line.

If you go with BT broadband, they will do the conversion of the first
channel for free. If you stop there, you will, of course, lose your second
channel anyway as you only have one physical line.

[1] To do what you propose, you need a POTS line for your broadband, which
you
could also use for fax or voice and one other.

"The Cable Guy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dHNfe.28627$(E-Mail Removed) k...
> You may want to convert your Home Highway to analogue [1]. IIRC BT
> charge £40 for the 1st Channel & £99 for the second. (they did on business
> highway) on residential it ought to be £75 for the new line.
>
> If you go with BT broadband, they will do the conversion of the first
> channel for free. If you stop there, you will, of course, lose your second
> channel anyway as you only have one physical line.
>
> [1] To do what you propose, you need a POTS line for your broadband, which
> you
> could also use for fax or voice and one other.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. At least I've got a better idea of
the options now.

I quite like Owain's suggestion of the Twintalk set up. We've got those at
our shop and use them to share the line between our fax machine and modem
(both fairly low usage). So far we've had no problems and it's much cheaper
than two separate lines.
--
Slartibartfast
To reply by email, remove the FJORDS from my address

On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:57:29 +0100, "Slartibartfast"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I quite like Owain's suggestion of the Twintalk set up. We've got those at
>our shop and use them to share the line between our fax machine and modem
>(both fairly low usage). So far we've had no problems

are they battery powered ? how long do the batts last if so.

Phil

Phil Thompson wrote:
|| On Tue, 10 May 2005 14:57:29 +0100, "Slartibartfast"
|| <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
||
||| I quite like Owain's suggestion of the Twintalk set up. We've got
||| those at our shop and use them to share the line between our fax
||| machine and modem (both fairly low usage). So far we've had no
||| problems
||
|| are they battery powered ? how long do the batts last if so.
||
|| Phil

Last time I used one of these types of devices, it was powered by the phone
line.

On Tue, 10 May 2005 17:58:21 GMT, "The Cable Guy"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Last time I used one of these types of devices, it was powered by the phone
>line.

there was a differnet device which ISTR had two outlets, the Twintalk
device has one but is slective as to what it answers. The former was I
think line powered, the latter I think has batteries - I found a
review that says "When the time comes to changing the batteries,"

Phil
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices :-)

--