Fax machine line problem?

Question

My buddy had a Brother fax machine and asked me to look at it. When you pick up the handset the line sounded ok but after a few seconds the line would give the engaged tone. Hanging up the handset made no difference the engaged tone persisted. By unplugging the fax it was ok until you lift the receiver again. We can dial the number and the fax rings and answers but try to either lift the receiver or send a fax using on hook dialling and the line picks up and is almost immediately engaged. A normal phone works ok in this socket, I tried 2 different phones. He has a DSL line so I plugged in a DSL filter, same problem. I remembered a previous problem I had some time back and it was the phone cable that was wrong so I got a replacement difrom Brother, no joy there either. The fax is a multi function type, so he said he'd just buy a normal cheap fax machine for faxing and use the other for printing scanning etc. as we assumed something was broken. New fax has exactly the same problem!!?

Answer 1

Check the following site, it has useful info about trouble shooting and fixing phone line trouble.

http://www.fix-your-phone-line.com

Answer 2

I would be complaining quite allot, i'm not sure anyone will be able to help you here...

Answer 3

For DSL line, all phones in the house must have a DSL filter.  Either 1 filter for all lines except the DSL Cable Modem, or a DSL filter on every line that has a phone plugged into it.

Assuming the Fax machine has been proven to work ok at another residence (have you tested it at your house, also?)...

1.  Try Unplugging All telephones in his house (even the DSL Modem).  Then, only plug-in the Fax machine in question and see if it works with nothing else in the house plugged into any phone line (make sure there is DSL filter in line with the Fax machine phone cable).  If it now works ok, some other device in the house has been loading down the phone line.

2.  If 1 above failed to work, then the problem is likely a faulty phone line, either in your house, or the service line to the house is degraded.  Call your phone company service provider and ask them to test the phone line for degraded performance.