On Sun, 08 Feb 2015, Ed Vance wrote to Daryl Stout:

 DS>   While the voice mail line is connected to a phone, the ringer is 
 DS> TURNED OFF, as I was getting calls from telemarketers, etc. at all 
 DS> hours of the day and night. The fax number goes to my laptop, and 
 DS> a program that came with my US Robotics 56K v.92 external fax 
 DS> modem. That way, they can send all the junk faxes they want...no 
 DS> paper is wasted at all. If I don't care for the fax, I just delete 
 DS> the file.

 EV> If it's a person calling they sure get an earfull when that 
 EV> raspy(sp? FAX signal answers the call.

you've got that backwards... the answering FAX doesn't make any sound at
all until it hears the inbound FAX's tones... modems, on the other hand, do
make the noises when answering... this is the main difference between the
two...

)\/(ark