Distinctive Ring is a function of your Brother machine that allows a person with one line to receive fax and voice calls through two different phone numbers on that one line.

Brother uses the term "Distinctive Ring" to describe this service, but telephone companies market it under a variety of names, such as Smart Ring, Ring Master, and Ident-a-Ring.

This service establishes a second telephone number on the same line as your existing telephone number, and each number has its own ring pattern. Typically, the original number rings with the standard ring pattern and is used for receiving voice calls, and the second number rings with a different ring pattern and is used for receiving faxes.

Program your Brother machine to work with Distinctive Ring:

To program your Brother machine to work with your telephone company's Distinctive Ring service, follow these steps:

1. Press Menu/Set, 0 (Tel Service), 1 (Distinctive).
   
   
2. Press the UP OR DOWN ARROW key to select Set.
   
   
3. Press the Menu/Set key.
   
   
4. Your Brother machine will begin to play a ring pattern.
   
   There are four ring patterns available, and you should use the UP OR DOWN ARROW key to choose the one that matches the Distinctive Ring pattern assigned by the telephone company. You will hear each pattern as you select it, which should help you make the correct choice. These ring patterns are as follows:
   
   
   • Long-Long (this ring pattern is often called Short-Short by phone companies)
     
     
   • Short-Long-Short
     
     
   • Short-Short-Long
     
     
   • Very Long (this is the standard telephone ring pattern)
   
   
   Please note that you can only select one of these ring patterns at a time. If the ring pattern assigned by your telephone company is not listed, please call your telephone company and request that they assign one of the selectable ring patterns.
   
   
5. Press the Menu/Set key.
   
   
6. Press the Stop/Exit key.

- Distinctive Ring is now on.

After you have set Distinctive Ring to on, your Distinctive Ring number will receive faxes automatically. The Receive Mode is set to Manual and you cannot change it to another mode while Distinctive Ring is turned on. This ensures the Brother machine will only answer the Distinctive Ring number and not interfere when your main telephone number is called.

Using the Distinctive Ring feature with an external answering machine

You can use an external answering machine without connecting it directly to your Brother machine's EXT jack if you have Distinctive Ring service. If you program your Brother machine to answer one of your two telephone numbers, people who call the OTHER number will be able to leave messages on your answering machine regardless of where it is connected to the telephone line. Your Brother machine will only answer the number you program it to answer.

Disable the Distinctive Ring feature:

To turn your Brother machine's Distinctive Ring feature off, follow these steps:

1. Press Menu/Set, 0 (Tel Service), 1 (Distinctive).
   
   
2. Press the UP OR DOWN ARROW key to select Off.
   
   
3. Press the Menu/Set key.
   
   
4. Press the Stop/Exit key.