FAQs & Troubleshooting

If you have voice mail on the same telephone line as your Brother machine, there is a strong possibility that voice mail and the Brother machine will conflict with each other while receiving incoming calls. Depending on which of the 2 (Brother machine or voice mail) answers first, will determine where the incoming call will be received.

There are a few things you can do to avoid conflicts between your Brother machine and voice mail service:

• Change your Brother machine's Receive Mode to "Manual" so that it never automatically answers incoming calls. In Manual Mode, incoming calls will go to your voice mail service unless you choose to activate your Brother machine.
  See the section titled "Using Manual Mode."
   
• Get Distinctive Ring service from your telephone company and program your Brother machine to only answer one of the two numbers. People who call your original number can still leave messages on your voice mail service, and your Brother machine will answer calls to your Distinctive Ring number.
  See the section titled "Using Distinctive Ring."

  Distinctive Ring function is not supported in some countries.

  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 Custom Ringing, Personalized Ring, Smart Ring, Ring Master, Ident-a-Ring, Ident-a-Call, Data Ident-A-Call, Teen Ring, SimpleBiz Fax & Alternate Number Ringing, FaxAbility and BT Call Sign.
   
• Connect a physical answering machine to a telephone jack (socket) on the same line as the Brother machine or to the Brother machine's EXT jack (socket) and use it to record voice messages. If you do this, you can cancel voice mail service.
  See the section titled "Using an External Answering Machine."

 

Using Manual Mode:

1. In Manual Mode, your Brother machine will not answer the line automatically unless you are using your telephone company's Distinctive Ring service. See the section titled "Using Distinctive Ring" for information regarding the Distinctive Ring feature.
   
   Manual Mode requires that you answer every incoming call by lifting the handset of a telephone that shares the line with your Brother machine. If the incoming call is a telephone call, then complete the call as you normally would. If you hear fax-sending tones when you lift the handset, press *51 (*91 for New Zealand) and your Brother machine will start receiving the fax. When you hear the receiving tones produced by your Brother machine, replace the handset and your machine will receive and print the fax.

    

   Follow the steps below to put your Brother machine in Manual Mode:

    

   1. Press (Settings). (This step might be skipped in some models.)
       
   2. Press All Settings.
       
   3. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Fax.
       
   4. Press Fax.
       
   5. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Setup Receive.
       
   6. Press Setup Receive.
       
   7. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Receive Mode.
       
   8. Press Receive Mode.
       
   9. Press Manual.
       
   10. Press (Home).

2. If your Brother machine's Easy Receive (Fax Detect) feature is turned on, then you do not have to press *51 (*91 for New Zealand) to receive a fax in Manual Mode. Simply lift the handset of a telephone that shares the line with your Brother machine, wait until you hear your Brother machine's fax receiving tones, and hang up the handset. Your Brother machine should receive the incoming fax automatically. Additionally, if a caller wants to send a fax after speaking to you, simply press *51 (*91 for New Zealand) when they are ready to send the fax.

    

   Follow the steps below to enable your Brother machine's Easy Receive (Fax Detect) feature:

    

   1. Press (Settings). (This step might be skipped in some models.)
       
   2. Press All Settings.
       
   3. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Fax.
       
   4. Press Fax.
       
   5. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Setup Receive.
       
   6. Press Setup Receive.
       
   7. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Easy Receive or Fax Detect.
       
   8. Press Easy Receive or Fax Detect.
       
   9. Press On.
       
   10. Press (Home).

 

 

Using Distinctive Ring:

You can avoid conflicts between your voice mail and your Brother machine by using your telephone company's Distinctive Ring service. Distinctive Ring allows you to have two different numbers on the same telephone line, each with its own ring pattern. Therefore, you can have your voice mail assigned to answer only your "main" telephone number and program your Brother machine to only answer the second number. Since voice mail and the Brother machine will not try to answer the same ring pattern, conflict between them is avoided.

Follow the steps below to program your Brother machine to work with your telephone company's Distinctive Ring service:

 

1. Press (Settings). (This step might be skipped in some models.)
    
2. Press All Settings.
    
3. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Fax.
    
4. Press Fax.
    
5. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Miscellaneous.
    
6. Press Miscellaneous.
    
7. Press Distinctive or BT Call Sign or FaxAbility.
    
8. Do one of the following:

    

   • If you press Distinctive,

      

     1. Press Distinctive. (This step might be skipped in some models.)
         
     2. Press On.
         
     3. Press Ring Pattern. If it is not displayed, go to Step 9.
         
     4. Press the stored ring pattern you want to use.
        
        You will hear each ring pattern as you press its number. Make sure you choose the pattern that the telephone company gave you. Note that you can only choose one of these ring patterns at a time. If the ring pattern assigned by your telephone company is not found, call your telephone company and request that they assign one of the selectable ring patterns.
         
     5. Press OK.
   • If you press BT Call Sign, press On.
      
   • If you press FaxAbility,

      

     1. Press On.
         
     2. Press Call Waiting.
         
     3. Press On. If you have Call Waiting service, press On to avoid the trouble caused by Call Waiting.
9. Press (Home).

 

 

Using an External Answering Machine:

You can connect an external answering machine to a telephone jack on the same line as your Brother machine or to your Brother machine's EXT jack (socket),which will allow you to receive both faxes and voice messages automatically.

When someone dials your telephone/fax number, every telephone on the line, including the Brother machine, will ring according to the number of rings you set on the answering machine. If you do not answer the call, your answering machine will. As your answering machine's outgoing message is playing, your Brother machine is silently "listening" for fax-sending tones. If your Brother machine detects fax-sending tones, then it will take over the line and receive the fax. If your Brother machine does not detect fax-sending tones, then your answering machine will continue to play your outgoing message so the caller can leave a message.

Follow the steps below to set up an answering machine to share the telephone line with your Brother machine:

 

1. Physically connecting the answering machine to the Brother machine:

    

   1. Connect a telephone cord from the jack (socket) labeled LINE on your Brother machine directly to the telephone jack (socket) in the wall.
       
   2. Plug your answering machine directly into a telephone jack on the same line as your Brother machine or into your Brother machine's EXT jack (socket).
       
   3. Set your answering machine to answer within 4 rings.
   • Brother recommends setting your answering machine to answer in 2 or 3 rings, as using 4 rings may cause issues with receiving faxes. If your answering machine takes too long to answer an incoming fax, then the sending fax machine may drop the call.
      
   • Your Brother machine's Ring Delay setting does not apply when you use an external answering machine.

2. Recording the outgoing message on your answering machine:

    

   1. Record 5 seconds of silence before you start speaking.
       

      *We recommend beginning your outgoing message with 5 seconds of silence because your Brother machine cannot detect fax sending tones over a resonant or loud voice. You can try omitting this pause, but if your Brother machine has trouble receiving, you should re-record your outgoing message with the pause included.

       

   2. Limit your speaking to 20 seconds.
       
   3. End your outgoing message by giving your Fax Receive Code for people sending manual faxes.
      
      For example, "After the beep, please leave a message or send a fax by pressing *51(*91 for New Zealand) and Start."
3. Setting the Receive Mode on your Brother machine:

    

   1. Press (Settings). (This step might be skipped in some models.)
       
   2. Press All Settings.
       
   3. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Fax.
       
   4. Press Fax.
       
   5. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Setup Receive.
       
   6. Press Setup Receive.
       
   7. Press the Up or Down arrow key to display Receive Mode.
       
   8. Press Receive Mode.
       
   9. Press External TAD.
       
   10. Press (Home).