Phones & Fax Machines

Phones and Fax Machines

However, as much as we all want to believe that telephones and fax machines "are all the same" there are significant differences in them.  And since, voice communications and faxing remain significant methods of getting in touch with your customer and business partners, it's important to understand a bit about the technologies that underlie these devices before you choose one as the "centerpiece" of your home based business.

The Telephone

The telephone consists of three main components:

• The Base - which encloses the "guts" of the telephone.
  • The Switchhook - Do you know those little pieces (or piece) of plastic that pops up when you remove the receiver from the base?  That's the switchhook.  Basically, by removing the receiver, you connect the circuit back to the telephone company (depressing the switchhook breaks it) and let the telephone switch know that you'd like service - dial tone!
  • The Dial Pad - When you press a number on the dial pad of your telephone, two tones are generated that are sent to the phone company switch.  The switch recognizes these tones as discrete numbers (DMTF or dual-tone multifrequency system) and you're "dialin"! 
  • The Ringer - When a call is routed to your line, the switch at the telephone company sends a ringing generator across the line that tells your "ringer" to ring!
• The Handset - The handset consists of two basic components:
  • The Transmitter - When you speak into your handset, your voice vibrates a membrane that, because of the air pressure changes made by our vocal chords when we speak, moves at the same frequency as our vocal chords.  The vibration of this diaphragm moves carbon particles behind it back and forth.  The movement of the carbon particles produces an electrical charge that is at the same frequency and amplitude as the sound of our voices.  The result is an analog sine wave that is proportional to the frequency and amplitude of the voice.  This electrical energy is carried across the wires.
  • The Receiver - The electricity produced by the telephone at one end is carried to the receiver at the other.  This energy reaches an electromagnet in the receiver.  This electromagnet is attached to a diaphragm similar to the one in the transmitter.  As the magnet vibrates, it vibrates the diaphragm producing air pressure changes that make air waves bounce off our inner ear drums to produce sound.

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• The Connector - In corded phones, the connector is the four wires that connect the base to the handset transmitter and receiver.  In cordless phones, the connector is the wireless protocol used to communicate between the base and the handset.
• Wireless Phones - Of course in a wireless phone, the base, handset and connector are in an "all in one" package that fits into your hand.  The biggest difference between wireless and "wired" telephone services is that wireless phones must communicate with wireless antennas/towers/cells to reach the telephone company switch.  Wireless phones and wireless telephone companies use an "alphabet" soup of communications protocols to do that:
  • CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) which allows numerous signals to use a single transmission channel - usually in the 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz bands.
  • GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) which is used in Europe and by T-Mobile in the U.S.  GSM digitizes and compresses data then sends it down a channel with two other data streams, each in its respective time slot.  It operates at 900 MHz or 1800 MHz.
  • TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) divides each cellular channel into three time slots.  It operates at 850 MHz and 19 GHz.

The "basic" telephone has been "enhanced" with the addition of a number of capabilities that are provided in concert with services provided by the telephone company.  These telephone "enhancements" include:

• Caller ID - Just what it says - who, their telephone number too - is calling you (you must subscribe to the service from the telephone company).
• Speed Dialing - Allows you to preprogram a multiplicity of number down to one or two digits.
• Call Hold - Mutes the transmitter and receiver.
• Conference Call - (telephone company 3-way calling service) allows you to add a third party to your existing call.
• Redial Last Number - Just what it says - just hit the "redial" button.
• Speakerphone - Hands-free communication - what home based business could live without it?
• Hands-Free Dialing - Like using the speakerphone, but for dialing instead.
• Answering Machine - Although these are great for your house - we STRONGLY recommend that for your business you use a telephone company provided voice mail service instead (i.e. CallNotes Plus from SBC).  It's more professional (people can tell the difference) and easier to reach when you're on the road.  Plus, if the electricity goes out during a storm, you won't miss any messages from your customers!

Finally, even if you think that wireless is the "only" way to communicate - in your home and on the road, you should still consider purchase of a cheap "corded" phone for emergency use.  "Standard" phones get their power from the phone line and don't need electricity from an outlet to work -so, in the case of an emergency, that standard old $11.99 phone set could be a great asset.  If you want to know more about how telephones work see:

How Telephones Work

How Cordless Phones Work

How Wireless Phones Work

How Voice over IP Works

For our reviews see:

• Corded Phones

• Cordless Phones

• IP Phones

• Wireless Phones

Fax Machines

Fax (Facsimile) has been around a long time.  Believe it or not more than 120 years!  Basically, fax is simply the scanning of a document via process that reads the page as a series of dots, left to right, on a dot-by-dot (pixel by pixel) basis. 

Fax machines are defined by the standards that they conform to.  We won't go into the old fax standards (those of you who are as old as I am can still remember the rotating drum!).  Instead we'll stick with the fax standard that is currently prevalent:

• Group 3 Fax - Group 3 fax support 9.6 Kbps transmission (a page is transmitted in a minute or less).  Original Group 3 fax machines integrated a printing technique called the Huffman and Read codes (thermal printing).  However, thermal printing is no longer the only option (thank goodness!) and fax machines now integrate laser and inkjet printing capabilities to enhance output quality.  If you're going to invest in a fax machine - make it one that can print on paper you can read!

But Group 3 Fax hasn't been the end.  Newer fax machines transmit at 14.4 Kbps (approximately one and one-half pages per minute) and 33.6 Kbps (approximately three pages per minute).

There are other devices that integrate fax technology - your PC (through a fax/modem card - see our Computers and Accessories page) or a multi-function device (printer, fax machine, copier/scanner - see our Multifunction Printers page).  You can even subscribe to network-based services that receive your fax and then send it to you as an email. 

We'll talk about your "fax" machine options on the Fax Machine Review and Report and what to look for before you purchase a fax machine!  Additionally, if you'd like to know more about fax technology in general, see:

How Fax Machines Work.