In this section, there are special operating notes you should read before operating the TF 555. The section following these operating notes provides an overview of the TF 555 standard operation and instructions for answering and transferring your incoming calls.

Before operating the TF 555, be sure that you understand the following information concerning the telephone equipment that is used with the TF 555.

Fax CNG tones: Most faxes send audible beep tones called CNG (CalliNG) tones. This tone is a distinct beep that repeats every three (3) seconds.

Once a fax has dialed the destination fax number, it generates this tone while waiting for the receiving fax to answer.

Not all faxes transmit this tone when they place a call. Most, but not all faxes produce this tone through their auto-dial feature, speed-dial memory position, or by the operator pressing the fax machine's start button after the number is dialed.

For best results, callers should have your fax number programmed into their fax machine's "speed-dial" memory.

When a call comes in and the TF 555 is connected to a single extension, all the phones (except the phones connected to the TAD/PHONE ports) ring one time. The TF 555 answers the call on this first ring, and then provides a ring-back tone to the caller, the intent of which is to make the switching process transparent to the caller. During the next four seconds the TF 555 listens for the following signals:

If the TF 555 detects any of these signals, it transfers the call to the FAX or AUX port accordingly.

After 4 seconds, the call will be transferred to the PHONE and TAD ports if tones are not detected.

If the TF 555 transfers an unanswered call to the FAX port (after 6 rings), it will automatically reduce the number of rings to the telephones connected to the TAD or PHONE ports to 2 rings to ensure optimum connect time.

You can reset the TF 555 to 6 rings by performing any of the following steps:

You can answer incoming calls from an extension phone or from a phone device connected to the TAD or PHONE port. You can then conduct the call normally, for as long as you like.

To transfer calls to the AUX port, press  #22 from a tone phone or 4  from a rotary/pulse dialing phone.

If you answer a call from an extension phone, the TF 555 will be on line for 15 seconds listening for transfer codes. You can also press #0 from a tone phone to transfer the call to the TAD and PHONE ports.

If the TF 555 does not detect a transfer code within the 15 seconds, it becomes inactive and drops the call, leaving the extension phone active with the caller.

If your answering machine answers a call from the TAD port, the caller can perform the following tasks:

We recommend that you use your answering machine announcement message to provide callers with instructions for transferring their calls. Following is a sample announcement message that you may wish to use:

" * Hello, this is ________. If you wish to send a fax, press #11 on your tone phone, or leave a message at the tone."

To turn TAD to Fax Transfer ON, perform the following steps:

With this feature turned ON, the TF 555 will automatically transfer a call to the FAX port when the answering machine disconnects from the call

To disable the TF 555 and retrieve your answering machine messages, follow these steps: