Advice on printer/scanner/fax please

I have a small office and i currently have a dedicated fax line, but
nowadays this seems redundant as most people send emails. I want to
move the printer/scanner/fax machine onto the main phone line. I'm
looking for an all in one that will distinguish when a call comes in
whether it's a fax or voicecall. Faxes then get printed out and
voicecalls go to the phone handset (either integral or attached). Many
machines claim to do this but in truth they don't. With most you have
to manually lift the reciever and if it's a fax you manually start the
fax. With Brother machines it picks up, then distinguishes, but
voicecalls won't go through to a answerphone (as the call has
"already" been answered. However....

I've been told that the HP5610, 6180 and 7180 all do what I want. Can
anybody confirm this? (esp. the 5610 as it's the cheapest!)

Peter

I can not confirm this, but I can give you a bit of advice about
'all-in-ones.' I do not recommend purchasing one because when
something breaks, everything has to be replaced and in your situation
it would be much cheaper just to leave a fax machine on the fax line
and use a phone for the voice line. Just to be fair, I must say that
there are less wires with an all-in-one.

My $.02

Stevo

Yes, I have several clients who bought All-in-Ones and then bought a separate
fax machines when some part of the All-in-One bit the dust. In one case, the
All-in-One modem failed, and HP simply does not stock any spare parts for the
damned things. If you call HP or an HP dealer to find out the cost to repair,
Surprise! The repair cost is the same as a new one. As far as I am
concerned, the All-in-One concept is great, but the implementation is a cheap
cheap throwaway device. I would never have my business depend on one.

Same thing can be said for the Lexmark, Epson, Canon, Xerox and other All-in-One
type inkjet devices. They do not get sturdy until you drop major money on a
laser printer based unit... Ben Myers

On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:19:48 -0000, lid (Stevo) wrote:

>I can not confirm this, but I can give you a bit of advice about
>'all-in-ones.' I do not recommend purchasing one because when
>something breaks, everything has to be replaced and in your situation
>it would be much cheaper just to leave a fax machine on the fax line
>and use a phone for the voice line. Just to be fair, I must say that
>there are less wires with an all-in-one.
>
>My $.02
>
>Stevo