Cisco ATA186 vs. HP Fax Module

[Stoic Joker]

Greetings

This has been driving me nuts for months... We have a client that is using Cisco's ATA 186 (Analog Telephone Adapters) VoIP devices. The devices are working fine with other fax machines and a plain telephone that I'd brought for testing purposes (Just to satisfy my own curiosity). The issue that is being had is with an HP LaserJet M5035 MFP (Multi-Function Printer) that uses an on-board Q3701A fax module.

The issue is that while the HP can both consistently & successfully send faxes through the Cisco box, it can not receive faxes. More specifically it will not respond to the ring tone generated by the Cisco box by opening the line and checking for a carrier signal which would tell it to get the faxing show on the road. This can be confirmed by dialing the devices line number from either a phone or another fax machine; the line will continue ringing until the TELCO breaks in and plays the hay dummy there's nobody there message.

This (IMO) is caused by HP's much (over) hyped built in Distinctive Ring functionality, which (allegedly) allows infinite configurability...with one glaring exception, you can not shut it off. It is my understanding (after extensive testing) that this particular option is crucial, given that it has been successfully used to resolve this very issue, in this very location, with fax devices made by other manufactures who had the foresight to afford their clients the option to configure the device to just answer the blasted phone instead of insisting on IT personnel having to play this guess-the-magic-tone game.

My hope is that someone here has encountered this issue and discovered a resolution that they are willing to share, as HP's "Tech Support" has been completely useless in this regard.