# Is there a way to tell if a phone number is just a phone line or both phone and fax?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-just-a-phone-line-or-both-phone-and-fax/185831>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 2, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-just-a-phone-line-or-both-phone-and-fax/185831 "2003-07-02T18:32:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-just-a-phone-line-or-both-phone-and-fax/185831/1 "2003-07-02T18:32:38Z")

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I may not be wording this quite right, but I need to know if there is a way to tell if a number, is only a phone line or if it has a fax.

Is there anyway to tell?

No one picks up when the number is dialed.

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**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-just-a-phone-line-or-both-phone-and-fax/185831/2 "2003-07-02T18:37:45Z")

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We have a guy that works out of his house. He uses his phone line for a fax line too. If he doesn’t pick up his phone after a certain number of rings the fax line will pick up and let out that awful shrill as though it is receiving a fax.

Hope that helps

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-just-a-phone-line-or-both-phone-and-fax/185831/3 "2003-07-02T18:46:01Z")

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Write “Is this a phone line, or just a fax line? Call me back at XXX-XXXX. Thanks!” on a piece of paper and fax it to the number.

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-just-a-phone-line-or-both-phone-and-fax/185831/4 "2003-07-02T18:52:18Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AbbySthrnAccent \*  
> \*\*No one picks up when the number is dialed. \*\*

Well, if it was a fax line, then wouldn’t the fax machine pick up?

The short answer is: No, there’s no way to tell.

The long answe is: You can try to get in contact with the person who owns the line and ask them. They might have a fax machine set up to require someone on the other end to hit a button to accept the fax, so as to avoid junk faxes, in which case you’d have to call them on a regular phone first _anyway_.

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**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-a-phone-number-is-just-a-phone-line-or-both-phone-and-fax/185831/5 "2003-07-02T19:38:33Z")

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Problem solved. Thanks for your quick responses.

(It wasn’t a fax line.)