Customer Reviews

Command Communications Comswitch 5500 3-Port Phone/Fax Modem Line Sharing Device

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

If you don't want to pay for a separate phone line dedicated to your fax machine, this is an excellent solution. It separates out fax calls from voice calls and routes each type to the appropriate device. All you have to do is plug it into your phone line and them plug the fax machine and telephone into their separate ports in the Comswitch. This item is also nicely priced at $... and is probably tax-deductible if you're using it for business. A cimple and elegant solution.

This device works perfectly! It has many features and modes of operation but here is how I set mine up for basic use: I connect my incoming phone line to the input port, my answering maching w/phone to the TAD port, and my fax machine to the fax port. When a call comes in the Comswitch "picks up" the call on the first ring and listens momentarily for a fax tone. If there is a tone it immediately switches the call to the fax machine and then transmission begins, if it is a voice call it immediately switches to my anwering maching which then begins ringing, working as it usually does with any incoming call. For my answering machine connection, the only difference from before the Comswitch is that there is one addtional ring before the call actually starts to ring on the anwering machine. However, all of this is invisible to the caller. It also is supposed to work with voice mail systems too.

I bought this item after reading good reviews here and elsewhere. I didn't want it for faxes (I'm using maxemail.com for that so that junk faxes don't eat up my fax paper and ink). I just wanted to route my DISTINCTIVE RING/SMART RING calls to a differnt phone/answering machine for business calls.

If I hadn't read the comments here (about contacting Commands customer support number), I would have returned it the next day. I'M SO GLAD I DIDN'T RETURN IT, because now it's exactly what I wanted. Their tech support told me codes to make it:

1. Ignore all calls to my regular number and just let those ring thru to my family phones/answ machine, as usual.

2. Recognize calls with the Distinctive Ring and route the call to second phone/answering machine combo. (That has a business greeting on the answering machine).

3. Let the those "distinctive-ring" calls ring long enough for me to answer before the machine picks them up.

4. Preserve caller ID on all of the calls; to all of the phones.

My suggestion is to buy this product and save yourself the price of a second line. If it doesn't work right out of the box for you ... DON'T drive yourself nuts trying to troubleshoot the darn thing. (The codes in the printed manual and online are not correct/sufficient.) Just give the company a call and they will have it custom programmed to your needs in less than 15 minutes. If you find a glitch, call them again and they'll tell you a code to fix it!

Thank you to those who wrote a review before me. Without reading those, I would have returned a product which ended up being exactly what I needed.

The Comswitch 5500 works great if you have a single line phone, with no extensions, no caller ID and no DSL on the line. Then it is quite capable of discerning fax calls from voice calls. But if that's the extent of your setup, you may not really need to buy an additional piece of equipment.

However, if you have any of those other things, be prepared for the following:

* DSL on the line will require 3 to 5 filters to prevent static. The usual is 1 filter, the manual tells you 2 filters but customer support and actual experience will tell you 3 to 5 filters are required (at $10 to $20 each if you don't happen to have a bunch of them not in use).
* If you have more than one phone extension, be prepared for the phones that aren't connected to the 5500 to ring once and stop.
* If you have caller ID, be prepared for it to display during the first ring only - on all phone extensions.

I was not prepared to deal with all of those conditions and returned the machine for a refund.

I'm using this to avoid having a dedicated phone line for my home fax machine. It has two modes.

In fully automatic mode, it answers every call and listens for a fax tone. If it hears the tone, it sends a ring signal to the fax machine. If it doesn't, it sends a ring signal to the phone that is attached to the unit. This is the mode I am using. The only downside to this mode is that only the phone attached to the box will ring. I happen to have one of those cordless phones with multiple handsets, and they all ring, so this is not an issue for me. It works flawlessly right out of the box. I just plugged it in, attached the phone lines, and that was it.

The second mode listens to every call you (or your answering machine) answers, and when it hears the fax tones, automatically sends an extra ring to your fax machine so it can pick up the call. This works around the drawback above, but you have to leave a delay in your outgoing message to let it listen for the tones. Not that big a deal, but the automatic mode works great for me.

As an owner of a home based business, I'm always looking for ways to cut cost. I found that my telephone carrier could switch me to a single line into my home with distinctive ring on my business number. Based on this I started looking for a way that I could have my home phone number always be andwered by an answering machine or picked up, and have my business line ring only the phones associated with my business. Additionally I wanted my business number picked up by the phone company voice mail if I didn't answer it, not the answering machine.

I found the Comswitch 5500 which promises to do all this and it does...but not right out of the box. It requires configuration not explained in the manual that comes with the product. But, with one 5 minute phone call to Command Communications support number, I was given the codes to acheive what I wanted and it all works.

My advise, don't get frustrated with this product because you can't get it to work as wanted, just call their support and explain what you are trying to do, I found them knowledgable and helpful!

The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars is because I think these features should be documented in the manual. Overall this is an excellent product.

Thanks for the thoughtful reviews which got me to try this unit.
Unfortunately, there are also reviewers here who can not even read the first page of their manual. Please ignore their whining.

I faced a difficult challenge. After purchasing an expensive multifunction laser [$800], Technical support at HP informed me that their best multifunction would not work with VOIP telephone service. They warned that the answering machine would "steal" calls from the fax machine. and it did. BTW, my VOIP is provided by Time Warner Cable- which guarantees that a fax will work on their service.

So I tried a Brother machine - much cheaper . Soon their technical support warned of answering machine and fax incompatibliity with VOIP service.

So I dropped the multifunction angle. I purchased a separate Canon MF6530 Printer Copier, a Canon Fax Laser L80, and a Panasonic Digital answering machine.
I bought the Comswitch 5500, and had all of these devices installed within less than an hour.
Everything worked, answering machine, fax, copier printer right out of the box!

However, I did find that the remote phones in other rooms rang only once. So - per the manual - I needed to set the ComSwitch 5500 to "semiautomatic".

But I got a VOIP message when I entered the codes to do so.
So I called ComSwitch technical support. Technical suport answered in one ring!

He solved my code difficulty immediately.

With this device, you can set up your office and your machines to work the way you do. And, get the quality you need in your office.

Again, thanks for tipping me off to the value of this device.

Purchased the ComSwitch 5500 for a home office with a fax and telephone set. We have ATT Voice Mail as well, which worked until we plugged in the 5500 unit. Phone now rings nine times and then transfers to the fax in desperation. ComSwitch Tech Support (very helpful) tells me the 5500 unit actually answers the phone on the first ring so it can listen for fax CNG tones. Therefore, the ATT voice mail never will answer. ATT tells me that "Distinctive Ring" is not offered in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Long and short? good unit but I am now looking for an answering machine that has remote access. Seems somewhat stupid that ATT voice mail, a fax and an corded telephone cannot co-exist on a single analog phone line. And don't get me started on ATT Repair Service and Customer Service, and I'm a Pacific Bell retiree!

John & Colene
Walnut Creek, CA

This Comswitch worked right out of the box for me. I didn't change anything. My setup is an ADSL incoming line that I've got 3 filters on. I might be ok with 2 but I had an extra and some reviews had indicated a need for more. Beyond that, it's connected as the installation instructions indicate for automatic with phones and an answering machine. If a fax is received, my phones never ring, just the fax machine. If it's a voice call my phones ring until I answer or my answering machine answers. It was that simple.

Works great. Took a while to get everything set up to work smoothly, but it's a lot cheaper than paying for a 2nd phone line every single month. Make sure you read the instructions thoroughly, and you have to set your fax machine to answer in one ring, or it won't work. Still working out some kinks, like when I have a phone message on my answering machine, incoming calls answer too quickly, and then the fax can't pick it up. I'm sure I'll get it all worked out eventually, but 99% of the time, this switch works perfectly.