Just say "NO" to the ComSwitch 5500
Part of being a homeowner and a self-employed business person involves decisions and consumer purchases for home office electronics. I thought maybe I would save a little dough by eliminating my dedicated fax line ($24/month + tax). Silly me! I canceled my dedicated fax line, then designed and printed an announcement and new business card promoting my new business concept. These items had my updated contact info, which, of course, included NO DEDICATED FAX LINE. At a cost of approximately $600 for printing and postage, I promptly addressed, stamped and mailed these carefully crafted announcements and business cards to about 135 of my closest relatives, friends and business contacts. I figured, as these were in the mail, I would easily take care of the "minor" details of getting my home office organized to match what I claimed -- that I no longer have a dedicated fax line.
Never did I imagine that I would struggle with getting my home fax line to share my phone line. Can I get a witness???
I went to Staples to buy a ComSwitch 5500 on October 28, 2007. It lasted until December 2, 2007. God rest its soul. Five weeks, you say? Yes, that's right. Five weeks. I think that averaged about $15 per fax received. This black plastic box o' crap lasted five damn weeks. Not only did the ComSwitch 5500 die, but my not-quite-three-year-old AT+T corded phone connected to it "mysteriously" started having an annoying humming sound, making it virtually useless (unless your goal is to repulse callers).
So now I needed to replace my phone and chose a new $85 Panasonic phone (KX-TG1033S with new DECT 6.0 technology). (BTW, I love this new phone set!) While setting up the new phones, my friend and I could not get the ComSwitch 5500 to work. After four hours of troubleshooting with my friend's skilled expertise -- he has 14 years experience in technical support with a telecommunications company -- we threw up our arms in complete frustration. We were able to have ComSwitch answer the call, but not have caller ID, or else set it up for caller ID and have the ComSwitch hang up on callers. Neither was acceptable. The game plan was for me to call customer support the following day. They will help, right??? After all I paid $65 and its only five weeks old. Certainly Command Communications would care about their customers and its reputation as a quality company.
HA! In a nutshell, even though I have one damaged AT+T phone with a loud permanent humming, and I can no longer get the ComSwitch to work with Caller ID without dropping calls, technical support basically says "tough luck." Once they found out I neglected to plug in my phone cord into a phone/fax surge protector, Eric, the Command Communications technical service rep, had the evidence needed to blame me, the negligent customer. After all it was on PAGE ONE of their owner's manual in the "blah, blah, blah" section (although not in their diagrams). Oh to be fair, he offered to let me ship it back to them in Colorado for inspection (at MY expense, of course), but warned me that if they discovered it had been fried by some sort of surge into my phone, my warranty would become invalid. Oh, so I would be out the $65 for the ComSwitch 5500 AND the cost to ship the piece o' crap back to them? Yea, right!
I have been in my house over 12 years and have survived as many summers of sometimes violent, desert monsoon storms. I have NEVER had a phone fry because of some sort of power surge through the phone line. I have never bothered to plug in the phone (or fax) into a phone/fax surge protection device. I have plugged the electrical cords into the electrical surge protector, but it never occurred to me to protect the phone line. My bad, I suppose. If Eric's theory is correct, my AT+T phone and the ComSwitch went kaput because of this supposed surge. If that is true, Eric, than how do you explain the ComSwitch working before I replaced my $65 three-year-old AT+T phone with a new $85 Panasonic phone? (And, yes, the Panasonic is now plugged into the surge protector, thank you very much.)
Eric asked me if I placed the ComSwitch 5500 near other electronic devices. He reminded me that these devices are very sensitive to other electronic equipment (incidentally my AT+T manual noted this too). Really? How is it that manufacturers of office equipment envision people using their products alone, away from other electronic devices? Have they never visited a home office? Let's see... there are phones, fax machines, ink jet and/or laser printers, scanners, modems, routers and maybe even a TV. Do they envision each of these items in their own private room? Interesting concept. Perhaps I could store my ComSwitch 5500 under glass, like a museum display. Fat chance!
Back to Staples, where I bought it -- that is where this piece o' crap went. Yea, they have a 14-day return policy on technology, however Staples took it back with no questions asked. Somehow I don't think I was the only one to return this device. What a relief. Thank you, Staples!
Now I am left figuring out some other solution that does not involve Command Communications.
Never did I imagine that I would struggle with getting my home fax line to share my phone line. Can I get a witness???
I went to Staples to buy a ComSwitch 5500 on October 28, 2007. It lasted until December 2, 2007. God rest its soul. Five weeks, you say? Yes, that's right. Five weeks. I think that averaged about $15 per fax received. This black plastic box o' crap lasted five damn weeks. Not only did the ComSwitch 5500 die, but my not-quite-three-year-old AT+T corded phone connected to it "mysteriously" started having an annoying humming sound, making it virtually useless (unless your goal is to repulse callers).
So now I needed to replace my phone and chose a new $85 Panasonic phone (KX-TG1033S with new DECT 6.0 technology). (BTW, I love this new phone set!) While setting up the new phones, my friend and I could not get the ComSwitch 5500 to work. After four hours of troubleshooting with my friend's skilled expertise -- he has 14 years experience in technical support with a telecommunications company -- we threw up our arms in complete frustration. We were able to have ComSwitch answer the call, but not have caller ID, or else set it up for caller ID and have the ComSwitch hang up on callers. Neither was acceptable. The game plan was for me to call customer support the following day. They will help, right??? After all I paid $65 and its only five weeks old. Certainly Command Communications would care about their customers and its reputation as a quality company.HA! In a nutshell, even though I have one damaged AT+T phone with a loud permanent humming, and I can no longer get the ComSwitch to work with Caller ID without dropping calls, technical support basically says "tough luck." Once they found out I neglected to plug in my phone cord into a phone/fax surge protector, Eric, the Command Communications technical service rep, had the evidence needed to blame me, the negligent customer. After all it was on PAGE ONE of their owner's manual in the "blah, blah, blah" section (although not in their diagrams). Oh to be fair, he offered to let me ship it back to them in Colorado for inspection (at MY expense, of course), but warned me that if they discovered it had been fried by some sort of surge into my phone, my warranty would become invalid. Oh, so I would be out the $65 for the ComSwitch 5500 AND the cost to ship the piece o' crap back to them? Yea, right!
I have been in my house over 12 years and have survived as many summers of sometimes violent, desert monsoon storms. I have NEVER had a phone fry because of some sort of power surge through the phone line. I have never bothered to plug in the phone (or fax) into a phone/fax surge protection device. I have plugged the electrical cords into the electrical surge protector, but it never occurred to me to protect the phone line. My bad, I suppose. If Eric's theory is correct, my AT+T phone and the ComSwitch went kaput because of this supposed surge. If that is true, Eric, than how do you explain the ComSwitch working before I replaced my $65 three-year-old AT+T phone with a new $85 Panasonic phone? (And, yes, the Panasonic is now plugged into the surge protector, thank you very much.)Eric asked me if I placed the ComSwitch 5500 near other electronic devices. He reminded me that these devices are very sensitive to other electronic equipment (incidentally my AT+T manual noted this too). Really? How is it that manufacturers of office equipment envision people using their products alone, away from other electronic devices? Have they never visited a home office? Let's see... there are phones, fax machines, ink jet and/or laser printers, scanners, modems, routers and maybe even a TV. Do they envision each of these items in their own private room? Interesting concept. Perhaps I could store my ComSwitch 5500 under glass, like a museum display. Fat chance!
Back to Staples, where I bought it -- that is where this piece o' crap went. Yea, they have a 14-day return policy on technology, however Staples took it back with no questions asked. Somehow I don't think I was the only one to return this device. What a relief. Thank you, Staples!
Now I am left figuring out some other solution that does not involve Command Communications.
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