Wake on "modem"

Hi all. I was wondering if there were some way, in Windows 7, to wake
on modem when a FAX comes in. I Googled it and mostly found stuff on
wake on LAN. I know modems are usually associated with a COM port but
not particularly with LAN. Is this even possible? I know FAXs are an
old, archaic way to move data, however, when dealing with and medical
people or insurance companies, FAX is the only thing they usually accept
because of security concerns. I know I can get an "on-line" FAX
service, some even free, but, the FAX / modem in the computer is very
convenient. And, my local phone company was very nice at providing me
with a free 2nd line .... I guess they must have a plethora of extra
lines due to people giving up land lines in favor of cellular. Any ideas?
Thanks.

Art Todesco wrote:
> Hi all. I was wondering if there were some way, in Windows 7, to wake
> on modem when a FAX comes in. I Googled it and mostly found stuff on
> wake on LAN. I know modems are usually associated with a COM port but
> not particularly with LAN. Is this even possible? I know FAXs are an
> old, archaic way to move data, however, when dealing with and medical
> people or insurance companies, FAX is the only thing they usually accept
> because of security concerns. I know I can get an "on-line" FAX
> service, some even free, but, the FAX / modem in the computer is very
> convenient. And, my local phone company was very nice at providing me
> with a free 2nd line .... I guess they must have a plethora of extra
> lines due to people giving up land lines in favor of cellular. Any ideas?
> Thanks.

Try a search on "Wake On Ring". The RI (Ring Indicator) signal on
the serial interface, is what the modem would send to the serial port.
In some cases, the motherboard BIOS, in the Power section, would have
an option for Wake On Ring. Once awake, then the Fax software would
be triggered on Rx, by the RI thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-ring

I can't see *anything* applicable on my current hardware, at all.
Looked in BIOS, looked in Device Manager (and I have a dialup modem installed)
and ... nada. Doesn't look like I could wake this computer for that
if I wanted. It's a YMMV thing.

Paul

On Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:28:23 -0500, Art Todesco
<> wrote:

>Hi all. I was wondering if there were some way, in Windows 7, to wake
>on modem when a FAX comes in. I Googled it and mostly found stuff on
>wake on LAN. I know modems are usually associated with a COM port but
>not particularly with LAN. Is this even possible? I know FAXs are an
>old, archaic way to move data, however, when dealing with and medical
>people or insurance companies, FAX is the only thing they usually accept
>because of security concerns. I know I can get an "on-line" FAX
>service, some even free, but, the FAX / modem in the computer is very
>convenient. And, my local phone company was very nice at providing me
>with a free 2nd line .... I guess they must have a plethora of extra
>lines due to people giving up land lines in favor of cellular. Any ideas?
>Thanks.

External modem?

I have a Swann external modem which wakes the computer. I see in
Windows 7 under Device Manager > Modems > Modem name > properties
there is a check box 'allow this device to wake the computer'.

I think there is also a BIOS entry 'wake on LAN' (sorry can't
reboot at the moment to check!) which is probably more important.

IMO the OS can't be a factor since the wake function happens
before the OS loads. My system will wake and boot into whatever
OS is the default at the time.

Pete

On 1/6/2012 1:36 PM, Paul wrote:
> Art Todesco wrote:
>> Hi all. I was wondering if there were some way, in Windows 7, to wake
>> on modem when a FAX comes in. I Googled it and mostly found stuff on
>> wake on LAN. I know modems are usually associated with a COM port but
>> not particularly with LAN. Is this even possible? I know FAXs are an
>> old, archaic way to move data, however, when dealing with and medical
>> people or insurance companies, FAX is the only thing they usually
>> accept because of security concerns. I know I can get an "on-line" FAX
>> service, some even free, but, the FAX / modem in the computer is very
>> convenient. And, my local phone company was very nice at providing me
>> with a free 2nd line .... I guess they must have a plethora of extra
>> lines due to people giving up land lines in favor of cellular. Any ideas?
>> Thanks.
>
> Try a search on "Wake On Ring". The RI (Ring Indicator) signal on
> the serial interface, is what the modem would send to the serial port.
> In some cases, the motherboard BIOS, in the Power section, would have
> an option for Wake On Ring. Once awake, then the Fax software would
> be triggered on Rx, by the RI thing.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-ring
>
> I can't see *anything* applicable on my current hardware, at all.
> Looked in BIOS, looked in Device Manager (and I have a dialup modem
> installed)
> and ... nada. Doesn't look like I could wake this computer for that
> if I wanted. It's a YMMV thing.
>
> Paul
Yes, the same thing here. There is nothing in the modem properties that
say anything about "wake". Same for the BIOS. Because most home faxes
are few and usually expected, I guess turning off sleep mode is an
option when you know a fax might be coming in. That said, I've been
expecting a fax from some medical idiot now for 3 weeks and they obvious
haven't sent it as I told them to call me 1st. That was before I had
the 2nd line dedicated to the modem.