No dial tone pressing hook, NG and Poor line condition transmission report on sending and receiving. Confirmed good dial tone on line in and on phone on ext. Copy, display, everything else fine. I hear switch when pressing hook, but no dial tone. Also checked volume on high. I hear barely audible buzz, but no dial tone when hook pressed. Please advise.

These errors are usually related to interference, static, or noise on your phone line. Here are some steps to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:

Check for a dial tone:
1. Press the Hook button on your Brother Intellifax 2820 and listen for a dial tone.
If there is no dial tone, press Hook again and proceed to step 2.
If there is a dial tone, press Hook again and move to step 4.

2. Verify telephone cord/line connection:
Ensure that your telephone cord/line is correctly connected to the port labeled LINE on your machine (located on the lower left side).
If the cord is already in the LINE port, proceed to step 3.
If it's connected to EXT, remove it from there and connect it to the LINE port.
Press Hook and check for a dial tone.
If still no dial tone, proceed to step 3.
If there's a dial tone now, move to step 4.

3. Test with a known working telephone:
Disconnect the telephone cord/line from the LINE port on your machine.
Connect it to a known working telephone and test for a dial tone.
If there's no dial tone, the issue is related to the telephone line or wall jack. Contact your telephone service provider.
If there's a dial tone, reconnect the cord/line to the LINE port on your machine.
Press Hook and check for a dial tone.
If still no dial tone, consider warranty and service options.
If there's a dial tone, proceed to step 4.

4. Remove splitters or other devices:
Check if you have any splitters, commshare devices, credit card machines, or power strips connected to your machine or the telephone wall jack.
If yes, remove them for testing purposes.
After removing any devices, continue to step 5.

5. Adjust Compatibility settings:
Press Menu/Set.
Navigate to Miscellaneous > Compatibility.
Choose Basic (for VoIP).
Press Menu/Set and then Stop/Exit.

6. Send a fax:
Insert the document face down in the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF).
Adjust paper guides to fit the width of your document.
Enter the fax number using the dial pad.
Press Fax Start.

Remember that testing the Brother machine on a different, known-working telephone line can help determine if the issue is related to the machine or the telephone line. If the problem persists, consider contacting Brother Customer Service for further assistance.

If you feel the need to seek another machine, assess the features you need and your budget. Here are possibilities: here are some reputable brands and their models to consider:

Epson WorkForce WF-2750DWF:
This all-in-one printer and fax machine offers economical ink usage and a convenient LCD screen.
Features: Print, copy, scan, and fax.
Scan resolution: 1200 x 2400 dpi.
Dimensions: 16.73 x 14.17 x 9.06 inches.
Weight: 14.55 lb.
It's a budget-friendly choice for home and office use.

Brother MFC-L6800DWT:
A high-speed monochrome laser fax machine with additional features like printing and scanning.
Ideal for small offices.
Check out its performance and ease of setup.

Canon TR8620:
A multifunctional all-in-one printer, copier, and fax machine.
Offers versatility and functionality for various tasks.
Consider it if you need a reliable fax solution

My recommendation would be to hit the speaker button when sending a fax to hear why your fax wont go through.

When you hit speaker you should have a clean dial tone, then when you start dialing and the tone stops make sure you don't have any static or noise on the line.

There are several reasons you might get a NG error. One is the fax line you're trying to send to is busy. Maybe it's a phone line not a fax you're trying to send to. Maybe you need to dial a 1 or 0 for long distance, maybe your fax line has noise on it.

Using the speaker can help troubleshoot what the problem is.

There are two possible reasons why your printer display the error message.

1. Poor Line Condition
- electrical interference on the line -Make sure electrical or electronic appliances do not interfere with the printer's phone line
- poor line connection - If you have a phone try connecting it directly to line outlet. Listen to the dial tone, if you hear noisy and static, then you will need to call your local telephone company cause there is a problem in your phone line. If dial tone is clear and stable then try checking the telephone line cord that you use to connect your printer from the line outlet, replace if broken.
- alarm system or another device on same line, these interferes with transmission / reception of the fax machine. Try connecting the printer all alone and then try sending a fax.

2. Memory Full
- There is no space to store incoming fax messages. Delete all stored fax messages.

This problem could be Phone line problem, or hardware failure or receiver's (the machine of the person whom you are sending the fax) machine problem and so on. First, let's check the line, if you have another Phone line, please dial from the number to your number, also, connect the currently connected line to a receiver and call a Land-line number, if the outgoing or incoming is ok, the proceed forward, otherwise, you telephone operator should check the line.

Sometimes, sending fax to a particular number doesn't work, to make sure, try sending a fax to another number.

If the line which is connected to the machine is extended from another machine such as Receiver, Switch, etc... unplug them and connect the fax machine directly to the Line.

It's also important to adjust the compatibility mode, to do this, follow the steps below:

• Press Menu.
• Press the up or down arrow key to select Fax.
• Press OK.
• Press the up or down arrow key to select Miscellaneous.
• Press OK.
• Press the up or down arrow key to select Compatibility.
• Press the left or right arrow key to select Basic (for VoIP).
• Press OK.
• Press Stop/Exit.

If you place the scanning document/file on the auto-sheet feeder, you can help it pulling inside the passage or you can use the glass (flatbed) instead. Sometimes, this small mistakes with the sheet-feeder creates this problem. You can also clean the rollers inside the ADF (auto document feeder) passage.


If all of the above measure don't help, I would suggest you to call brother and seek their help. The rest is with mechanical or we can say hardware or firmware related issue. (use this form to contact Brother)

I wish you good luck.

Thanks for using FixYa.

You have a bad or DIGITAL phone line. Test with a regular phone.

I had the same problem trying to send out faxes out using my Brother MFC 7340. I use a magic jack phone line. Page 106 of the user manual says if sending via VOIP phone line, you should press menu, then 2, 0, 1 to select "Basic (for VOIP) mode. Then press ok. Then press stop/exit. This cuts the modem speed down to 9600 bps and turns ECM off. Then retry to send the fax. I did that and can now send and receive faxes.

Hello laray7813,

Please visit this link to know exactky what NG means and how to solve it.
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/BSC/public/us/us/en/faq/faq/000000/000200/000009/faq000209_000.html?reg=us&c=us&lang=en&prod=mfc420cn_us&Cat=12

If this dosent work, let us know and we will find other solutions,
Dahaka

NG or poor line condition on the transmission report means that there is interference on the phone line.you need to double check the quality of the dial tone-if it static or clear.now,other interferences could be caused by other devices on the same line as your fax such as DSL modems.make sure first that you connect the brother machine directly to the walljack and try resending a fax.modem settings can be changed.e-mail me if you need that info

You can adjust the Compatibility mode. This adjusts the sensitivity of the machine to interference on the phone line by lowering the transmission speed:
a. Press Menu, 2 (Fax), 0 (Miscellaneous), 1 (Compatibility)
b. Press Up or Down arrow to select "Basic"
c. Press OK.
d. Press Stop/Exit.
e. Try resending the fax.
If the problem continues we recommend you try the unit on another line at the current location or another location. Always restart your machines after you made changes, that way you will see the results.

It sounds like you have a problem with your phone line. If your machine has a reciever, pick it up or press the hook key. You want to listen to the dial tone. If there is any static in the line it will cause faxc problems. Also you can try disconnecting the fax and plugging in a standard phone into the wall jack. Make a phone call and aee if the line is clear or if there is static. If you do hear static in the line, first try replacing the phone line cord, from the wall to the fax, or phone. If that doesnt help then it is definatly a problem with the line and you must call the phone co. If the line is clear with the standard phone, and static with the fax reciever, or hook mode, then you may have a bad modem board in the fax. Let me know if I can be of further help! John