Australian PC World - International fax codes

International fax codes

I have been thinking about writing to you about my problem for ages now (at least 4 months) and the May PC World just turned up, so it spurred me on to write.
I have a Pentium 100 and run Windows 95. My husband works overseas in Libya and we exchange faxes regularly. I use Microsoft Exchange to send and receive faxes and my question is, how do I change the default IDD number from 0011 to 0015, as this is supposed to give more stability when sending faxes?
I have clicked on everything I can think of to find a place where I can change this, but to no avail. I even asked a computer programmer neighbour, but he had no idea either.
Why would the default for sending faxes be 0011 when Telstra advertises the 0015 number for faxes all the time? I hope you can help as I feel really silly not being able to change such a simple thing.
- Brenda Kendall

While attempting to make life easier for you, modern software often succeeds in making it more complicated. Word processors change your text from uppercase to lowercase because they assume you've made a mistake, and fax programs thwart your attempts to change the international dialling prefix because every computer "knows" that the code is 0011! As a result, many of us spend hours trying to make software a little less "helpful".
The quickest way to force Microsoft Fax to dial a 0015 number is to key in the digits by hand. You can do this by choosing the option (None -- Dial as Entered) from the Fax Wizard's list of countries. Using this method, you have to type in the complete fax number, including the 0015 code.
It's also possible to make permanent changes, but this requires more work. As far as I'm aware, the only way to do it is to create a new Calling Card. Here's how it's done.
Double-click the Modems icon in the Windows 95 Control Panel, select your modem and choose Dialing Properties. Click New and type a name in the resulting dialogue box, eg Home. Click OK to close the dialogue box. Then click the Dial using Calling Card option and hit the New button. Type the name of the new Calling Card, eg Telstra, and then choose OK.

You can create a new Calling Cark from your modem's Dialing Properties dialogue box

The letters and numbers entered here determine how the new Calling Card dials out

Next, click the Advanced button and type G in the Calls within the same area code field. Position the cursor in the Long distance calls field and type FG. Then move on to International calls and type 0015EFG. The letters E, F and G represent the country code, area code and phone number respectively.
Close all the open dialogue boxes and open your word processor to test the new settings. When you print to the Microsoft Fax driver, the resulting dialogue box should be preset to the Home dialling location. Click Next and fill in the details in the usual way. The new Calling Card you have created will now handle local, STD and international calls correctly.
- Neville Clarkson

Category: Communications, Win95
Issue: Jul 1997
Pages: 158