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Nothing damaging happens, but nothing gets sent either. The person who picks up hears your machine's modem screeches, your machine realizes there is no fax handshake on the other end, and the send fails with a "no answer" style error. Most machines then retry a few times before giving up.
If someone picks up, they hear the classic fax handshake: a series of beeps and screeches as your machine tries to start a conversation no one on that end speaks. Most people hang up. If nobody picks up, your machine keeps the line open for roughly half a minute to a minute waiting for an answering fax tone, then disconnects.
This is so common that telecom regulators have a name for it. Ofcom, the UK regulator, documents "fax in error" calls and notes they usually come from a misdialed number, a number recycled from a previous fax owner, or a number wrongly added to a fax distribution list. The person on the other end has done nothing wrong, and neither have you: it is a wrong number with extra noise.
Your machine prints or displays a failure report. The exact wording varies, but the meaning is always the same: no fax machine answered.
| Error message | What it means |
|---|---|
| No answer / Ring, no fax | The line rang out with no fax tone; very likely a voice line |
| No Fax Detected | HP's wording for an incoming call that was a voice call, not a fax |
| No carrier / No fax machine detected | Online fax services report this when the other end never switches to fax mode |
| Busy / Line engaged | Something answered but would not complete the handshake, or the line is in use |
Probably, unless you stop it. Most fax machines retry failed sends automatically, typically a few attempts spaced several minutes apart. That is fine for a busy fax line, but it means a wrong number can ring someone's phone repeatedly before the machine gives up. If you realize the number was wrong, open the machine's job queue or transmission log and delete the pending job. On an online fax service, check the outbox or pending sends and cancel there.
One side effect worth knowing: each retry attempt ties up your line and, on services that charge per attempt, can burn pages of quota. Online services usually email you an error report with a status code for each failed attempt, so check your email before resending blindly.
Call first. This is the oldest fax advice there is, and it still works: a thirty-second voice call confirms the number is a fax line, that the machine is on, and that someone is expecting your pages. It also gives you a chance to confirm how many pages they expect, which matters for machines with small memory.
For numbers you fax often, save them in the machine's speed-dial after one successful send, rather than retyping from a sticky note every time. And if you get a failure report on a number that used to work, do not assume your machine is broken: fax numbers get disconnected and reassigned like any other phone number, and a voice line on a recycled number is one of the most common reasons a previously good number suddenly fails.
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