I have a Brother Fax 7820N and I just had phone service connected to it. How do I set my fax machine to take incoming faxes directly to the fax machine? How do I put my new phone number in the fax machine?

Depends on the hotel.
Some have a specific dedicated line that allow direct dial (no 9). Some block long distance calls and required the use of a calling card.
Otherwise, dialing 9 should work.
Can you hear the dial tone? What kind of sound do you hear when it fails? Is ti list a fast busy signal? Or do you just hear nothing?
If they have the speaker off, try to call your cell phone from the FAX just to see if it can make an outbound call at all.
Also, try tracing the wire from the fax machine. Make sure it is plugged into LINE and not PHONE. (or the jack with the picture of a wall jack, not a picture of a phone). Some hotel patrons disconnect FAX machines to use the phone line on their laptop modem and then neglect to properly reconnect the fax machine. Also make sure it is connected at the wall.

For a phone line dedicated only to the fax machine, the process is as follows:

1. Press Menu/Set, 0, 1.
2. You will see the Fax Receive window
3. Use UP and DOWN arrows to change the setting to FAX ONLY
4. Press Menu/Set.
5. Press STOP/EXIT

Your fax machine will now answer every incoming call.
If the fax machine is sharing the phone line with a telephone, repeat the above steps and change from FAX ONLY to FAX/TEL This option will allow you to share the line with a phone only, not an answering machine. Once in FAX/TEL mode, the fax machine will still grab every incoming FAX call, and give a special ring (slightly different than a regular telephone ring) when it's a regular incoming phone call signaling you to answer the phone. I hope this helps with your problem. Best of luck!
Greg

I cant get my MFC-290 to receive incoming faxes

Check your fax settings again follow the instructions on Printer menu and set the FAX rings to 5 or 10 and also check the paper settings and papers in tray. If not worked tell me the model of your fax machine.

I've had the same problem before. I don't know if it will solve your problem directly but I can offer a work around or two.

1. I have an efax number but with a company called callwave.com , I fax stuff to other customers using callwave and my MFC 7820n completes each fax successfully. So if you can get yourself a callwave efax number you can fax to yourself and forward fax as an email to your intended party.

2. Or, you can use your mfc 7820n to scan your fax docs as a pdf directly to your computer and then emailing them to your intended party.

Unfortunately it might be a brother issue because at the office when I use the hp fax machine instead of the brother machine, the hp faxes to efax numbers without a problem.

Set the reception mode to Fax with answer machine TAD. Make sure its set for fax with answer machine.

I HAVE A BROTJERS 770 AMD ALL I DONE WAS GET A 2 SPACE TELE JACK AND PLUG IT INTO MY MODEM FROM COMCAST AND PLUG MY PHONE AND FAX INTO IT AND CAN RECEIVE AND SEND

here is the manual

http://www.retrevo.com/s/brother+4100+manual

Sounds like it's not set to auto-answer faxes. Do you have the manual so you can see how to check that setting? If not, I can try to find it.

Voicemail or telephone answering device (TAD). There is a BIG difference. Voicemail is product of your telephone service provider. If you have voicemail, most providers have a solution to this that you must arrange through them. If you have an answering machine, you can set your Brother to TAD mode. In TAD mode, if your answering machine picks up, (you must set your answering machine to answer in less rings than your fax), your fax will "eavesdrop" to listen for the fax tones from the sending machine. If it hears these tones, it will disconnect your answering machine and accept the incoming fax. If it does not hear the tones, it allows the answering machine to record the incoming message. If you are home. If you answer the call and hear a tone every 2.5 to 3 seconds, that signals an incoming fax. Simply touch *51 on the keypad of the phone you picked up on. You will hear some shrill tones. That is your fax machine attempting to receive the incoming fax. Hang up the phone you are on and it will receive the fax. In any case, make sure that the receive mode is NOT set to AUTO. Set the receive mode to TAD or MANUAL. If these instructions were not clear enough, let me know and I will send you DETAILED instructions. You can find the manual here: http://www.brother-usa.com/Data/Documentation/Fax/User/UM_FAX2820_FAX2920_MFC7220_MFC7225N.pdf If you need additional assistance, please let me know before you rate this solution. Ed