PURPOSE: To eliminate unnatural operation by providing a forced holding means to which a line terminal is forcibly connected to a FAX section after a hook switch hooks on from off till lapse of a prescribed time to the facsimile equipment.

CONSTITUTION: A telephone FAX changeover circuit 12 in the initial state is connected to a telephone section 16, a hook switch 14 is hooked on and a forced holding switch 13 is turned off. At the arrival of a call, a ringer detection section 31 is turned on and the circuit 12 connects the line to the FAX section 15 and as soon as an automatic answering message is sent from a message transmission section 22, a tone detection section 21 monitors a facsimile transmission identification signal. When the facsimile transmission identification signal is detected or the transmission of the message is finished, a facsimile communication section 23 implements facsimile procedure and when the opposite party is a facsimile equipment, after the communication is implemented and when the opposite party is not a facsimile equipment, the circuit 12 is returned to the telephone section 16 immediately to open the line. Thus, the facsimile equipment is handled easily without any special knowledge.