What Is Internet Fax?™
Internet fax is merely using the Internet or your email system to send and receive faxes. You sign up with a service provider to get your own number, which you use in the same way as you would use any fax number. It is extremely convenient and fast, it offers greater confidentiality, several faxes can be sent/received at the same time and it is available wherever you find the Internet, and for these clear advantages a lot of small and large business owners are switching over to Internet fax.
Other advantages include: no extra line is required for Internet faxing, and it is paperless communication, integrated with email. Internet fax leads to a dramatic reduction in phone costs, especially when long faxes are frequently exchanged with overseas or distant offices. The recipient machine must also be compatible with Internet fax. This technology is increasingly replacing the traditional fax machine because it offers the benefit of dispensing with the machine in addition to the extra telephone line.
It’s good to know what our options are when it comes to sending and receiving faxes on the Internet. The first option is an Internet fax service, which works in the same way as email services. You create an account, set your password and create your “dashboard,” a page where you can manage all your faxing communications. The second option is fax software, which requires you to install a program in your machine and every machine you wish to send or receive faxes from.
The first option, Internet fax services, allows you to send faxes in three different ways. You can download drivers that enable your computer to send files you want to fax directly from the program you used to compose send and receive fax online the file. You can also fax through your email address, or you can use your service provider’s online fax wizard to send and receive faxes.
Many online services let you try out their services for 30, 60 and even 90 days to see if it will work for you. If you like it, you can pay an affordable (usually less than $10 monthly) subscription fee to continue the service. Why not take advantage of one of these offers and try out the service for the next few weeks?
Make sure the service you choose offers the features you need. Features can include: free online storage, the option to send faxes from several email addresses, the ability to add cover pages, fax from Microsoft Office, and more. Some services offer local and toll free fax numbers at no additional cost. There is the auto resend feature, where failed transmissions are reattempted for you, and there’s also the feature to send to multiple recipients, where you can send a fax broadcast to as many as 5000 recipients.
We recommend OneFax, an innovative email fax service used in thousands of home businesses and small offices that rely on dependable fax communications. OneFax simply integrates with existing email systems, needing no new software or hardware, unless you opt to download their drivers to your computer.
