Internet Faxing Solutions
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008by Gary Keorkunian
Posted in Business Solutions | 4 Comments »
I was working with a client yesterday and a couple of folks were going crazy over the fax machine. One of their clients was attempting to fax an important document but could not get through. My client uses a Comcast business class Internet connection and a VOIP solution for their phones. This has proven to be a very reliable setup. For their fax machine, however, they are still using a standard analog phone line provided by Verizon … and it was down. There used to be a time when POTS (plain old telephone service) was far more reliable than most Internet connections. It seems this is not always the case anymore. Verizon told them it would take 3 days to have a technician out and because they didn’t have a wiring contract, it could end up costing them a pretty penny.
In the mean time, they needed to get that fax. Fortunately, I have an account with eFax. We gave their client my fax number. They had the document in no time.
The way Internet faxing services work is pretty straight forward. When you set up an account, a fax number is assigned to you or you can transfer your existing number. Faxes sent to your number are received by the service. Those faxes are converted into a digital format like a PDF file. That file is then emailed to you within minutes. You can also retrieve and manage your faxes using software provided by the service. You can also send faxes directly from just about any program you can print from. Hard copies can be scanned for faxing. No busy signals. No paper jams. Very convenient.
But reliability and convenience are not the only reasons to consider an Internet faxing service. Cost is also an important factor. The typical Internet faxing service costs less than the analog phone line most offices use to run traditional fax machines. And of course there is also the savings of not purchasing and maintaining a fax machine. When hard copies are required you simply send the fax to your printer. When you only a need the documents in digital form, then you are saving paper and toner as well making Internet faxing the green thing to do.
Most services offer a free trial period so you can ease into Internet faxing slowly. If faxing is important part of your operation, I recommend taking advantage of that offer before completely switching. It is always good to run both processes in parallel anytime you are changing over a critical service. Once you decide to make the switch you can move your primary fax number over to the service.
Here are links to the most popular and reliable Internet faxing services available on the web:
In addition to the free trial, most of these offer tiered services so you only pay for the services that you actually use. Other value added services, such as broadcast faxing, are also available.
With all of the frustration my client had the other day they have decided to give Internet faxing a try. If you want to simplify your office a bit, save some money and get a little bit greener in the process then I recommend you give it a try too.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 am
This is a great article! From a cost management standpoint I pay $44 a month ($528 a year!) for a fax line and of course it never goes down in cost it only goes higher with all the taxes and surcharges. I use my fax maybe once or twice a month which really does not justify the cost but having a fax is still very much part of doing business.
Gee, my cost per fax per month is like $22 per fax with my current set up— not a good thing as I see it.
I like this option and going to take a hard look at it in the very near future!
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:03 am
Wow. $22 per fax. That’s even more than FedEx. Of course Internet faxing is the best of the three choices.
Thanks.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
Yeah and I am a cost management consultant so go figure on that one right!
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
Well, fax service is important to have. Even if you don’t use it much. So it’s understandable. Now that you are aware of these services you can start saving today!!