Online Fax services?

Does anyone have any good experiences with any of the online fax services?

We finally have an alternative to our slow DSL and I'd like to ditch the landline that was required by the DSL.

We need a good fax service that will allow us to send and receive faxes.

We don't get many nowadays, but with some people that's the only high tech way we've got to communicate with them.

We were in the same situation and set up a couple of accounts with Fax2Mail for people who swore they still needed a fax.

A year later we found that usage had been zero and cancelled the service: but it was a good service if we had an actual need. (and cheaper than buying/servicing a fax machine).

We are using e-faxing in a large healthcare org. works fine.

Today I got a request for a Non-Disclosure Agreement and they wanted it faxed back.
I printed what they emailed me, signed it, scanned it in with my printer/scanner, saved that scan as a pdf file and then attached it to a reply email.
Is similar an option with what you are working with?

Well the scanning is what we'd do, but we work with a number of people who either don't have computers, scanners or who just can't figure either out. I know they make services that people who have fax machines can send faxes to a number which is then emailed to us.

We would scan and send it back to them thru that same number (as I understand it)

Gretchguy is e-faxing the name of the service?

It's part of our EMR/EHR system with unfortunately and not a separate product.

but, I have used: http://www.efax.com/ with great success in the past. Integrates with outlook very well.

jrw1621 wrote: Today I got a request for a Non-Disclosure Agreement and they wanted it faxed back. I printed what they emailed me, signed it, scanned it in with my printer/scanner, saved that scan as a pdf file and then attached it to a reply email. Is similar an option with what you are working with?

I just sign documents in Photoshop using my mouse.

I've used faxZero many times without a problem

HappyAndy wrote: I've used faxZero many times without a problem

Faxzero doesn't appear to have a provision for receiving faxes. We need a phone number associated with the fax capabilities so old people can understand it.

I've got efax with a UK number, it seems to work OK.

However I have heard about people having issues cancelling the service - as I still need mine until I sell the house in the UK that doesn't bother me much yet.

We also use Fax2Mail, and it works fine. I believe Fax2Mail currently owned by an outfit called Premier Global.

We need a fax number (even if it is all virtual on our end) for business use. The only minor disadvantage at the moment is that all incoming faxes get forwarded to everybody in the company email (which is only 5 of us) but you could set it up so there was a dedicated email address for just faxes.

It's actually pretty nice - for outgoing faxes, it automatically generates a cover sheet based on how you address the email, including the text of the email, and it adds any attachments (like a PDF file) in line like extra pages in the fax. It saves ingoing and outgoing faxes for 30 days and you can block numbers at will. I've got no complaints.

I use pamfax through skype. Works pretty good.

The issue I'm finding with all the services I can find is that the cost is too high for what you get. After just a few months I would have more than paid for a new fax machine. Plus there's the fact that I have a perfectly good fax machine.

The cost is less than the cost of the land line, but not all that much cheaper so it isn't a slam dunk alternative.

Admittedly this has only happened twice, but with the land line I have a fall back option when the VOIP phones &/or cell phones lose signal.

I used eFax in my business all the time, never had problems. I HATE HATE HATE fax machines...

I feel the same way about NOT having one.

We use some stupid FAX service at work. I guess it works fine if you are the person receiving it. Totally blows for the rest of us.

i can't believe people still fax anything..

novaderrik wrote: i can't believe people still fax anything..

You'd be amazed!

Since scanning is basically the same process as faxing and since most printers seem to be all in ones, I'm amazed that I'm forced to accept faxes to get info from people.

carguy123 wrote:

novaderrik wrote: i can't believe people still fax anything..

You'd be amazed! Since scanning is basically the same process as faxing and since most printers seem to be all in ones, I'm amazed that I'm forced to accept faxes to get info from people.

way back when i got my first computer (1998- it was a top of the line 350Mhz Dell with an amazing 64MB of RAM and a huge 10GB HD and had the brand new disaster that was known as Windows 98 loaded- all for $2300 to my door with a 17" Trinitron monitor), i had a fax program that could make the computer act as a fax machine via the 56k modem.. it used the scanner to scan the page and the program to send, and it converted incoming files to regular email that i could access via Outlook Express. it could also take any email and turn it into a fax, too.. i only used it a couple of times, but it worked perfectly. i'm thinking that the software was bundled with the $200 HP flat bed scanner that i bought around Xmas time that year, but it very well might have come with the computer. i know that the scanner came with OCR software that could convert text on a scanned image into a text file which i could send as a fax via the fax program, and it could also pick out pictures from a scanned page, too. and it did it all as fast as the scanner could scan the page.

it's now 13.5 years later, and people are still sending and receiving faxes the old fashioned way.. amazing, i tell ya..

The "old fashioned way" and "I got my first computer in 1998" don't belong in the same post!

The "old fashioned way" would be letters and the USPS. Handwritten was the norm- typewriters were primarily used for business.

The "norm" for computers... well there weren't any computers. My first computer was in 1983. IBM XT. 128kB RAM, 10mB hard drive. There were versions available with NO hard drive- 5.25" floppy disk only.

There are still a lot of things a FAX can do that are not so easy on a computer.

The biggest issues are the number of users, whether the scanning capability is local or networked, the type of work used, whether the sender or recipients are sitting at computers as a regular part of their work routine (yes, there are still a lot of people who don't drive desks).

Some things are just easier to send and let sit there in paper form.

There is also still an expectation that an item sent by FAX is sitting on someone's desk. I am sent things constantly which go to the online system, the woman who manages it does not recognize the sender's ID or know who to give it to (because there is no "RE" line, just a sending phone number, which might not even be in the area code from which it was sent if they are using a FAX service), then the sender gets upset with me because I didn't respond.

Location can matter too. I lived in an area for a while where the locals did not speak the same language as me. Whenever they received a FAX they couldn't read, they knew it was for me, and put it aside. If it had been received into a computer, they would have ignored it, and I wouldn't have known how to ask for it.

Damn Zombie Canoes

I use E-Fax on the very rare occasion I have to use a fax machine

[EDIT: Spam deleted. Look, Dave....You seem - based on your other two posts - to be a nice person. Don't spam us anymore, and I won't delete your account. - JoeyM]

I use Popfax. Won't say it's the best. Just that I use it for several years an didnt't yet seem to quit.

We also use Popfax, it's ok. We have local fax numbers in USA, UK, Germany, France and Spain provided by Popfax. We have never had problems with sending/receiving faxes.

Black Fax Chain

SVreX wrote: ...There are still a lot of things a FAX can do that are not so easy on a computer. ...

Lots of great pranks as well.