In today’s economy, everyone is looking for ways to cut costs. Whether they send or receive a couple of faxes each month or hundreds of faxes each month, faxing remains an expensive reality of daily life for many businesses. A business fax line from one of the major phone companies will typically cost $40 to $50 per month. Add to that the cost of a fax machine, toner and paper, and it can really add up.
You can get rid of your fax machine and expensive fax line by using an online fax service, which allows you to receive faxes as e-mail attachments and to send faxes from your email account as well.
Online fax services typically include a local fax number and/or a toll free fax number. Each fax sent to your local or toll free fax number will be delivered to an email address that you specify, as an attachment that you can print, save and forward like any other electronic document.
Be sure to look for a service that allows you to send and receive faxes using multiple email addresses. Most online fax services also allow you to send and receive faxes from their website. Look for a service that archives your sent and received faxes on their website for at least one year.
Online fax services are ideal for anyone that spends time out of the office. With a traditional fax machine and fax line, you only have access to your faxes when you are in the office, but with an online fax service, you can retrieve your faxes anywhere that you have access to email or the Internet. Incoming faxes are typically delivered as PDF attachments. Many smartphones support the display of PDF documents, further enhancing the mobility of these services. No more calling back to the office to find out whether an important fax has arrived.
So how do you send a fax using one of these services? Typically, you send your fax to the online fax provider as an email with the destination fax number as the first part of the email address (i.e. the part of the email address in front of the at symbol (@)). The body of the email message and any attachments are converted by the fax service and delivered to the destination fax machine. It is important to select an online fax service that supports many types of attachments. Many online fax services will also allow you to send faxes from their website.
With a traditional fax machine and fax line, if a fax is being received, you can’t receive another fax at the same time. Instead, the sending fax machine will receive a busy signal. With an online fax service, busy signals are virtually eliminated, another big benefit.
Before choosing any online fax service, check to make sure that the provider will allow you to port (transfer) your fax numbers to another provider in the future if you decide to stop using their service for any reason. Ask them to confirm this in writing. After the fax numbers are printed on your business cards and letterhead, changing them could be very inconvenient and costly. Many online fax customers have had the very unpleasant surprise of finding out that their provider would not allow their numbers to be ported away.
Most online fax services will include a certain number of free pages each month. The more free pages they offer, the better. There should be no contracts, and the provider should offer a free trial. Some will offer a lower price if you prepay for a full year, but you should have the option of paying on a month-to-month basis.
Not only can you save money by using an online fax service, these services offer many other significant benefits as well. The elimination of busy signals and the convenience of being able to send and receive faxes from virtually anywhere make online faxing a terrific alternative to traditional faxing.
 Daryl Engelman P. Eng. MBA is the President & CEO of Network Telsys Inc., a company he founded in 2001. Network Telsys offers many enhanced communications services, including online fax. Daryl has been involved in the telecommunications industry for more than 20 years. Prior to founding Network Telsys, he held several senior positions with divisions of what is now Premiere Global Services. He’s also held product management positions with Northern Telecom and Teleglobe Canada.
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