Are There Any Good Options For Faxing Without a Phone Line or a Fax Machine?

Answered by Jay Nelson, Editor and Publisher, Design Tools Monthly

Question:
I'm on the road a lot, and often need to fax a quote to a customer. And sometimes, they need to fax something to me -- but like I said, I'm on the road. Are there any good options for faxing without a phone line or a fax machine?

Answer:
There are several, as long as you have access to the Internet. Among the ones recommended by people I trust are:

1. For sending a low volume of faxes: FaxItNice.com www.faxitnice.com No monthly fee required... just put $20 on an account, and at $0.18/page, this can last for quite a while, depending on how much you are faxing. You can fax through their website from anywhere, any time, at any computer, given an Internet connection and a file to fax! To save money, you may not want to use them for receiving faxes simply because there is a free option for that from another company (see #2 below).

2. For receiving faxes, try eFax.com www.efax.com, which is free, as long as you don't mind having a fax number that isn't local. You receive faxes in the proprietary eFax format, for which they provide a free reader. This may or may not be an issue for you, depending on whether you need to store the electronic file for retrieval many years down the road. After all, there may not be an eFax reader for Windows 2020 or Mac OS XXX.

3. For receiving faxes in a standard file format, try MyFax.com www.myfax.com. The minimum basic service with MyFax.com costs $10.00 monthly to send out 100 faxed pages and receive 200. They assign you a fax number in the area code of your choice. When someone faxes a document to your fax number, you receive an email with the fax attached in two formats: PDF and GIF. To send an outgoing fax, just attach your document to an email message, as either a PDF file, a text file, an image file, or any of several other formats, including the unreliable, proprietary Microsoft Word format.

This question was answered by Jay Nelson, Publisher & Editor, Design Tools Monthly. We love DTM's tips and advice and think you will, too. For a free sample PRINTED issue, contact Design Tools Monthly at 303-543-8400, e-mail info@design-tools.com, or go to their website: www.design-tools.com.
© Copyright Print Buyers Online.com, Inc.