Sending a Fax from Email – How Email Fax Works

ossie — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:19:35 +0000

Internet fax works differently as compared to traditional fax machine and greatly simplifies and eases the process. The way it functions is very simple with easy to follow steps.

Signing up with a email fax service provider & getting a local or toll-free fax number
Using an web-based email account like Yahoo! Mail or Gmail or a desktop email program like Outlook you will enter the fax number e.g “18001111222@myemailfaxprovider.com”
You can then attach documents
Document is routed through internet and telephony infrastructure and delivered at receiving fax machine
Most fax providers will then email a confirmation of fax being sent successfully.

Receiving a fax through email works just the reverse

Sender sends fax from a fax machine to your assigned fax number
Fax is routed through public telephone network & Internet and delivered in your inbox
Open email and forward, print or save received fax ( faxes normally converted to pdf format)

Some fax providers allow faxes to be sent & received from their web-based interface and also by installing a software program they provide you will be able to fax from computer based software applications like MS Word & Excel.

See a video tutorial on sending a fax using the MyFax email fax service below

You can also watch a video tour of the ringcentral fax service

Choosing an Internet Fax Service

ossie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:49:12 +0000

Selecting an Email Fax or Online fax service can be overwhelming given the abundance of Internet faxing services available. The key lies in first analyzing your present & future faxing requirements, to find an Internet faxing service that meets your current needs and allows you scale seamlessly. Services range from individual & small business online fax plans up to enterprise or corporate level Internet fax solutions.

Base not your decision as you compare email fax and Internet fax services solely on price or monthly subscription as most are relatively cheap, but look at the package as a whole. Things to consider are :

Fax numbers available – whether local, 800 numbers & vanity numbers & whether you can transfer existing numbers at no extra cost.
Look at any setup cost and hidden costs such as from junk faxes received & whether you are charged for them
A major factor to consider is the free inbound & outbound faxes allowed monthly as well as the overage charges if you exceed the limit, this is where the costs can add up quickly
Look at how you can send & receive online faxes, whether through email fax and/or web-based interface.
Check the file types or formats supported such as pdf, tiff, xls, txt, doc
Look at whether you can fax directly from PC or computer applications such as MS Office & Outlook through a printer driver and if your operating system is supported (Mac/Windows/Linux).
If you need to fax world wide check if the provide international coverage and compare the rates for you popular destinations.
Look at whether they give a delivery confirmation through either email or text messaging on mobile devices & if they have auto-resend capability for transmitted faxes that fail to get delivered first time
Check if they support multiple email accounts to one authorized email fax or internet fax account
Capability of faxing to multiple fax numbers at once or fax broadcasting
Security , reliability and scalability of service.
Check fax storage period e.g(30 days or 1 year) or memory storage e.g 1 Gigabyte.
Look for Free Trials usually 30 days or money back guarantees so you can try before committing to service

You can easily compare & review the some of the best internet fax service at : Compare Internet Fax Services