Fax service

[BO Terry]

What are some reliable options for occasional fax needs? Some entities only accept fax or snail mail but the need is very infrequent so does not justify traditional fax or regular monthly fees for a subscription service. It would be used a few times per year. Home-based business, one user. Windows 10 with access to a scanner.

Thanks

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

The cost of a land line typically starts > $20 bucks a month.....
The cost of a basic online fax service like eFax...about $15 bucks a month....

However if they already have a land line, dedicated/clean, HP, Canon, Brother...many other brands make a good fax machine. Or if the office can use a good scanner, printer too...get a nice MFP.

 

[thecomputerguy]

I've seen metrofax and efax both in the field and they both work fine.

 

[Markverhyden]

Another vote for metrofax. I used them for a few months when I was without a fax machine. $10/month is tough to beat. Of course a scanner can still have image problems. But there's tons of jpg to pdf converters for smart devices.

 

[JoelM]

The 1 time in the last 10 years I needed to send a fax I went to my local mail room/ups store/office depot and paid the $2 to send the fax. One and done. No monthly fee.

 

[GTP]

Wait what? People still send faxes???

 

[alexsmith2709]

Wait what? People still send faxes???

You better believe it. We offered that service until late last year when i decided not to have the second phone line anymore and sending 1 fax every month or 2 for customers and having no other need for the line wasnt worth paying £10 /month for.
Since then we have had some disappointed customers as they still need to send them.
One "busy" spell was the US elections last year. All the local US citizens were faxing their ballot papers, but even that didnt cover my costs for the phone line.

 

[HCHTech]

Wait what? People still send faxes???

Some industries cling to faxing like their livelihoods depended on it, real estate, attorneys, banks - It's maddening. I argued with the last company that wanted a fax from me for some unjustifiable reason, told them my fax was down, but I could send them a telex. The poor person didn't know what that was -haha. In the end, I stood my ground and their manager relented. They wouldn't accept Sharefile, but they accepted an emailed PDF that was password-protected.

I don't believe the "it's more secure" argument, either. There is no chicanery you might do with emailing a scan that you couldn't just as easily do over fax. We probably need to wait a generation until the new, younger folks in charge finally ask why they insist on using the technology.

 

[GTP]

You better believe it. We offered that service until late last year when i decided not to have the second phone line anymore and sending 1 fax every month or 2 for customers and having no other need for the line wasnt worth paying £10 /month for.
Since then we have had some disappointed customers as they still need to send them.
One "busy" spell was the US elections last year. All the local US citizens were faxing their ballot papers, but even that didnt cover my costs for the phone line.

I havent heard of anyone faxing for many years now.
All the SoHo and SMB's I support got rid of their fax machines years ago, or simply dont use the function in their existing equipment.

 

[Haole Boy]

Another vote for MetroFax. As mentioned above, I did the math a few years ago on our dedicated fax line ($38 / month IIRC) vs. the Metrofax cost. Got rid of the phone line. Another nifty thing I just discovered about MetroFax is that you can send a fax via email. Just set the 'to' address to the phone number of the receiving fax machine like this: 8085551212@metrofax.com

 

[MDD1963]

PC-FAX.com | Customer Center Mobile App - FAX.de's communication center for mobiles

Send faxes, SMS', letters anytime and from wherever you are.

www.pc-fax.com

One free fax per day....(at least using phone, I see no option for free '1 daily fax'-type acct with /thru PC, but given the large percentage of population with one either i-phone or Android options...free is a nice to paying even $10 or more per month if not needed...)

I used this service successfully (with my i-phone, but has an Android app as well)) when I needed an official data request sent to the U.S. National Archives two years back...

 

[TechLady]

It's really tough to get clients in the medical field away from faxes, because they're terrified of HIPAA violations.

FaxPlus is another option...

 

[britechguy]

It's really tough to get clients in the medical field away from faxes, because they're terrified of HIPAA violations.

Don't I know it, from both "the inside" and outside!

I do not understand why, and it can be done, most medical offices do not, at a minimum, have a waiver available for signing by any individual patient who wishes to communicate by email to allow that, noting that there are security issues.

HIPAA requires reasonable precautions to be taken. It's really not rocket science. And given what I know about misdirected FAXes from decades of experience, anyone who thinks that accidental HIPAA violations don't occur regularly because of those just isn't paying attention.

But I do have to say that these days a very great many medical practices now use secure patient portals with emailing capability within them. That's a major step forward.