Online faxing  - free internet fax services trial

"Our mail filter stripped off the PDF.. can you fax it to me?"

"Our firewall is preventing me from downloading the document.. can you fax it to me?"

"What's a PDF? I can't open it. Can you fax it to me?"

"Sorry, our policies require you send the document by fax"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

A fax? That's so passé! So 90's! Overrated, antiquated pieces of sh....

I was having this conversation a little too often, usually when dealing with banks, large corporations and government departments. They weren't getting the idea that faxing per se is (well, should be) dead. They likely won't get it for a long time.

Old school faxing is an incredible waste of time and resources (think trees/paper), however with so many recalcitrant organizations around, having fax facilities is still a necessary evil for many doing online business.

Up until recently, I dug my heels in regarding faxing unless it was super-duper, uber-important. But I became a little tired of scenarios such as above and crossed over to the dark side, not by buying a fax machine, but signing up for an online faxing service.

How online faxing works

An internet fax service is pretty simple to use - depending on the service, you may have a web interface where you upload documents for sending and receiving fax documents. The company providing the services issues you a unique fax number. Faxes come into that number, are usually automatically converted into PDF and then transmitted to your online inbox. 

Other services combine an online interface with full email support; so everything can be done via your email client.

For example, if you want to send a fax, you create your document (Word or PDF), then attach it to the email. The destination number you place in the subject line, or in some cases it takes the form of 1234567890@whateverfaxservice.com - where 1234567890 is the fax number of the receiving party. The faxing service receives the email, parses the number and automatically forwards it on to the intended party.

All good online faxing services will provide you with a send/receive receipt; which is pretty important when it comes to record keeping, especially when dealing with legal documents. Some will even send you SMS alerts when faxes come in. 

Online faxing has several advantages over having a physical fax:

• you don't need an extra phone line or to worry about tying up an existing line
• no inbound engaged signals when someone is trying to fax you
• no paper/no ink consumables costs
• junk fax blocking abilities
• no additional equipment to maintain

Internet fax technology has come a long way. Quite a few online faxing services have popped up over the years, and as with any online service, your mileage will vary - so it's best to find a service offering a free trial before signing the dotted line.

Free online fax trial

RingCentral is currently offering a 30 days free online fax trial - and their base package starts at $7.99 a month, which is quite reasonable. The RingCentral service offers these features:

• 300 free pages included monthly (7.99 plan)
• Only 6c per additional page
• Includes a toll free or local number 
• Receive and send faxes by email and online account 
• Send faxes from any application 
• Receive fax alerts on your cell phone 
• Sign and edit faxes electronically - free software provided

Try the RingCentral free fax trial

Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net 
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