Despite being an ‘old’ technology, FAX is still a very popular method of communication.
However, managing FAX communication by computer does offer some distinct advantages:
Incoming FAXes can be viewed on-screen and either deleted or stored directly on disk—no need to waste paper printing them out unless you really need a hard-copy.
Documents prepared on the computer can be FAXed directly rather than printing them out and scanning them into a separate FAX machine.
If you do need to FAX a hard-copy document, it can simply be scanned into the computer and FAXed from there.
FAX software also provides additional facilities such as transmitting at a specific time or to a number of recipients—it can also be set to try multiple times if the recipient is engaged.
Both Windows-XP and Vista have FAX software built-in so there is no pressing need to purchase additional software—most PCs come with a FAX/Modem built-in but they only cost about £15-20 if not.
Of course, using your computer for incoming FAX ties-up a telephone line and also requires it to be permanently on-line.
I overcome this inconvenience by using a FAX-to-email service which is supplied by my Internet Service Provider (Plusnet) as part of their broadband package.
The FAX is actually sent using an 0870 (National Rate) phone number to the provider’s server (in theory, never engaged) which passes it on to me as an email attachment—easily picked-up from anywhere with internet access.
Independent FAX-by-email providers also offer sending services which are usually charged by the page—as an infrequent FAX user, I simply send from my PC using the phone line.
There are numerous companies offering this service—just do a Google search on 'FAX-by-email'
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