Most of the people I work with know how to scan documents, convert them to .pdf files, and attach them to emails. Conversely, most people know what to do when I send them a .pdf document as an email attachment. However, there are always exceptions to every rule, and I find that people who don’t send documents via email choose to use fax transmissions.
I have a fax machine, but I don’t have an analog phone line. My VOIP provider doesn’t provide FOIP and I’ve been too lazy to switch to another company. That leaves me in need of an internet faxing service to accomodate my occasional faxing needs.
Most fax services let you receive unlimited faxes, but require you to purchase a monthly subscription if you wish to send transmissions. These monthly subscription rates are very low, but five dollars a month is $60 a year. I send a fax about every three months. At those rates, I’d be paying $20 for each fax sent.
Efax has a decent free service that lets you send and receive, but they send the faxes to you in a proprietary format that you need a Windows based viewer to open. <– insert open source rant here –>
Today I found a service that meets all of my needs, and I’d like to share my find with you. 101fax.com has a free account which allows you to receive unlimited inbound faxes, which are then delivered to your inbox in your choice of file format. When you want to send a fax you pay the low rate of .10 a minute. It costs $5 for the initial account setup.
They advertise local numbers, but the selection is very limited. I did not get a local fax number, but I’m not really concerned with that. Todays telecommunication infrastructure ad the advent of number portability is killing the concept of local numbers anyway.
I’m very happy with this service. If you are looking for an occasional faxing solution, I suggest you give it a try!
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