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This article will guide you on how to send and receive faxes online without the need for a fax machine or a telephone line. Instead, you only need to perform it on your computer.
How fax machines work
All fax machines are connected to old telephone lines. When using a standard fax machine, it will make a call to the number you specify. The receiving fax machine answers and the document is transmitted over the call.
This process was devised before the Internet era. To send a fax, users can input documents, print them out, scan them into a fax machine, and send them via telephone lines. The receiving party can then scan the faxed document and convert it into a digital file. However, a limitation of this solution is the reduction in image quality.
The most ideal solution is to send documents via email or secure online methods. Many businesses perceive fax as a secure document transmission method, but in reality, it is not. If someone is eavesdropping on the telephone line, they can easily intercept all faxed documents.
There is no way to directly connect a fax machine to the Internet since fax machines are only linked to telephone lines. To perform online faxing, we need some gateway ports that accept documents over the Internet and send data to fax machines.
Sending faxes using your computer
Of course, you can overlook the following services. Microsoft's Windows operating system also integrates the Fax and Scan application, allowing users to send faxes. Naturally, your computer must also be connected to a phone line. If you frequently send and receive faxes, you may consider paying to use a dedicated fax line.
However, this solution is not necessarily ideal. If your work demands frequent faxing, you might consider purchasing a fax machine or modem and connecting it to a landline.
Scanning documents or utilizing digital files
The process is very straightforward. The first step is to scan the document you want to fax, just like when you send that document via email. If you don't have a scanner, try scanning the document with your smartphone.
With documents in digital file format, you can send and receive faxes online without needing a fax machine, saving you time.
Send faxes online, for free
Browsing the Internet, you can find many online fax services. However, the challenge lies in choosing which service to use. To answer this question, first consider what type of user you are, how often you send faxes, and the features you need.
- Experienced Users: RingCentral Fax
If sending faxes containing sensitive documents or if you're looking for a fax service for your company, RingCentral Fax, owned by Cisco and AT&T, might be the best choice, meeting your requirements. Additionally, RingCentral Fax includes many excellent security features and supports multiple users with separate fax lines.
In addition, RingCentral Fax also integrates many other useful features that you may not have thought of, including Outlook, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, ... . The service also includes many other useful security features to ensure that business or user documents are sent safely.
If you only want to send a few faxes, you can subscribe to a cheap service package priced below 7 USD/month, and then cancel the subscription if you no longer use it.
- Regular Users:
If your work requires frequent faxing, Mytour recommends using MyFax, allowing users to send up to 10 pages of documents for free. If you need to send more documents, you can upgrade to a paid plan.
Of course, you will need to provide your email address to send faxes for free.
Receive faxes
If receiving faxes, you will need to subscribe to a paid service package. The service will establish a dedicated phone number for your fax line, and you will have to pay a considerable fee. RingCentral, MyFax, and some other services allow fax reception when users pay.
Users will have the opportunity to try these services for free. RingCentral offers a 30-day free trial.
The above article by Mytour just guided you through some ways to send and receive faxes online without needing a fax machine, phone line. There are many services that allow free fax sending. However, to receive faxes, you will need to subscribe to paid services. If you wish, you can try out these services before making a final decision.
If you want to send documents for free, you can send an email, compose emails using Gmail, which is very user-friendly and fast!
