Buzz
Send and receive faxes directly from your laptop.
Image courtesy of Amazon.comIn today’s digital world, where paperless offices and electronic documents dominate, you might think the traditional paper-and-ink fax machine would be a thing of the past. However, faxing remains crucial for certain types of documents (such as legal contracts) and in specific industries like public relations.
Desktop faxing solutions allow you to send and receive faxes without ever needing a physical fax machine. With this method, any document created on your computer can be transmitted to a fax machine via email or the web.
This article explores Internet faxing, a type of desktop faxing where email attachments are converted into faxes, and incoming faxes are turned into email attachments.
Internet Faxing Essentials
With Internet faxing, any document that can be attached to an email can be sent to an analog fax machine. This includes Microsoft Word files, PDFs, and scanned images.
Internet faxing operates as a hosted service, meaning there's no need to purchase or install fax servers, modems, or specialized software. Instead, you simply subscribe to a third-party Internet faxing service that handles the conversion of emails to faxes and faxes to emails for you.
Here are the three key components you need to send Internet faxes:
Once you have all three, here’s how you can send a fax using Internet faxing:
Receiving a fax on your computer is quite similar:
- Your Internet fax service assigns you either a toll-free or regular fax number.
- The sender dials that number and sends the fax from a standard fax machine.
- The service receives the fax, converts it into an email attachment, and sends it to your email address.
- To view the fax, simply open the attachment.
Since email is the only tool needed to send and receive Internet faxes, you can also send faxes from a handheld device. Keep reading to learn more about Internet faxing from a PDA.
Internet Faxing From a PDA
Faxes can be sent to PDAs.
Image courtesy of DreamstimeFaxing from a handheld device like a BlackBerry, Treo, PocketPC, or Palm is also known as mobile faxing. Similar to desktop Internet faxing, you'll need three things to fax from these personal digital assistants (PDAs):
- Internet access
- Capability to send and receive emails
- A subscription to an Internet fax service
Getting Online
Handheld mobile devices use various methods and technologies to connect to the Internet:
- Some PDAs come with traditional modems that can be connected to a phone line or a cell phone for dial-up Internet access.
- Many PDAs can "sync" with a computer through a cradle or direct connection to the PC. If the PC has Internet access, so does the connected PDA.
- Like advanced cell phones and smartphones, PDAs can access the Internet via cellular carriers over wireless wide-area networks (WANs).
- Additionally, a PDA with a wireless card can connect to the Internet through wireless local area networks (LANs) or Wi-Fi hotspots, such as those found in airports.
Once your mobile device is connected to the Internet, sending and receiving faxes works the same way as it does on a computer.
Benefits of Mobile Faxing
The biggest benefit of mobile faxing is the ability to send and receive faxes from anywhere, anytime, as long as you have an Internet-enabled handheld device. For salespeople or workers often away from the office, mobile faxing becomes an essential communication tool.
Mobile faxing also allows you to print documents from your handheld to any available fax machine. There’s no need for an expensive mobile printer or the hassle of ensuring the correct drivers are installed to use a printer in a hotel room.
Printing to a fax machine works the same way as sending a mobile fax.
- Simply attach the document you want to print to an email, and send it to the fax number of the nearest fax machine.
- Your subscribed Internet fax service will convert the document into a fax.
- Within seconds, the fax machine will print your document.
Now that you understand how to fax from a desktop, laptop, or PDA, let's explore some reasons why people prefer this method over using a traditional fax machine.
Internet Faxing Features and Benefits
Receive faxes on any device that checks email.
Image courtesy of iStockPhotoIf your fax machine is connected to a standard phone line, each fax you send is treated as a phone call. Thus, sending a fax to a destination outside your local area incurs long-distance charges. Internet faxing eliminates the need for fax machines and phone lines. Instead, you typically pay a one-time setup fee and a flat monthly rate based on the number of faxes you plan to send.
Since there is no need to purchase, install, or maintain hardware or software, you save money on both equipment and IT staff. Furthermore, because faxes are handled through existing email platforms, employees don’t require additional training.
Security can be an issue with traditional faxes, as paper faxes often remain in the machine until someone—not necessarily the intended recipient—retrieves them. With Internet faxing, this is not a problem, as faxes are delivered directly to the recipient's email inbox.
One of the simplest and most significant benefits of Internet faxing is never having to deal with traditional fax machines. You won't have to replace toner cartridges, worry about busy signals, or stress over faxes getting lost in a pile of paperwork.
Additional Features of Internet Faxing
Most Internet faxing services also provide a website or online portal to access special features such as:
