Internet fax versus traditional

[Miss Critter]

We're thinking of eliminating our land line, but occasionally need to send/receive faxes, and don't want to leave the house to do that. How does internet faxing work? What does is cost? Anyone regret giving up their land line? I know in case of a protracted power outage a land line is good to have, but we'd certainly LEAVE in event of a major storm, so I'm not sure that would be an issue.

Thanks for your input.

 

[hnooe]

DITTO--I want to do the same thing--the only reason I have a land line is because 2 of my vendors still fax me crap--I know it is Saturday--wake up people!!!!!!

 

[Mango]

How many faxes do you send and do you have Adobe to convert documents to PDF or a scanner so they can be sent via fax? This is what will determine what you should do. If you don't send many faxes, there are some free companies available. If you don't have Adobe, I think efax now has built in software to do the conversion to PDF if you don't have a scanner.

I have been using multiple fax services for years. It's wonderful because you do not have to worry about toner, can forward the fax via email to someone else, and have a record of the fax stored in your computer. I used to get so many faxes from people who had my land line # or from Banks with rate sheets that I never read. I had no choice but to go efax. I could just delete them and not worry about them running my ink out of my traditional fax/ color printer out in a week.

My sister got a free fax number when she signed up with Careerbuilder. It's a distant area code. The only time one would run into a problem is if someone trying to fax to you who does not have long distance service on their line.

 

[DD]

When I had a different job, and officed out of the house, I used efax all the time. Loved it. Mangy, you're right.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I used to get the free efax deal, which was good for something like 5 faxes a month, as a trial. Then, I subscribed for maybe $10/mo. It worked well. I no longer use efax. Now, having BlackBerry, if I did still subscribe, I would be able to immediately see when I receive a fax, so it has it upside. As Mango said, you will need a scanner to scan documents to fax out. Some other software already allows you to fax out from your computer file documents.

I like to keep a digital copy of all my faxes, incoming and outgoing, so mostly, I email out, but I find that some people don't find it easy to scan a 20 page document, one page at a time, so for them, my incoming document is frequently faxed, though they don't have a problem receiving and printing the pdf which I send. My computer allows me to sign directly on the computer screen, without the need to print, a feature I really like. As technology increases and prices decrease, I think most everyone will be using that, and faxes will fall into the same room as the Beta video tape, in the Museum of Modern History in D.C.

 

[Bob]

use an all in one printer, scan the document, and send it as an email

 

[Miss Critter]

Thanks to all for your input. I think the landline is a goner. . . .

 

[traderx]

Thanks to all for your input. I think the landline is a goner. . . .

I gave up my land line three years ago and do not miss it. Glad it's gone.

 

[Lynnie]

efax definitely! Can covert docs to pdf and email out.

 

[beachFool]

For out business I use send2Fax it costs around $10 per month.

We use a toll free number, all attachements come as PDF files, so we can save them easily.

We keep a landline because when we have a big storm landlines are reliable and cell reception is still iffy.