Internet fax machine. What it is?

Facsimile machine is a hardware device to send the documents to distant places. We could send it with the help of telephone connection.  In those days facsimile machine, telephone call, mail was used as means of communication. However it was since last 10 years Internet is being used as medium of communication. While this online utility has made the traditional machine out of date. It is because of lot of advantages over it. Electronic fax doesn't require any telephone lines, any extra hardware device,  and software.

The term Internet fax relates to it being used for sending the document from one place to another using this amazing medium. It is also known as web, online, electronic, virtual fax etc.  Most of the people are using their e-mail accounts for transmitting information. With the help of this utility one can send and receive document through and on mail. It can be e-mail to fax and vice versa.

This is virtual machine. It is an integration of facsimile technology and Internet technology. No extra device or software is needed for that. Only you have to subsribe and sign in at the service providers website. Any person having a Net connection and an email account can send and receive documents in the TIFF and PDF format.

The net fax companies provide various services like signature service, Toll free service, Send –only service etc.  They also provide lifetime storage of documents sent and received.

Online Fax Features: How to choose one?

Online fax is popular because of the advantages it provides. To utilize these advantages and generating revenue many companies have entered this arena. How to choose best among all services that are available?

Here are some points which can be considered while choosing best service.

1. Ease of use: In every day busy schedule there is not much time to learn new things and to implement it in work. For that purpose it is necessary to make easy, the use of fax service so that a customer need not waste much time.This should not take more than few minutes. Most service provider companies use email for sending and receiving a copy of document. For sending you have to upload a document and can use email for receiving the document. Some services provide web based system to send and receive facsimiles.

2. Files Support: It is necessary to know type of documents the company supports. There are common files which are supported by all, like JPEG, Word, PDF, but there are few companies supporting other documents like power point and excel sheets.

3. Technical support: It is important to select service which provides 24/7 customer support as helpline. It is the job of technical support to ensure prompt service.

4. Cost: Choose service which is productive relative to the cost. They should also provide various plans like Pay-as you –Go which charges money on basis of document sent and a monthly rate plan which charges fix money monthly. Pay-as you –Go plan is best if you send only few pages per month. For regular faxing for business purpose, you have to use plan which charges fix monthly rate for all incoming and outgoing pages. You can make changes to plan, if you want to send large data.

5. Accessibility: Online fax site must be easily accessible to you. It must be easily accessible to others, and must make others accessible to you, such that any anyone can receive and send. It should not be necessary for user to attend to it personally; you can send and receive at anytime and anywhere, as long as you have Internet connection and devices like computer and mobile phone. When you subscribe with a service provider then they will assign business contact number for you which is used to send and receive. You can choose between local or toll free number. Some companies don’t provide you unique number they will simply make use of temporary no for duration of your fax.

6. International rates: This is one of the major advantages in online faxing. Long distance and international rates are cheaper. Most services charges no extra charge for long distance faxes. So it is important factor like other factors such as costs, rates while choosing best service. This is important while sending International faxes in other countries like America, Sri-Lanka, England and any other countries. 

The above tips that I have submitted should be helpful to the readers. Following the advice you can choose the best online fax service to use beneficially.     

The virtual faxing offers a new option to small business and corporates alike.  In time to come I see this utility is going to experience tremendous growth thanks to its benefits.