Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Fax Through Internet – Best Ways to Do It

If you want to send a fax through Internet, now you have a lot of different alternatives that can really help you, and in some cases you don’t even have to spend money. Let’s talk a little about your options and how you can take advantage of them:

First Option: Use Fax to Email Software


Fax to email software has been used for several years by businesses and individuals looking for a way to manage digital faxes.  You still can find very good applications for this purpose and they work just fine, but with the arrival of email fax services, many people have stopped using software. Part of the reason why this happened is because sometimes programs require a learning curve and machine requirements.

Second Option: Using an Email Fax Service


This second alternative to fax through Internet is the one that millions of people are using now (myself included!). Fax services are companies that let you send and receive faxes as digital files through email.  They work with multiple file types (so far the service with highest compatibility is MyFax with 142 supported files) and are compatible with all free email addresses, including Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo.

Each service gives you a virtual fax number that you can use to receive faxes in your inbox.  You have the option of choosing between a local and a toll-free number.

Fax over Internet services allow you to get started 100% free by using a 30-day free trial.  Using a free account is the perfect way to learn all about these services and witness their speed and quality (and send fax for free of course!). Below I have added links to the best free trials right now on the Web.

Third Option: Use a Free Fax Site


There are sites such as MyFax Free, FaxZero or GotfreeFax that let you send a couple of pages per day if what you need is to send occasional faxing.  This option is not recommended for businesses because these companies often include ads and don’t give you an alternative to receive fax over Internet in your computer.

Fax from Mac – How to Get Started

Mac users always have been sort of left behind when it comes to software, so back in the days of fax software, there were only a few options that were really helpful for Mac OS users.  Nowadays, if you want to fax from Mac, the best alternative is to use an email fax service.

Why an email fax service?


Email fax services help you fax using your email, and one of the best things about this technology is that it doesn’t take place inside your computer; the fax to email conversion takes place on the fax provider’s powerful fax server.  This means that you can use the same service on a Mac, Pc or a computer with a different operating system.  You only need a browser or email client and access to Internet.

Getting Started


To get started in Mac fax, you need to sign up for a fax service.  There’s no need to spend a single dime if you aren’t familiar with this technology.  Nowadays you can start for free with any service of your choice.  They offer the chance of opening a full-month free trial account, so you can see for yourself how a service works from your Mac.

There are many services that offer these types of trials.  I would recommend you to start with Ringcentral Fax’s free trial, as it is a reliable company with many interesting features, such as the ability to fax from Gmail, send fax from iPhone, fax scheduling and many more.

Are these services secure and reliable?


Yes, all email fax service have to comply with security standards and they work hard to make sure that your documents are 100% private, especially when we are talking about sensitive information, which is often transferred via fax.  You can get started faxing via Mac today!

Friday, February 3, 2012

How to Fax from Cell Phone

The ability to do things on-the-go is pretty important these days and with faxing technology there is no exception.  Now you can save a lot of time and money simply by integrating a cell phone faxing solution.

There are already some fax companies that are offering fax from cell phone applications.  Luckily, we are talking about some of the top companies out there on the Web. You need to first sign up with a fax account and then download the corresponding cell phone app for faxing.

What are the companies offering mobile faxing?

Below are the three services that offer corresponding apps for mobile users.  Test them out by opening a free trial account (links below) and from there sue your cell phone to download their corresponding fax apps. Let’s take a look at your options:

#1 Ringcentral Fax – Apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices, can also be integrated into their Ringcentral Mobile plan (fax + VoIP)

#2 MyFax - Apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.

#3 eFax  - Apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.

All of them allow you to receive fax on your cell phone, but only MyFax and eFax allow you to also compose and create fax. You have basically two options: you can type directly the message or you can use the phone’s camera feature to snap a pic of a document.  The app will then resize it and optimize it for perfect delivery.

Try out these cell phone fax services and tell us what you think!