| Author |
Message |
    
Rick B
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 1109
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 11:36 am: | 
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I hate the idea of faxing documents back and forth to people. It really bothers me and is one of those things that I can't seem to get past.
We have a multifunction printer/fax/scanner, but for the life of me, I can't bring myself to use the fax machine at home.
I am interested in finding out about some e-fax services, where you have a fax number assigned to you, but the fax gets sent right to your email.
Is anyone using such a service? Any recommendations? Things you like/dislike?
Thanks so much! |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 14403
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 11:41 am: |
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I think the free ones are gone now. You have to pay at least $6/month. So it pays only if you have a minimum number of faxes to receive.
I had it when it was free. I think faxing is stupid, too, but I had to take it as a given when I was buying my house.
I like the fact that I could lose the sheet of paper and print it again from my email. And I liked that I could pull up a fax from wherever I could read my email. And my fax number was the same, wherever I was.
efax and jfax require you to use their specialized software, which is annoying. Try callwave.com. They may not have this requirement.
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Dave
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 9551
Registered: 4-1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 11:49 am: |
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free faxing (supposedly without ads):
k7.net (will be a Seattle exchange)
ureach.com allows you to fax without installing special software (I use it and it's a good value) |
moving soon
Citizen
Username: Movingsoon
Post Number: 104
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 12:22 pm: |
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I've been using maxemail.com
very pleased with it. didn't care for efax, too much spam. no spam w/maxemail, give it a try |
Rick B
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 1110
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 12:40 pm: |
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Callwave seems pretty good. Most of them have a free 30 day trial, which is great.
Callwave doesn't have sending, not sure about maxemail, looks like ureach allows sending, but it also has per page pricing.
Sending is not as big of a requirement because I can typically email the person. |
TomD
Citizen
Username: Tomd
Post Number: 447
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 1:06 pm: |
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I use the k7.net service for the odd fax I need to receive (very infrequent) and it works great. No fee, no fuss.
The only catch is that if you don't either receive a fax or voice mail for (something like) 30 days they will close the account. it might even be as simple as logging into the site to reset the counter.
Whenever a fax arrives, it immediately arrives in my email. The (free) voicemail also works just fine. |
Monster©
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 3297
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 2:00 pm: |
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I just use my Mac, easy to send, and when I'm expecting a fax I turn on the app and have it answer before the answering machine would.
I normally use my iBook, so I just take it over by the phone and plug it into the jack.
Come to think of it, there was free fax software that came on a CD for my network card in my PC, I think I used that once. |
Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 1642
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 3:32 pm: |
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You can actually send faxes from the PC very easily, of course. The trick is... if it's not already a data file how do you get the darn thing in the PC? I sometimes use my scanner to set up short faxes; a bit tedious but it works.
Scanners are pretty cheap... but I just bought a cheapo USB printer for $50 that combines a printer, text scanner/copier and fax machine. Hard to beat that price point. (It's an HP 4215 all-in-one). It's not something you'd use to scan photos, but it's great for document handling. |
Jason
Citizen
Username: Jason
Post Number: 98
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 4:24 pm: |
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For receiving faxes I currently use the MessageOne offering from OneSuite. OneSuite are provide dial-around long distance service (2.5c/min across the US, 2.2c/min to the UK etc), but they also have a fax service called MessageOne. For a $1 a month, you get a US telephone number, to which people can send you faxes and leave voicemails. Faxes arrive in .tif format, and voicemails as .wav
http://www.onesuite.com/products_MessageOne.asp
Jason |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 14405
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 5:15 pm: |
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Jason that sounds great. I'd pay $1/month even if I receive only four faxes a year. Thanks.
Case, I bought an iMac G5 in the fall. It has no modem! I expect modems to become rare soon.
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Dave
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 9561
Registered: 4-1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 5:26 pm: |
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Tom, why would you choose to pay rather than get the same service for free? |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 14406
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 5:28 pm: |
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Who does it for free and lets you keep a phone number?
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JonSel
Citizen
Username: Jonsel
Post Number: 65
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 9:37 pm: |
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I've been using a free service from eFax for the Mac platform and have been very happy. I only receive on it, though, as I've got a physical fax machine in the office that I use to send. I get email offers from eFax probably 2-4 times a month, so that's not too bad. Their software isn't terribly difficult to use, and it's a simple process to convert a fax to a PDF.
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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 1648
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 10:33 pm: |
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Tom,
I'm with you. Someone gave me a great printer a month ago... it can handle 18" wide paper in any length, just great for blueprints and other large print jobs. The problem is that I don't have a parallel port on my current desktop - I had to spring for a port replicator, which was quite annoying.
I haven't tried to buy a modem in awhile, but (assuming they're not classified as rare and vintage) they can't be more than $10... can they? |
sac
Supporter
Username: Sac
Post Number: 3454
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 10:48 pm: |
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I use eFax, but I don't use their special software. I set my preferences to receive faxes as pdf files and just use adobe to read them. I rarely use dFax to send faxes, but when I do, I just use their webpage to send them (and "attach" the document to be faxed.) PDF is one of the supported formats and my scanner creates pdf files, so I can do paper documents that way. However, my scanner is also a fax machine, so I usually just plug it into the phone line and send it that way.
When I got eFax, it was free if you didn't care what area code your number was assigned. I decided I wanted 973 so I'm paying for mine. Perhaps all of their service has a fee now, but I haven't kept up. I receive a lot of faxes, so it is great to have them in my email ... and saveable to my hard drive. |
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