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Looking for an online fax service? Here's everything you need to know about how to choose one. If you're in a hurry, just scroll down to see our best picks and read our staff reviews of the ones we would choose if we were you. You can also see a full list of online fax service vendors and a breakdown of how we chose our best picks here.
Fax machines may seem like the dinosaur of office technology, but many small businesses still need to send and receive faxes to communicate with both vendors and customers. Without the capability, you may seem less professional, and you may also be less productive.
The good news is that you don't actually need a fax machine and a dedicated landline to send and receive faxes. Instead, online fax services allow you to send and receive faxes through your email account. Most services offer a low monthly subscription fee with little or no money down, and as long as you choose a reputable vendor, the service is reliable and secure.
Pricing and features are similar among most fax services, but there can be significant differences. When you're choosing a vendor, it's important to pay attention to things like the number of faxes that are included in the monthly price, and any overage costs that might apply if you go beyond that. It's important to understand whether the plan includes both sent and received faxes or just one of the two. It is also important that you pay attention to the company's track record and customer service policies, among other things.
Ready to choose an online fax service? Here's a breakdown of our complete coverage:
- A Summary of Our Best Picks and How We Chose Them
- Best Online Fax Service for Businesses
- Best Free Online Fax Services
- Best Pay-Per-Use Online Fax Service
How online fax services work
When you use an online fax service, senders and recipients can't tell if you're not using an actual fax machine. The experience from their end is the same.
There are a number of ways to send a fax: via a special email address that includes the recipient's fax number (i.e., 18005551234@vendorname.com), through the vendor’s website or with a mobile app. Documents can be created in a word-processing program like Microsoft Word or Pages for Mac, or paper documents can be scanned and uploaded. The service translates the document so it can be read by a fax machine and sends it via a phone line. Incoming faxes are received via your email account. The service sets up a "fax number" for you and then converts the incoming documents. Senders dial the assigned phone number just as they would if you had a fax machine.
Businesses choose to use online fax services for a number of reasons. Cost is one, of course, particularly for businesses that fax infrequently and do not want to invest in a fax machine. Convenience is also a major draw. You don't have to be in the office or near a fax machine to send and receive documents. You can manage incoming and outgoing faxes from home or remotely with a tablet or smartphone.
Features and options
Most services offer a wide range of features that make the service convenient to use and secure. Convenience features include mobile alerts, Outlook integration, preset delivery times, mobile alerts, digital signatures, customizable cover sheets, the ability to send a fax to multiple recipients at once, and the ability to send incoming faxes to multiple email addresses. Security features include SSL encryption to protect sensitive information and password protection. Most online fax services offer many if not all of these features, but it's important to verify that before you sign up.
Many services offer the option of a toll-free fax number or a local fax number. Long-distance and international faxing is offered, but it may come with an additional per-minute fee outside of the monthly rate. Some services offer send-only or receive-only packages, although most businesses prefer to have both. Some services, though not many, limit the number of faxes you can store. More commonly, services limit the amount of time you can store a fax. If a time limit exists, it is usually one year.
When you're comparing online fax services, pay attention to what the vendor offers in terms of customer support. If you have a problem with the service, you're going to want to be able to reach someone who can help solve it. Does the vendor offer 24/7 customer support, and is there a toll-free number to call? What about customer service via Web chat? Does the vendor's website offer tips and advice for troubleshooting? It's also important to find out how easy or difficult the service is to use. Some online fax services are far more user-friendly than others.
Pricing
Online fax services are usually billed by the month, with base fees ranging from about $7 to $20 per month. That price includes a set number of ingoing and/or outgoing faxes before overage fees apply — usually anywhere from 100 to 500 faxes each. If you go beyond that limit, a fee of anywhere from 3 cents to 12 cents is billed for each additional fax.
Other services, though not as many, offer pay-as-you-go plans with a very low monthly fee of just a few dollars that does not include any faxes. You are billed an additional rate for each ingoing and outgoing fax. Generally, these plans only make sense if you very rarely send and receive faxes. Otherwise, the per-fax fees can quickly add up to far more than you would pay with a plan that includes a set number of faxes.
International faxes almost always come at an additional cost, and the price varies based on the location. Expect to pay at least 2 cents to 10 cents for each international fax. Some services also charge one-time setup fees that range from about $10 to $25.
Additionally, many vendors offer more than one plan. You can pay slightly less per month for a lower monthly fax limit or a few dollars per month more for a higher limit. There are plans catered to infrequent users and plans that are better suited for frequent users. Some vendors also offer corporate packages for large companies.
How to choose an online fax service
Although many online fax services offer similar options and pricing, no two are identical. It is important to invest some time in choosing the right one. Follow these tips to weed through all the options and find the best service for your business.
- Assess your needs: Figure out how many faxes you typically send and receive each month. This information is crucial for deciding which vendor and plan is the best fit. If you're sending and receiving just a handful of faxes each month and you do not anticipate that changing, a pay-as-you-go plan is a good choice. If you send or receive hundreds or thousands of faxes per month, you're better off paying a higher monthly fee that includes a large number of free faxes.
- Ask for recommendations: Talk to other business owners who use online fax services to see which one they recommend. There are many competing vendors from which to choose, and it can be difficult to narrow them down. All vendors can market their service to sound great, but a personal recommendation is far more reliable. If you can, get several recommendations.
- Contact vendors: Once you have recommendations, it's important to contact the top contenders to get a feel for their service and customer support. How the company handles the initial call is telling. Are they upfront about all applicable fees and which features are included in the monthly price? Are they willing to spend the time to explain how the service works, or are they just trying to make a quick sale? Is the customer service representative friendly and attentive?
- Understand fee structures: For the top vendors you're considering, ask for a detailed breakdown of all monthly fees and any additional costs, including setup fees, long distance and international fees, and overage costs. You need to understand the fee structure in order to estimate your total monthly costs. In general, be leery of vendors that offer low monthly rates but try to sneak in hidden charges to drive up the monthly bill. Reputable vendors should be upfront and straightforward about their fees, no matter how they are structured.
- Request demos: All reputable vendors should offer a free product demo. It is crucial to take advantage of this to test out the service before you commit. Ideally, demo several services to find out which is easiest to use. Any vendor can say that their service is user- friendly, but the truth is, that some are better than others. You won't know if a service is easy to use until you try it for yourself.
- Evaluate customer service: If there's a problem with your online fax service or you're having trouble using it, you'll want an immediate resolution. Find out what the vendor offers in terms of customer support. Are live agents available 24/7? Does the vendor offer chat and email support? If you can, talk to other companies who have used the service to get their opinion on the quality of customer service.
Ready to see our best picks? You can see them here.
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