Why plunk down several hundred dollars for a fax machine and then pour more money into it for ongoing costs like fax ink and toner supplies? Not to mention the costs of securing a dedicated fax phone line and that pesky monthly bill from the phone company? If your small business is serious about keeping costs under control, consider Internet fax services. These simple services cost only a few bucks a month—some are even free—and allow you send and receive faxes via email or a website.
Internet fax services can be ideal for cost-conscious business owners or for business travel. With Internet fax services, you can send and receive faxes anywhere that you have Internet access.
1. Is an inexpensive way to say connected to your customers and your staff while away from the office.
2. Allows you to receive important documents even when there’s no fax machine around.
3. Enables clients to fax you while you are out of the country through a local number, delivered directly to your email.
4. Reduces your telephone bill when you have to send a large number of faxes to long-distance numbers.
Fax for free
Most efax services offer low monthly rates, but a few offer free efax service in exchange for advertising. Others limit your faxing privileges to receiving faxes, but not sending them.
I recommend: FaxZero.com lets you send a maximum of three pages and two faxes per day in the U.S. and Canada. The only catch is that an ad is placed on the coversheet. Sign up for
eFax Free and you’ll get a non-local eFax number to receive faxes in your email for no charge.
Free efax trials
If you only need to use efaxing once or twice, you can sign up for free trial efax services. Most efax services offer 30-day free passes. In addition to using them on a one-time basis, the 30-day free pass is also a good idea to use on a trial basis to see if you like the service.
I recommend: Unifax and
CallWave are two of the efax services that offer a free 30-day trial. Compare other efax services at
TopTenReviews.com or visit Business.com for more
efax providers.
Toll-free efax
Internet fax services have a variety of options that include providing a toll-free number that enables your customers from around the country to fax you at no cost to them.
I recommend: Smart Fax allows you to choose a vanity toll-free number that enables you to create a professional business image and choose a number that is easy for your customers to remember.
Flat-rate efaxing
Some Internet faxing services charge a per-page fee after a certain amount of pages. If you plan to use Internet faxing as your sole fax number or if you plan to use broadcast faxes to multiple recipients, look for a service that charges a flat monthly rate.
I recommend: Packetel offers a low flat monthly rate with no restrictions on the number of incoming faxes received. Review the
fax broadcasting sources at Business.com for help with this powerful marketing tool.
International Web-based faxing
If your business has a large customer base in another country, you may want to have a local fax number in that country. Most Internet fax services allow you to fax internationally for a smaller fee than traditional telephone rates.
I recommend: Efax lets you choose the country of origin where you would like your fax number set up.
Venali offers toll-free numbers in more than 70 countries.
Add-on options for PC-based faxing
Internet fax providers are jumping on the bandwagon by offering all-inclusive communications packages that include voicemail, virtual PBX, faxing and call forwarding.
I recommend: Ring Central offers plans ranging from $9.99 to 79.99 with bundled communications services. Additional
fax service providers can be found in the Business.com directory.
Multi-user small business plans
Some providers also specialize in multi-user plans that enable all of your employees to receive faxes on their own personal number in their email boxes.
I recommend: ClickFax.com allows you to add additional users and additional numbers to your account.
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