Online fax services are available from quite a large number of providers who are listed on the Internet, along with the terms of their service and the costs that will be incurred by the customer. It is not necessary to buy a separate facsimile machine with its attendant costs. Facsimile services on the Internet are often offered for the first month free, so a customer can see if this is what he really needs. These companies have different payment arrangements that are based on a certain number of pages received and sent during the month, and the fax capability is furnished through a toll free telephone line, which is a great help to the cost of doing business.
Another feature that isn't present with traditional facsimile methods is the ability to convert a facsimile received to an e-mail to forward to a third party. Most of these online fax services feature pager notification in their packages also. Some even have voice features included in their descriptions. The features offered by these companies are so varied that a potential customer will need to do a lot of research before signing up. Word-of-mouth advertising is often the most reliable advertising one can find, so it pays to listen to friends. Whether satisfied or unsatisfied, customers will not mince words either way.
Just as with e-mail, Internet fax services can send online faxes to many recipients simultaneously. With a regular fax machine, sending multiple faxes is time consuming because each number must be dialed and the message sent separately. Faxing to ten people or companies means actually transmitting the message or document ten times. By using online fax services, one click of the mouse sends them all at once, and the sender can spend the time that would have been spent sending all those copies doing something more productive.
Some of the fax services charge a set-up fee, then a monthly charge that is calculated according to the number of faxes sent and received. Other Internet fax services charge only for the faxes sent and received, with no set-up fees. The person or business wanting to use the fax companies will have to decide which other features are included with each package, and just how much traffic will be generated to figure which program will fit his particular case. These companies provide training information, and some even conduct seminars for the new customer so they can make the best use of the chosen system. There are several good reasons to use this kind of service, but anyone looking into it should compare the cost of purchasing a facsimile machine and its attendant expenses over a year, with a year's worth of online fax services, before deciding which is best. This is particularly important for those businesses who make sending and receiving of faxes a frequent, regular part of their business activities.
There are companies offering Internet fax services on a very limited basis, so that if someone wants one-time service to send or receive a fax, it is available. With these abilities through the Internet, if documents are being sent, a scanner on the computer replaces the photographic ability of a standard fax machine. One can still send a document for signature and receive back an accurate copy of the signed document that will suffice for business purposes until the original is received via the Postal Service. For legal purposes, the original must be used, but copies will suffice for some occasions.
In addition to all the regular abilities provided by Internet fax services, there are some who offer special custom features for clients requesting them. These special services can be in connection with regular services, or can stand alone. In other words, whatever kind of assistance a business requires in connection with faxing needs, it can be found on the Internet. Persistence pays off, because these particular services may not be on the first page of the search engine site, but farther back. Some time, taken up front, to do a thorough search for the solution to the problems confronting a business will save time in the long run by making the process of sending faxes more efficient. Faxes, of course, were not yet part of the world of communications when Jesus was here, but communication was as important then as it is now; especially the communication of things sacred, which the Jews kept written on scrolls. "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." (Luke 4:16)
Although the ability to send messages and information by facsimile has been around for many years and has gone through many improvements since the first machines were sold, none of the prior methods came close to the online fax services available today. There is so much business that is handled via Internet, that it should not be surprising to computer users that these services are available on line to further enhance business office procedures.
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