Fax services bridge the transition gap between the archaic fax machine and complete electronic communication. To maintain good customer relations many companies do not want to give up their fax numbers, since some clients prefer this method to transfer documents. Fax services provide a reasonably priced fax option without requiring their subscribers to have a fax machine, a fax modem or even a phone line.

There are many reasons to consider employing a fax service, including:

Save Money – Most fax services require a yearly fee that is less than just two toner cartridges for a fax machine.

Reduce Paper Use – Reducing paper waste saves money and helps the environment.

Send Faxes Through eMail – Online fax services can send faxes through an email account or from a fax machine to an email address.

Reduce Long Distance Charges – Web based fax transfers, which use Internet services, eliminate costly long distance charges.

Manage Faxes – With a fax service you can review inbound/outbound faxes and their send/receive times from your computer.

Upgrade to Electronic Communication – Through a fax service, you can evolve to complete electronic communication, utilizing a myriad of formats and storage options.

Maintain Privacy/Security – Many fax services support advanced encryption methods and deliver to specific email addresses. With a fax service, you do not have to worry about sensitive documents printing on a shared fax machine.

Achieve Portability – Since faxes can be checked from an email account, you no longer have to wait at the fax machine to receive an important fax.

What to Look for in an Online Fax ServiceMost fax services provide similar services and pricing, so when considering which company to use, evaluate your faxing practices. It is important to know whether you generally send or receive more faxes. Many fax companies offer different packages such as send only, receive only or a combination of the two. Also, think about where you send faxes, some services offer different rates per minute for long distance faxes or charge more for international faxes.

Once your faxing practices are quantified, look through the fax service see which service offers the number of faxes you need at the price you want to pay.

Below are the criteria used to evaluate online fax services,

Feature Set

The feature set includes the tools and services available through the fax service. An exceptional service not only sends and receives faxes through an email account but also has other features such as forwarding, notifications and storage options.

Ease of Use

The ease of use criterion rates how simple it is to use the service to send/receive faxes and evaluates the web interface.

Customer Service/Support

The customer service rating considers the contact methods available and how quickly a company responds with helpful, courteous answers.

Price & Extra Costs

We reviewed the price of the fax service and extra costs such as sign-up fees, cost per fax, toll free charges and other costs.

If you're interested in retiring your fax machine, reducing costs and gaining office space, while not compromising customer service try fax to email. If you are just looking for an extra fax line, a fax to email account may be what you are looking for. You can get one for as low as $3.95 per month. It sure beats paying the phone company $40 - $50.00 per month!