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These days, in our fast paced society, going to the local Staples to send a fax or using the more ancient dial up fax machines, are out of the question. Business owners need to have the ability to send faxes as quickly as they can send an e-mail over the Internet. Well, the fact is, that you can do just that nowadays. There are many online fax companies that can assist any business with the ability to transmit faxes via the Internet.

The way that the online service works is almost like sending an attached document with an email. However, the transmitted information is ultimately going directly to a fax number and fax machine, rather than an e-mail address. This is what makes the online fax service such an important tool to businesses, since there are millions of fax machines still in service and they will probably remain part of the office landscape for some time, especially for small companies, in-home offices and in areas and countries that have not adopted computers as quickly.

E-mail is the main form of any communication these days, especially for offices or other places of business. Modern practices have made electronic signatures acceptable, so long as they can be validated. Paper documents are becoming a thing of the past and will fade away with the times. Still, some small business owners and independent contractors prefer using faxes rather than e-mail due to the constant need to keep track with receipts for their personal records. Legal offices often prefer printed documents from faxes as well.

Security features

When using the online method of faxing, companies have the freedom to send and receive faxes directly to their computers, where they can print them if necessary. It's also a lot faster than waiting for a fax machine to transmit. You also eliminate the hassle of purchasing a fax machine and supplies for it, and therefore you save money, which can go toward the cost of the Internet connection for sending and receiving faxes online. An Internet connection is not that expensive (some are as low as $6 a month) and even adding the cost of the service does not approach the price of a single roll of the old-fashioned "thermal" fax paper.

The security advantage with online fax providers has several parts. The first is the fact that you will send faxes privately and confidentially, with no one having to see what you are doing. You can also keep the outgoing fax on file on your computer hard drive, which is more secure than in a printed format kept at your desk or in a file. You will also have a record of having sent the fax, although the online service providers do not keep copies on their end unless you want them to. This is a fairly secure method unless you are dealing with corporate secrets of some kind, in which case you are probably not going to use a fax of any kind.

Choosing an online fax service

There are several online fax service providers that can offer different packages and prices for their services. This will depend largely on how many faxes your business will receive on a daily basis as well as how many you send out. Monthly rates can range anywhere from $4 to $15, plus the cost for additional features. Some of the pricing schemes involve a per page charge, whereas others base the charge on the amount of time (and sometimes the distance) of the resulting phone call that is initiated by the service. Remember, you are essentially e-mailing your fax, but the provider will convert that document into one that is sent over the phone line to the target fax machine, so telephone service time does enter into the equation.

Be sure to do some research before choosing a provider. There are a lot of different ones to choose from, including such popular ones as MyFax, TrustFax, eFax, RingCentral, Send2Fax, RapidFax and others. Look for the companies that have the competitive prices but can back up their worth. Remember, cheaper is not always better. Some fax providers will offer a free trial, so it's best to try it out for the introductory period to see if it's going to be right for your needs. The companies that have the good reputations will also allow you to add such other features as notifications, forwarding and storing of transmitted faxes.

Just remember, however a business decides to use faxing, the fact remains that it is arguably the most efficient, and widespread, way to transmit documents and correspondence. If your are considering hopping aboard the online fax service train, be sure to compare sites and services in order to assure that you will be getting the best that it has to offer.