The Best Online Faxing Services of 2021

What Is Online Faxing?

Online faxing is the method of sending and receiving faxes in a digital format through your internet connection. They can be sent directly from your computer or mobile device. The process converts your documents into data packets to transmit almost any file that can be attached to an email.

Traditional faxing requires a dedicated phone line, and can only send or receive a single fax at a time. Online faxing removes the need for dedicated fax machines and accompanying phone lines.

Users can instead send online faxes through a web-based GUI or even directly from their email. Unlike generic file sharing, online faxes are still legally recognized and binding documents, free from the headaches normally associated with traditional fax machines.

As is the case with any hosted service, the heavy lifting of online faxing is handled through the provider. Online faxes can be sent anywhere in the world via easy-to-use interfaces, directly through email, or by integrating existing VoIP services with a fax machine.

Previously, VoIP services relied on codecs to compress and decode data only optimized for voice communications – unable to be processed by standard fax machines. However, the T.38 protocol now makes virtual faxing possible to send documents and other data through your standard internet connection.

How Does Internet Faxing Work?

An internet faxing service works much in the same way that traditional faxing of paper documents would. The main difference lies in the use of a web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) as opposed to a physical, dedicated fax machine located in your office. An online fax service is fairly simple and usually follows a standard three-step process:

1. Open your email or the dedicated web GUI and type in the recipient’s fax number as well as a designated domain provided by your faxing service.
2. Attach the document you want to send; some services allow you to include a message to be faxed as a cover letter.
3. The recipient then receives the document and cover letter as if it was a standard fax.

On the more technical side of the equation, the hard copy file you upload or scan into your computer will be converted to either a PDF or TIFF image file type. It’s then attached to the email being sent, which will arrive in the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). This is the internet standard that allows emails to support non-text attachments.

The data is transmitted via the TCP/IP protocol to allow for secure, long-distance transmission and even the ability to verify if your fax has been received.

What Are the Benefits of Online Faxing Services?

Internet faxing takes an older process and updates it to utilize our standard internet connections. Removing the reliance on a standard phone plan and older fax machines, the benefits of online faxing are clear.

No Need for Standalone Hardware or Software

Online faxing completely removes the need to have a dedicated fax machine with a dedicated phone line.

Hardware tends to cause mistakes and to malfunction. Without a dedicated fax machine, there will be less need for maintenance and repairs, less clutter around the office, and better efficiency.

Increased Mobility

Internet faxing utilizes either a web-based interface, an email account, or a smartphone app. Because of this, faxes can be sent from anywhere in the world as long as you have a stable internet connection.

If employees are traveling or on the go or working from home, hours will no longer need to be spent tracking down a working fax machine just to send or receive a document. Online faxing also allows users to send and receive more than one document at a time and send a document to multiple recipients.

Added Confidentiality

Faxes sent to an email account are far more private than just the public fax machine used by every worker in an office. When using a public fax machine, confidentiality is even more compromised.

Faxes are used mainly for legal documents, in which confidentiality is a major priority. With everyone delegated to your own private email, it’s much easier to ensure your files are seen only by your eyes.

Reduced Phone Costs

With the costs of a stand-alone phone line and charges associated with sending faxes, it’s no surprise that online faxing will cause your phone bill will go down.

Most online faxing services offer a subscription-based program to allow for unlimited faxes sent and received for one monthly fee. Other services charge per individual fax but can be less than a dollar a page. The only cost beyond these would be your standard internet subscription.

Simultaneous Faxing

Faxing with a traditional machine is a slow and arduous process. Shedding the dependency on a fax machine and phone line using online faxing allows for simultaneous faxing.

You can send or receive as many faxes as you need at the same time without waiting for them to be processed by a machine. Each one will turn up as its own individual email to keep everything neat and organized. Less time spent faxing means more time spent being productive.

Email Focused

Online faxing fully integrates with your preferred email address to keep things private, organized and most importantly, paperless.

No longer will you have to track down an available and working fax machine as every fax you receive will find its way directly into your email inbox. Sending traditional faxes can be done directly through email as well. With most services, you only need to send an email with the recipient’s phone number and supplied domain name in the address line and it’ll be printed by their fax machine.

Internet Faxing Brings a New Level of Simplicity

Through intuitive web interfaces or from your email account, internet faxes can be sent in a matter of seconds. It offers the ability to simultaneously send and receive faxes as well as send one fax to multiple people.

An added benefit of utilizing web-based interfaces and mobile apps is the level of mobility they bring. As long as your device is connected to a stable internet connection, faxes can be sent directly from your smartphone on-the-go. Remote workers or traveling employees can stay connected and in the loop without the need to track down a working, antiquated fax machine.

Online Faxing Features to Look For

Scheduled Delivery

Senders can sure faxes are getting where they need to go on time with the ability to schedule a specific delivery time.

Online fax service providers make the international exchange of documents easy. Scheduled delivery ensures your message will land at the right place in the right time zone.

Electronic Signature

Faxing is still the principal method of exchanging legal, binding, or contract documents. It’s imperative to have the function to digitally sign your any form you may have to send out or receive.

Through the web-based portals or smartphone apps provided by online faxing services, users can digitally sign their names before the fax is sent to ensure a legally binding document.

Group Faxing

One of the major benefits of online faxing is the ability to send or receive multiple faxes all at the same time. Taking this one step further with a unique feature known as group faxing, users can blast out a single fax to as many recipients as necessary all in one click.

Thanks to the intuitive portals and apps from your faxing service provider, group faxing is simple and generally won’t cost you anything extra.

International Faxing

As noted previously, one of the major benefits of internet faxing is the flexibility the service offers, especially when it comes to sending documents and data internationally.

You don’t have a dedicated phone line to deal with and your data does not transfer through the PSTN. There are no extra costs or headaches associated with international faxing. It’s just like sending an email in that you can send anything anywhere.

Number Blocks

Unwanted spam is irritating and keeping the clutter out of your email inbox can be a full-time job in itself. With all your faxes coming into your email inbox, it could be easier to become overwhelmed rather quickly.

Thankfully, the much-needed function of number blocking is offered by some service providers for your online faxing account. Create a whitelist of allowed numbers, or a blacklist of specifically blocked numbers to help cut down on the number of unwanted faxes.

Encryption

To keep your files and documents extra secure, it is important to look for a provider that offers not only outgoing but even incoming fax encryption.

Some providers even enable SSL-secured web communications with their GUI portal. This helps to satisfy every level of protection at every step of the process. Your private information can be uploaded onto the web portal and still remain secure until it’s encrypted for the faxing process.

Encrypting incoming faxes also ensures anything you receive cannot be read by unwanted eyes.

Fax Alerts on Mobile

If having faxes sent directly to an email inbox of your choosing isn’t enough to satisfy your level of connection, most providers send fax alerts directly to your mobile device.

Users can also receive alerts of incoming faxes and verification of received faxes directly through their texts, as a standard SMS message. Utilizing the TCP/IP protocol to transmit your fax data allows for verification that the recipient did, in fact, receive the fax.

Custom Cover Pages

When faxing a sensitive or complex document, cover sheets are important. They keep the information under the cover hidden and also let people know what to expect as a fax comes in.

Service providers of online faxing make this function possible by simply including a message directly within the email itself and attaching the file. They convert your message into a cover page and your attached file into a faxed document. Some services allow you to create your cover page through their mobile apps, desktop apps, and web-based GUI portals.

Local and Toll-Free Numbers

A fair number of internet fax service providers can supply users with either a local number or a toll-free number for sending faxes.

All online fax services will provide users with a dedicated faxing number upon establishing service. The selection of a toll-free or local faxing number can help your business keep the same professional and local presence associated with your phone lines.

What Online Faxing Service Shoppers Should Consider

Internet faxing promises a dramatic reduction in the cost of faxing, as well as the time and effort required to fax. Some providers charge for each fax while others have a subscription model. It’s important to take a close look at exactly how companies charge and how much they will be charged.

It is not uncommon for the subscription services to include a laundry list of hidden and extra fees undisclosed at the time of sign up. Some providers will limit the number of incoming and outgoing faxes that are allowed per month in your subscription package. If your service functions with a limited number of sent and received faxes, it is also possible the provider will charge overage fees for when you go over that predetermined limit.

While long-distance faxing is made easy through an internet connection, another good point to take note of is any extra costs or fees that might be charged for international or long-distance faxing.

With all hosted services, customer service is key. When things go wrong, you need someone to help. Ensuring the online faxing provider you decide to utilize has a solid and responsive customer service is key to maintaining your faxing service.

Some internet faxing providers will offer a free demo or trial period for their service. You can generally establish an overall understanding and feel for the service through these demos and trial periods. Trial periods also offer a way to test out the provider’s customer service and full list of features.