Fax via email?
I didn't even realise this option existed!
I was also surprised to see that the fax was invented in 1843!
Intrigued I was eager to find out how to send a fax via email.
It turns out that there are many services that will let you send fax via email. Some services you have to pay for and some that are free. Some require that you send and receive electronic mail, or that you have Web access while others require you to install special software on your computer.
And most services allow you to receive faxes as well. When you receive a fax at a special number, it is delivered via e-mail address or available for viewing on the Web and some commercial services include bulk faxing and other special features.
As I do not have a fax line I was not able to try this for myself but it is still something I would like to give a go.
This topic got a bit of a discussion in the forum with John metioning that he tried to send his mother a fax this way but because his mother had run out of paper in her fax machine it continued to ring for hours. Which led into another discussion about not being able to cancel a fax when something like this happens. I always thought that if a fax just continued ringing you would be able to cancel it or stop it. Maybe you can with faxing from a fax machine but not via email or maybe its just that its something that isn't being taught when learning how to send a fax via email?
Either way I think there is some room for improvement with the whole sending fax via email!
As it turns out, most Fax machines do have a cancel on them. And also the sending fax machine will usually hang up if it is not answered after a preset number of rings. But not all telecommunications services have this in place, which is where I believe the problem with John's fax arouse.
ReplyDeleteFax invented in 1843?
ReplyDeleteGiven that the phone wasn't invented until 1876 (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelephone2.htm) I don't think that the fax looked too much like the ones today.
And for the record, I just don't like faxes. I find them difficult to use, compared to the faxes that my email can send...
I completely agree that the fax machine can completely do with some improvements. I remember how my mother was trying to send a fax one time and the person on the other end didn't know she was sending a fax. So they kept picking the phone up when it was ringing. Because the phone and the fax was connected picking the phone stopped the fax from transferring. At the end my mum had to call and tell them that she's sending the fax through. Even then for some reason may be a communication break down or a different person or they just forgot they kept answering the phone and it took a long time for her to send it through. It was frustrating.
ReplyDelete