When you have a business and need to send one or two faxes every once in a while, then a free fax service may be just the issue you'll need as your faxing solution. Going all the way to the office supply and service store just to send a fax once in a while costs time, effort and money. What's more, you are subjected to the horrors of machines you do not even own, operated by people who aren't your employees.

Not all businesses have the need to sustain a fax machine and a phone line particularly for the unit. Some enterprises are far more comfortable in using their IT infrastructure to send emails and perform other company functions. But from time to time, you could meet other companies or customers that adopt faxing as one of the main ways they send and receive documents. Faxing may not be easy but you nonetheless get to send difficult copies of documents within seconds.

For those times that customers or contacts do ask you to fax them certain documents, a free fax service may be quite handy. What do you need to be able to perform free faxing? Listed here are the requirements:

1. A digital copy of the document you would like to send.
2. A computer with an updated web browser.
3. A broadband internet connection.

If you have everything listed above, the following step for you would be to find a website that provides free faxing. You are able to usually do this by searching the web. Several VoIP service providers let you use their faxing service for free just to promote their paid services. You may also want to check out monthly faxing subscriptions when you are done.

Free fax services, however are free due to the fact they're severely limited. Your faxing needs must be found within the following parameters or you will not have the ability to perform faxing at all:

1. You cannot receive any status updates or notifications regarding your document.
2. You can't receive any documents or faxes in return simply because you do not have a faxing number.
3. You can only send one or two faxes per day.
4. Your document should be in TIFF or PDF format.
5. You can only send your document to a local number.

As you can see, your faxing is severely limited once you use free services. This is not to discount its usefulness, though, considering that you might still have the ability to use it. You don't have to pay a cent for sending a document. Most faxing service providers make certain their free services are good so as to encourage users to avail of paid packages.

In case you wanted to know, paid subscriptions for faxing lets you do the following:

1. Send and receive files in formats like DOCX, JPEG, XLS, HTML, TXT and several others.
2. Send and receive a large volume of faxes per month.
3. Receive status updates and notifications about the status of your document, unlike in free fax where you have no idea in case your document was even sent.
4. Send faxes to other countries.

 
These days, more and more businesses are choosing to receive send an Internet fax rather than the traditional means of faxing. Due to the numerous benefits of Internet faxing, businessmen may each have their own reasons for creating the switch. Here are just a few:• It lets you send and get a fax anywhere. Internet faxing promotes mobility since you can use any device with an Internet connection: netbooks, mobile phones, smartphones, even PDAs.

• Because it's simple and easy to send an internet fax. All you need to have is an Internet connection along with a computer. It is as simple as sending an email to fax machines.
• It also allows you to send an e-mail to fax machines anywhere, with no long distance charges.
• It allows you to save time. With Internet faxing, you will no longer need to worry about time consuming tasks like waiting for the fax tone or standing by a fax machine.
• It is quite cost-efficient than the standard fax. You will no longer need to pay for fax machines, ink or toner, fax paper, fax machine maintenance, or dedicated fax landlines. You might need to get a software or file converter, but this can be usually given for free by your provider. The only machine you will need is a computer or other electronic gadget that will access the internet and a scanner.
• It can alert you whenever you get a fax. By typing your mobile number into your internet fax account, it is going to alert you by way of a text message in case you have received a new fax message. With this, you'll be able to respond to important messages immediately.
• You can get a toll-free fax line to let others to send you an Internet fax with no charge.• Internet faxing are very dependable. You can send an Internet fax simultaneously without the receiver worrying about faxes getting lost, not going through, or having to purchase a second line.
• It permits your company to become more environment-friendly. A traditional fax machine will automatically print each fax that comes in leading to tons of papers wasted every day. To send an Internet fax is a paperless process. Through it, you help save a lot of trees and lessen your carbon footprint.
• It eliminates the need to send fax messages to each person individually. Internet faxing has the capability of building you a contact list for various groups of people and allows you to send an Internet fax simultaneously to several contacts with just few clicks from your mouse.

In summary, why should you send an Internet fax? First, you are able to send an Internet fax wherever you are. Second, it allows you to save more money than a standard fax machine. Third, it's quite reliable. Fourth, you can simultaneously send an e-mail to fax machines to as many people you want. Lastly, it makes you "go green" because you lessen your carbon footprint by being paperless.

 
On very busy times, the fax machine may go all day and this implies assistants will all be faxing pages after pages of documents. The duty of transmitting messages through the fax machine often is on admin staff and secretaries.

So much time, energy, and resources go to faxing documents that it’s not practical and not productive to keep a fax machine when there is a much better alternative.

Assistants all over the world are being spared the fax machine experience today with the free fax option of the IP phone service. Exactly what makes internet fax or free fax more office assistant-friendly?

  1. It's time saving. Transmitting pages of papers with the use of fax machine may take up hours of a working week. It causes delays too in other tasks that need to be taken care of.
    The free fax option that comes with any VoIP phone service plan normally takes only seconds to send. All you should do is open a “compose” window in your email, type in the cover note in the subject line, choose the numbers where the letters are going to be sent and voila! Your fax will be sent to recipients all at a time.
  2. It is economical. Simply because you don't have to order ink and rims of paper for the fax machine, you will be saving a lot on office supplies. Besides that, you will also save on power, repairs and maintenance and equipment.
  3. It is adaptable to working style. You can receive and send free fax anyway you would like, no matter what way is most compatible with your working style- via email, through your online account, or directly from a Windows application.
  4. It's energy saving. Even though you might get a lot of workout by taking walks from your workplace to where the fax machine is situated, it may wear you out and distract you from your other duties.
  5. Convenient file back-up and access. As all fax messages are in digital form, all you have to do is save them in document folders in your computer and back them up in hard disks or external storage devices. Searching will be a piece of cake as all you need to do is use the search function in your computer.
  6. Better monitoring of inbound fax messages. The IP business telephone system can save up to 100 files (fax and voicemail messages included) in your online account. You are likewise alerted when a new message arrives. No more walking to and from to the fax machine to see if one came for you.
  7. Space saving. Without the need for large document cabinets to save all received and sent fax messages and documents, you will have more free physical space in your office.
  8. Easy file sharing. Every time your boss requests for a copy of a fax sent by a particular client, all you have to do is give it to him/her as email attachment.
No doubt about it, the IP phone service’s free fax feature has done a lot to improve efficiency and well being in the office.

 
For most of us, transmitting a fax message is a routine and will not need any more thinking. Specifically with the free fax feature of the IP business phone, absolutely nothing could be easier. Yet , there are factors that we must think of especially now that you can send messages from anywhere and anytime with the internet fax.

  1. Timing. Not all offices are lucky enough to enjoy the free fax you are experiencing with your service plan. Many offices are making use of the typical fax machine. This means that they only get to view their fax messages in office hours. The facsimile machines are also, often, centralized and an office messenger normally can deliver the messages in scheduled routes. If you send out a fax in the wee hours for example, the person is probably not able to receive it until the up coming schedule route next morning. The message can also get lost. Fax machines are famous for dividing out paper that may roll out below office furniture if there is no vessel to catch it.

    The solution? Until you're positive the workplace has internet fax, send it during work hours. If it is immediate, call or email anyone concerned to expect a fax from you.

  2. Readability. Because you cannot be sure that the machine that will be receiving your message will print out clearly, do whatever you can to help the reader out no matter how horrible the printing of the message may be. Utilize a bigger type size and a sans serif typeface and print out the subject line in bold. If you are making use of a free fax service, consider transmitting the message more than once to be sure the recipient may get one clear copy.

  3. Length. Your cover letter, if possible, should be no longer than one page. In case you're sending a notice of invite, it must be not more than three paragraphs. The printed facsimile isn't that easy to read and you will get your message across with as few words as possible.

  4. Deliverability. To avoid getting your fax message passed all-around, or worse, thrown out, it is important to give all the information in the address line. Make sure you write down the name of the person you want to send the file to, as well as the division he/she works in.

  5. Presentation. How urgent is the message? Busy people who have internet fax look into the list of faxes they get and prioritize reading them based on topic matter. If ever you wish your fax read immediately, include in the subject line the word “URGENT” in caps and bold letters. Even when it's printed out in a fax machine, the word will still shout out and your message has a greater probability of getting sent quickly. If you use free fax, it's going to be easy for you to layout and send your message straight from Word.

By using the tips above, you may use your free fax service more effectively to connect with clients and business partners.