Finding the Best Online Fax Service For Your Business
Given all the different Internet or Online fax services available, finding the best or right one for your business will require some work on your part. First, you have to realize online faxing is simply using your email system and your web access to send and receive all your faxes. It is a form of “cloud computing” where your faxing chores are outsourced to a third party server or provider.
What confuses many people, online fax is known by many names… email fax, web fax, fax to email, internet fax, virtual fax, computer fax and even electronic fax. Basically, online fax brings all your faxing into the modern world and connects it up with your computer and the web. It has become so popular because of the low start-up costs, but mainly because it is cheaper and more convenient then the old way of faxing. Plus, it is completely mobile since you can send/receive your faxes anywhere, anytime.
It replaces the old office fax machine with a virtual fax machine operated by your chosen fax provider who acts on your behalf to handle all your faxes. Once you sign-up, you’re given a local or toll-free fax number and an online interface or account. You don’t need an extra fax phone line since everything is done online and through your computer or for that matter, any mobile device that’s connected to the net. Your faxes are sent as email attachments.
However, since this is a long-term ongoing business expense, you have to be very careful when choosing your online fax service. You want the best service to perfectly match your needs. Most of all, you want a fax service that offers superior support and help when it is needed. In addition, you want a service that is perfectly scalable to match your growing business.
How do you Go about Choosing the Best Online Fax Service?
Perhaps, one of the best solutions or options is to test-run a service before you buy. Thankfully, almost all of the major online fax providers give you this option, so you can easily check out the reliability of the service and the quality of the support which should be reachable 24-7. Simply put, you want a service that is reliable and has good support.
What you will also have to consider is not only the fax provider but what type of faxing plan do you want? Most providers have different plans with different rates and different number of faxes you can send/receive each month. The average is around 300 combined pages but some providers even have unlimited plans but these will be more expensive. In addition, regardless of which fax plan or provider you choose, you must also check the overage price of each fax which can range from 3 cents to 10 cents or more per extra fax. Some companies also charge by the minute so you should check this rate – it is assumed that the ordinary fax takes 1 minute, however multi-page faxes may take longer.
Another issue you should also check is scalability. Is the fax service completely scalable to meet your growing needs. Can you quickly scale up or down the number of fax lines or accounts which you will need. One of the great benefits of using online fax, there is no direct hardware (extra fax phone lines or fax machines) to be installed since everything is web based.
In addition, another important question concerns whether or not you can “port” your current fax number over to an online fax service. Many of these fax providers do let you “port” your number but there is usually a charge for this service. If your fax number is widely distributed to your contacts and business customers; then this charge is a minor expense considering the amount of business you could lose with a changed fax number.
If fax broadcasting (sending a fax to a large group of contacts) is important to your business, then you must check to see if your chosen provider has this option. Many of the major fax providers do offer this service but not all, so check before you sign on the dotted line.
One last issue you have to check is the availability of a corporate plan? Many fax providers, even the smaller lesser known ones, have corporate plans specially designed for your business or company. Many work directly on a one-to-one basis with their corporate clients to provide a custom fax service to perfectly match your faxing needs and requirements. Perhaps, when everything is considered and regardless of which provider you choose, the fax service which satisfies all those requirements is the best fax service for your business.
Author Bio: For more information on Internet Fax Services click here: best online fax service Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing try here: Faxage Interview With Christian Watts. Titus Hoskins Copyright. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
Category: Business
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