If You Do Not Have a FAX Machine, Try eFAX.
Written: Jun 30 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Site Ease of Use: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Easy to use, no FAX machine needed, cheap and reliable.
Cons: None so far.
The Bottom Line: If you don't have a FAX machine, you can send FAXes from your PC with eFAX, it's cheap, easy, and convenient.
|
|
|
| Ironcladd's Full Review: eFax |
If You Do Not Have a FAX Machine, Try eFAX.
By
James P. Zaworski
I moved to Taiwan in March of this year to take a teaching job. Since moving here, there have been some loose ends to tie up back home, and I have tried my best to tie them up using the telephone and email. However, I needed to access my academic records at my university for my job, and I had forgotten my PIN number there. I had to retrieve it using by FAX, and I could not use my work FAX to send internationally, and the university has a policy that prohibits them from sending international FAXes too.
I came upon an offer for eFAX, a web based FAX service that allows you to use your PC as a FAX machine without using your phone line, and thus avoiding any long distance charges. This service offers a free thirty day trial, and is then $12.95 per month after that.
They additionally charge a dime per page for FAXes that you send, but incoming FAXes are free of charge.
How it Works.
Firstly, you sign up with the company with your contact information and phone number. Then, you enter a credit card number to get full access to the site, and you have to do this even if you sign up for the free trial period. However, they state that you can cancel the service at any time before being charged for the first month.
When you enter the credit card information, you can then be issued a FAX number with a domestic USA area code of your choice. I chose Chicago as it is the closest big city to my home town of Joliet, Illinois, and because there were no FAX numbers available with the 815 area code. Additionally, I did not choose the international FAX code for Hong Kong or Taiwan, as then I would not be able to have the important FAX sent to me.
After signing up, they send you an email with your new FAX number and your four digit password code in a confirmation email. Once you confirm, you are ready to send and receive FAXes from your computer!
The next step is to download the eFAX messenger service software, which will instantly tell you if you have received any FAXes. There are options on this software to send a FAX.
My FAX required my signature, and it is fortunate that I have a scanner which scans to Adobe Acrobat Reader .pdf files, which are among the compatible software word packages that eFAX can use, and you can attach these files to your FAX. Microsoft Works, Word, Office, and Corel are among the many different compatible files as well.
Oh, and eFAX works with either Macintosh Operating System and with Windows Operating System.
You can compose a cover and cover letter to your FAX with eFAX, as well as multiple pages. However, you need to pay $0.10-$0.20 per page that you FAX, even during the “free trial” period.
To receive an eFAX, they just send it to your email! This is so convenient and easy to use. You can receive this FAX by just checking your email, or if you have the eFAX messenger service running all of the time, it will alert you that you have received a FAX.
What I like about eFAX service.
Firstly, I like the convenience of eFAX. I do not have a FAX machine, but only a scanner and a computer. I can send FAXes from my computer, but I would get charged the exorbitant international rates from the phone company here in Taiwan, and I wish to avoid that at all costs. In fact, even with the subscription fee, I saved money because I had about twenty pages to FAX to three different places in the USA: my school, a financial institution, and a law firm. Each one required my signature, and one out of the three would not send a FAX internationally to me, and I didn’t want to pay the international costs of the other documents that would come to me.
Secondly, eFAX was a service that solved a delicate problem for me because they have the option of having a local domestic USA FAX number to where FAXes could be directed to me. This really saved me as I had a deadline to meet to get these documents, and my university would under no circumstances send a FAX to me internationally, to my work place for example.
Thirdly, I like the cost involved. This is not an expensive service for the service rendered. If you do a lot of FAXing and do not have a FAX machine, this service is ideal for you. I will probably keep it for two months, until all of the loose ends are tied up back home.
So, all in all, I like eFAX quite a lot. It is a very convenient service that turns your email into a FAX machine, is inexpensive, and so far it is efficient as I have received and sent all of the FAXes that I had to, all twenty pages of them. I recommend eFAX to anyone who does not have a FAX machine, and has a limited number of FAXes to send. Give it a try.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Ironcladd
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: James Zaworski
Location: Shenzhen, China
Reviews written: 505
Trusted by: 157 members
About Me:
I am an English teacher, Archeologist and Anthropologist.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.