By: Titus Hoskins
Submitted: 2011-07-22 15:18:54 | Word Count: 553
Recently, in one of the online business forums someone mentioned they were now using a virtual online fax machine instead of the old office fax machine. This brought a puzzled comment from one newcomer asking what exactly they meant by this?
This scenario brings home the point that the Internet or Online faxing is still a relatively new concept to many people. Which is understandable because not everyone has embraced the web or even computers for that matter. So some explanation may be needed to throw some light on this different way of faxing.
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First, everyone probably realizes we are not talking about an actual physical fax machine but a virtual faxing system which replaces the old traditional office fax machine. In this case, your virtual fax machine is simply your online fax provider which lets you send and receive all your faxes via your email systems as attachments, mostly as a Tiff or Pdf file.
Online fax is a form of "cloud computing" where all your faxing is outsourced to a fax provider who acts as an intermediary to handle all your faxes.
Once you sign-up to one of these online fax providers you're given an online account where you can log in to do all your faxing. Your faxes are also stored online here in your account. But there are numerous ways to send your faxes, you can send them directly through your email system or some providers have a desktop application which you download and place on your desktop to send and receive your faxes.
Online faxing has become extremely popular for many reasons, chief among these reasons being online fax is totally portable - you can fax from anywhere as long as you have Internet access. Plus, web or email faxing is cheaper, easier and much more convenient than the traditional way of faxing. In addition, you don't have to install an extra fax phone line, there are no messy inks or toners and no more missed faxes because of busy signals.
Perhaps, one of their major selling points, especially for businesses, using an online fax services means you can send or receive your faxes 24/7, 365 days of the year. If your company depends upon faxing to bring in sales or to stay in contact with clients; one can easily see why having your business accessible around the clock may prove very beneficial.
Signing up to a fax provider can be done in minutes and most offer Free Trials so you can test-run their services without charge. If you decide to keep your fax service, your monthly fees will run around $7-$10 a month but this will depend upon your level of faxing and the fax plan you choose. There are cheaper pricing out there so it pays to shop around and get the service which perfectly matches your needs. Most of these providers are completely scalable for businesses so if you require a special corporate plan or service, you should be able to get it without any trouble.
So there is really nothing to stop anyone or any business from having their own virtual online fax machine. There may be a small learning curve, especially if you're new to computers or the web, but before long you will be wondering how on earth did you survive without online faxing.
