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Online Fax - Most Important Feature To Check Before You Buy?

Written By Communication on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 | 12:33 AM

By now, most people have heard of online or Internet fax. This is a process where instead of using a traditional fax machine, you use your email to send or receive a fax. This is an online faxing system where you choose a third party server or provider to handle all your faxes for you, in return for a small monthly charge. Your faxes are usually sent via an email attachment and since this new type of faxing utilizes your email system, many people refer to it as "fax by email" or "email fax".

However, because you're outsourcing your faxing to a third party company or service, you have to proceed with a little caution, especially if faxing plays a vital role in the running of your business. You must do your due diligence before you buy or sign up to any one of these online fax services. Keep in mind, this will usually be a "long-term" arrangement so doing a little homework now, could save you a lot of trouble, not to mention a few bucks.

There are many factors or features you must check in your future fax provider, but there is one feature that stands miles ahead of the others. This feature is quality. What is the quality of the service you're buying? Does the faxing service work flawlessly and without any hitches? Are they reliable? Are they professional? Even more importantly, can you reach or get support if something does go wrong?

These are the real questions you should be asking when considering any fax service, don't necessarily jump for the service with the cheapest price or the largest number of faxes allowed per month. Just make sure you get a quality service that you won't regret going forward. While it is helpful for you to check out online reviews and user opinions, this information can sometimes be inaccurate or biased. Thankfully, most of these providers will let you have a 30 Day Free Trial so that you can check their service "first hand" before you buy. Use this feature to decide for yourself if the quality of the service is up to your standards.

Of course, there are going to be other features you will also need to check before you buy an online fax service. As mentioned above, price will be among the top considerations, so too, will the number of faxes you can send/receive each month. The number of email addresses allowed with your account? Overage prices if you should go over your monthly limit? Support hours? Any set-up fees or charges? Amount of online storage and how long can you keep your faxes online? Are there corporate plans or custom plans? Methods of sending your faxes, types of file formats allowed?

All of these features or factors should be checked before you buy any service, but above all you must check the quality of the service. Check the online reputation of the service - what are users saying about it? How is it rated? What kinds of reviews does it have? Most importantly, do a "test run" and check the quality of the service for yourself. If your chosen provider doesn't work out or there are problems, remember - you can always choose another service. But while most services will let you "port" your fax number, it's best to do a little homework and research now so that you get it right the first time around. So Choose Wisely.

By Titus Hoskins

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