Online fax is a revolutionary innovation in the realm of business communications. It is a long-felt alternative to traditional methods of faxing which...
Online fax is a revolutionary innovation in the realm of business communications. It is a long-felt alternative to traditional methods of faxing which are cumbersome and tedious.
A lot of people are used to the conventional fax machines and are hesitant to switch over to online faxing – the pain of a new idea! But there are a host of differences between the two types of faxing and certainly online faxing several distinct advantages. Nonetheless,
it may be worthwhile to make a dispassionate study of both types of faxing.
The fundamental difference is online fax service is a method of forwarding and receiving documents over the Internet. Traditional facsimile machine requires a fax machine to send and receive using a dedicated telephone line.
Online fax is a terribly inexpensive system because you need not invest in a fax machine and keep bothering about its maintenance. Besides, there is no need to spend on consumables and this type of recurring expenses is also avoided.
Fax machines are in a way like photocopy machines as they replicate exact copies of the documents that are fed in them. On the other hand, online fax first produces digital copies of the documents before sending to the recipient's email addresses.
Online fax uses the World Wide Web to transmit messages whereas standard fax machines use the time-tested telephone signals for sending the documents. In online fax service users can send document just as email and can attach any text file to it and send it as email service.
As online fax is web-based, it is impeded by power black-outs and the connectivity will be disrupted. On the other hand, traditional fax machines use phone cables which are more dependable and less prone to connectivity problems.
Traditional fax machines require you operate the machine, feed the paper one by one on your fax machine and ensure that nothing is missed. Again, if you are receiving fax messages - particularly confidential documents - you need to be physically present near the faxing machine so that the documents do not reach unauthorized persons.
The advantage of online fax is it offers users mobility and accessibility. You do not have to be near the fax machines as everything gets deposited straight to your inbox. People can send and receive fax any location in world where Internet connection is available. All you need to have is a web-enabled equipment (desktop computers, laptops, cell phones, PDAs, etc.
Besides, Fax broadcasting facility will enable you send one fax message to multiple recipients. But, when using traditional fax methods, you have to dial numbers of all your contacts to send the same fax message.
Online or email fax also has some distinct benefits which contribute to its growing popularity. Apart from cost savings and easy operation, online fax technology is completely scalable and can be quickly upgraded to meet your growing business needs. Online fax is also more secure as your messages can be encrypted.
It must be stated that technology is advancing at a rapid pace and new and innovative methods keep replacing traditional ways. There is no doubt that the population of traditional fax machines is dwindling and online faxing is becoming the norm. For some more time, the traditional fax may have its die-hard users but not for long.
