When I first set up in business, I felt I needed to have a fax machine. I knew it was important for customers to be able to contact me in as many ways as possible and I could see that there would be times when I would need to send faxes myself. On the other hand, I couldn’t envisage using a fax machine every day. So it was a matter of balancing the priorities.
A big problem for me was that, physically, I just didn’t have the space. What with computer, telephone, mobile phone, cable modem, mouse, and other paraphernalia, the last thing my desk needed was another piece of office equipment.
I also couldn’t afford the expense of buying a fax machine and couldn’t justify the expense of having another telephone line connected just so that I could advertise a dedicated fax line.
I researched integrated phone and fax machines, but they were all still bigger than my existing phone, so I would lose desk space. Furthermore, my prior experience of sending faxes to such equipment led me to believe that I could just be storing up problems for myself. I felt the effectiveness of both the phone and the fax capabilities could be compromised by being integrated with each other.
I was fairly certain that I’d used my computer to send the occasional fax in the past, but the more I thought about it, that had to have been on my old “dial up” internet connection. I just couldn’t see how that would work on broadband via my cable modem, but felt that somehow the internet would have come up with a solution.
Enter Google to the rescue. A search on “internet fax” produced a number of companies offering just the service I was looking for.
As with everything else, prices, services offered and options varied. I felt my main need was to be able to receive faxes, expecting to send most of my “instant” communications by phone, text or e-mail, so I didn’t really need to commit myself to paying extra for faxing out.
In the end, the company I decided on has been a boon to my business and I can’t foresee the day when I’ll ever need to go down the “traditional” fax machine route. The service costs me peanuts: about 10p a day.
If you’re just setting up in business, or otherwise feel that you could be losing out by not having a fax facility, I recommend that you have a look
The website will give you an online demo of how it works and will even give you a, no obligation, free trial.
I hope you find it as useful as I do.
David
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