Fax Machine vs. Online Fax Comparison

If you’re like most people, you wait a bit after new technology emerges to learn about its pros and cons and evaluate whether it will make your life easier. Furthermore, when deciding on making any change, it all comes down to price and return on investment. Such is the case with online fax, which enables you to send and receive faxes using a web browser or email. Those who have made the switch to Internet fax rave about its lower price, expanded faxing access and convenient features. But how does online fax measure up to the traditional fax machine and is it really worthwhile to switch? We did a side-by-side comparison of the fax machine versus Internet fax, evaluating all the crucial components necessary for sending and receiving faxes. The winner is obvious. Take a look at the results:

INVESTMENT
Fax Machine - Requires an initial investment of a fax machine, paper, toner and ink and the cost for an additional telephone line.
Online Fax - Requires Internet access.

RECURRING COSTS
Fax Machine - Monthly expenses for telephone line rental, measured use costs depending on your phone plan, long-distance charges for faxes sent out of your calling area, electricity, printing or copying costs to distribute faxes, administrative and storage costs for filing faxes, and supplies for fax machine. There may also be monthly fees for a service contract associated with the fax machine or maintenance/repair costs.
Online Fax - A monthly service plan fee, which depending on the online fax service provider, start at $4.95 a month, and overage fees for sent and received faxes that go over the service plan limit, which start at 0.3 cents per fax. Additional fee for international faxing, which is significantly lower than phone rates. Optional external storage device cost for filing faxes electronically if not storing on computer hard drive.

RELIABILITY
Fax Machine - Is not able to send or receive faxes if a fax is coming in or the fax machine is out of paper. Fax machine needs to be on in order to receive or send a fax. A fax machine can breakdown or have a paper jam, preventing faxes from coming in or going out. Phone service can be down, preventing faxing.
Online Fax - Can send and receive multiple faxes at once without ever getting a busy signal. Paper problems are not a concern since faxes are transmitted electronically. A computer or mobile device does not have to be on to receive a fax. Internet fax is always on and not likely to breakdown since online fax service providers have redundancy measures in place for its servers.

NOTIFICATION
Fax Machine - You have no way of knowing whether someone sent you a fax unless they tell you. You need to walk over to the fax machine to get your fax or wait for faxes to be delivered to you.
Online Fax - You are immediately notified by email or SMS alert when you receive a fax. Fax is immediately available when you access your email or online fax service account.

ACCESSIBILITY
Fax Machine - Can only send and receive faxes from the location where the fax machine is located.
Online Fax - Can send and receive faxes at anytime from anywhere that has Internet access.

FAX QUALITY
Fax Machine - Faxes can be difficult to read if transmission is bad, a wrinkle in the paper occurred when the paper feeder fed the sheet through, or if the fax machine is running out of ink or toner.
Online Fax - You see the document online in the same manner in which it was sent.

EFFICIENCY
Fax Machine - Only sends and receives faxes. To send a fax, you need to create a fax and any attachments on a word processor, print it out and walk it over to the fax machine. If there is a multiple page attachment, a fax machine can take several minutes to send the entire attachment depending on the transmission speed. To forward a received fax, you have to copy it and redistribute it to others or refax it.
Online Fax - Can create and send a fax directly from your online fax service account. Attachments are sent instantaneously because of the speed of the broadband connection and the Internet. Can distribute received faxes to others by forwarding them electronically to their email or fax number.

SECURITY
Fax Machine - Faxes are out in the open for anyone to see. Fax pages can get misplaced or unintentionally picked up with other faxes. Faxes can also be copied from the fax machine by a third person without the recipient’s or sender’s knowledge.
Online Fax - Faxes are sent directly to the recipient’s computer, online fax service account, or email and can only be accessed by a password-protected login. Other security measures are in place during the fax transmission process.

SCALABILITY
Fax Machine - Business expansion would mean additional fax machines and phone lines, as well as additional storage space.
Online Fax - Can have more than one online fax number for multiple locations under one account and can have multiple users under one account.

As the side-by-side comparison shows, online fax is the clear winner in the major cost-saving and efficiency areas. For those who fax a little or a lot, Internet fax is most likely the best investment over a fax machine.