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I'm very concerned about one of my co-workers. I haven't seen her in months, and this morning she rage-quit Twitter. I need to get in touch, to make sure she's ok... I need to send a fax!

Unfortunately, I don't have a working fax machine. Or a landline. This sorta limits my options for sending faxes. I could drive to the local mailing store, but... That's inconvenient.

I tried to find an online service that would let me just upload a document or image and fax it that way, but all the ones I found require subscriptions. This seems like over-kill: I send maybe two faxes a year, not really worth maintaining (and paying for) a monthly subscription.

Requirements:

  • Allow sending to a US fax number (from a US IP and paid with US funds)
  • No subscriptions. I don't care if I can cancel anytime, I'll forget.
  • No waiting/verification period. I need to send a fax today!
  • Accept images and/or multi-page PDFs (which may contain images).
  • Delivery confirmation
  • Accept direct, one-off payments via PayPal or credit card

Nice to haves:

  • Preview - fax resolution isn't great, and it's nice to know what I'm sending will be legible.
  • Mobile-friendly site (doesn't need to have a mobile app, but would be nice if I could upload from my phone).

Absolute deal-breakers:

  • Any dependencies on Skype or Internet Explorer
6
  • Try out FaxZero
    – user1086
    Mar 5, 2014 at 18:51
  • Adding today to the requirement kind of implicitly implies "Please help me. It's urgent.". Not right I guess. Mar 5, 2014 at 18:56
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    Meant it more as, "on those rare occasions when I need to fax something, I can't wait several days for them to set up an account" @Bleeding. Yes, there are some fax services out there with really shady / bureaucratic setups - go fig.
    – Shog9
    Mar 5, 2014 at 18:57
  • Quick observations: (1) Many real estate offices and drug stores and banks have a fax machine, and may be willing to let you use it for a semi-reasonable fee. (2) Many/most of the businesses which used to expect faxes are now willing to take e-mailed PDFs, which is a more convenient alternative for most of us.
    – keshlam
    Mar 5, 2014 at 21:11
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    "I'm very concerned" "I could drive to the local mailing store, but... That's inconvenient" Very strange contradiction. Given your responses to other comments I suggest you edit your question te remove the sense of urgency.
    – user416
    Mar 6, 2014 at 9:11

5 Answers 5

7

I use FaxZero to send faxes to a recipient in the US:

  • Free but ad on the cover page
  • Maximum 3 pages + cover
  • Max 5 free faxes per day
  • No subscription
  • No app to install (browser only)
  • Wait ~ 20 minutes for the fax to be sent
  • Delivery confirmation

Paid option:

  • $1.99 per fax (Paypal)
  • Max 25 pages + optional cover
  • Priority delivery vs. free faxes
  • No ad on the cover page

More info: https://faxzero.com/faq.php

9

Adobe Echosign would be my suggestion. I have found it very good; you can send via Adobe Acrobat or the web interface.

In regards to your requirements:

  • No subscriptions. I don't care if I can cancel anytime, I'll forget.: Yes: Free version with 5 faxes per month (no page limit); different subscription options available with more.
  • No waiting/verification period. I need to send a fax today!: Just the amount of time to verify a valid email address - i.e. should be a few seconds till you get the verification link.
  • Accept images and/or multi-page PDFs (which may contain images).: haven't run into a format that it won't accept - any regular office type format or image should be fine.
  • Delivery confirmation: successfull send confirmation; of course can't say that the recipient has actually read it.
  • Accept direct, one-off payments via PayPal or credit card: Free option with 5 faxes/month. No one-off payments.

Nice to haves:

  • Preview - fax resolution isn't great, and it's nice to know what I'm sending will be legible.: haven't used any preview but with any word or pdfs that I've sent they came through fine.
  • Mobile-friendly site (doesn't need to have a mobile app, but would be nice if I could upload from my phone). Don't have a mobile phone and haven't looked at the css on that site.
4
  • Isn't there a payment per fax sent? I'm surprised that a service would let you send a fax at no charge. Mar 5, 2014 at 21:54
  • @Giles nope totally free up to the 5 - and actually I just realized it is not per month but per rolling 30 day period that you have 5 free. Mar 5, 2014 at 22:02
  • (I have been dealing with some doctors offices that haven't reached the 21st century yet and I couldn't find my USB rj45 modem so I've used all 5 in the last week - luckily I found my modem this morning) Mar 5, 2014 at 22:03
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    This was pretty painless, although I have to be honest: I had to use Google to figure out how to send a fax! (found the answer on Yahoo! Answers) Probably makes a lot more sense if you're actually using the system to get things signed, as is its stated purpose.
    – Shog9
    Mar 6, 2014 at 4:43
6

My immediate reaction was to recommend one of my favorite sites, Hellofax, but according to their pricing page they are subscription based if you go outside of the 5 free pages you get by signing up.

I've had a great experience with faxzero before I started being a Hellofax user, they send a cover page advertising themselves on free faxes but for $1.99 per fax you can remove that. It takes a bit for the fax to send, but it's not a waiting period or anything, you're literally waiting for the fax to send. I don't think they have a mobile website, however.

2
  • 1
    If you are sending a small amount of faxes, I strongly recommend you try out Hellofax even though it's subscription based, their site is really well done and lets you edit documents before you send them. Mar 5, 2014 at 18:56
  • 1
    Hellofax has a very slick, easy-to-use UI. But I have to say, Faxzero was the most straightforward AND fastest - for $2 I had a fax sent in less time than it took me to set up an account on either of the other two services. (I didn't try their free offer, since I'll gladly pay $2 not to have ads sent to the sorts of places I'd want to fax)
    – Shog9
    Mar 6, 2014 at 4:45
1

FAXOneOff.com is a pay as you go fax service for sending faxes. You don't have to register or sign up for the service. You just send a fax from their secure homepage (kind of like faxzero) - super simple.

It works from any browser, including mobile browsers - which is nice if you don't have a scanner, you can take a picture of your document and send it from your phone.

Confirmation speed depends on the number of pages you are sending and the recipient fax of course, but for anything less than 10 pages, it's usually less than 3 minutes.

They are not free, but they are cheaper than most of the services out there:

1-5 pages $1.99 + $0.20/page

6-20 pages $1.99 + $0.15/page

21+ pages $1.99 + $0.10/page

They take Visa, MC, Amex so you do not have to mess with PayPal if you do not have a PayPal account.

0

Try a Fax Burner app (iPhone/iPad) or website where you can receive and send faxes for free (within the limits) with the following features:

  • Disposable fax number (US)
  • Email-to-fax and Fax-to-email support

You'll receive a working 24h disposable fax number in a minute after sign-up.

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