A VC« SueTube | Main | Cortez The Killer »
eFaxing
So I've concluded its time to jetison our fax machine and go to a service that sends and receives faxes via email.
I want to redirect our home fax number to a eFax service. And use our scanner to scan documents and then email them to fax machines.
I know there are a bunch of such services to choose from.
Any recommendations?
Comments (47) | Posted March 13, 2007 in Venture Capital and Technology
Comments
We use efax.com. The best part is any time we get a fax I get it to my blackberry so I know when it arrives. Plus you aren't restricted by location so you can see the fax anywhere (oh the beauty of this highly connected world). We've had it for about a year now and I highly recommend it.
Seeing how it seems to be cool for old money to sue new money, I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see phone companies offering fax to slap them with some phony billion dollar patent infringement a la VOIP, YouTube, and Napster.
In any case, it's easy, fast, and cheap. Great for a startup!
Posted by: Sam Tarantino | Mar 13, 2007 9:19:40 PM
I highly suggest myfax.com
IT is cheap, and BY FAR the best. Comes to the blackberrry, and can convert almost any file into a fax!
Posted by: KEndal H | Mar 13, 2007 9:25:24 PM
I used to used eFax and recently switched to myFax.com. eFax has a desktop application that is buggy and sucks up system resources.
myFax.com is completely web-based and there's no sign up fee. I've been using it for a few months and can't recommend it highly enough.
Had some problems with eFax off and on while using it.
Good luck.
Posted by: Russ | Mar 13, 2007 9:40:22 PM
Definitely myFax! Their customer service is awesome and very easy to use. You can also set up multiple email addresses (up to 3 I believe) that can 'share' the fax number.
Posted by: dmarkland | Mar 13, 2007 9:50:43 PM
Hi Fred
I have used efax for years. Not the cheapest but works like a charm on Macs and Windows. You can choose pdf or other formats to email forward all incoming faxes.
Best
Keith
Posted by: Keith Teare | Mar 13, 2007 9:59:17 PM
Here's a 2007 comparison matrix:
http://faxing-service-review.toptenreviews.com/
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Mar 13, 2007 10:42:28 PM
Now that I'm reading the comparison matrix, I don't understand how they missed eFax..
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Mar 13, 2007 10:44:59 PM
I dumped eFax because of their buggy/bloated software and have used MyFax for the last 6 months. It works like a charm. Documents come as a PDF and are e-mailed very quickly after being received.
I highly recommend MyFax.com
Posted by: Matt Moog | Mar 13, 2007 10:51:23 PM
I've used jConnect (www.j2.com) for some time... j2 owns both j2 and eFax, although there are different plans on each. The service has been pretty reliable, although on occasion it takes longer to send/receive than it should. I might try something cheaper, but none of the fax service providers seem to support number portability...
Posted by: Dave! | Mar 13, 2007 10:51:59 PM
If you are using a blackberry then you want to make sure your faxes come as PDF attachments and not TIFF or some proprietary format. If they come as PDF's and you use the latest Blackberry Enterprise Server then you can open the attachment and read the fax on your blackberry.
We use VirtualPBX.com but that is for our phone system and everything. Might be an overkill for what you need.
Posted by: Khalid H. | Mar 13, 2007 10:59:20 PM
I've used maxemail for about 4 years and never had a problem. I don't know how it compares in price as my volume is low enough that I have never bothered to check.
Posted by: COD | Mar 13, 2007 11:00:45 PM
I've used maxemail.com for faxing for several years now, very easy to use.
Posted by: Peter Davis | Mar 13, 2007 11:05:42 PM
Have you thought about email? Just kidding.
I hate efax, but I pay the $10 per month.
Frankly, the scanning thing is a nuisance with multiple pages. If I had a decent fax machine, I'd ditch efax.
Posted by: Rick | Mar 13, 2007 11:05:47 PM
Another vote for myfax. I used efax for a number of years, but myfax is cheaper, offers a toll-free number (for less) and has been quite good for several months.
Posted by: Jim Duncan | Mar 13, 2007 11:10:26 PM
I highly recommend InterFAX; www.interfax.net. It's not exactly what you are looking for because their services are designed more for programmers and startups who want to integrate faxing into their applications (web based or otherwise), but their services are top notch and worth mentioning. If you are a developer, you can get unlimited free faxing to a single phone number (for testing/development purposes) and they provide sample code and multiple API's. It costs almost nothing and takes very little work to make a web based app send a fax (as opposed or in addition to an email) with InterFAX which is really useful for startups that are trying to bridge the "brick and mortar" and online business gap.
Posted by: Jason Gill | Mar 13, 2007 11:49:04 PM
Hi Fred, I have used myfax for the past year and its great for sending and receiving faxes all from your PC/laptop. No client or app to download to use it.
Posted by: Luis | Mar 13, 2007 11:51:50 PM
Fred,
Your just now getting rid of that old fire breathing steam engine we called the fax machine? I have used eFax.com for years and love it! Faxes immediately, no matter where you are. You can't beat it! - They are one of the older firms around, but from what I can tell from friends who have tried others, eFax.com is the best. I am very pleased, and have been since 2002!
Posted by: Stephen L. McKay | Mar 14, 2007 12:33:05 AM
i highly recommend trustfax.com.
works great, faxes arrive via email as PDFs and there is no software required
Posted by: Kurt | Mar 14, 2007 1:17:55 AM
ha..I was going to say MyFax. Actually I was the lead web architect for MyFax.com. I also was the lead creative in the rebranding of MyFax. It used to be called virtual fax. I worked with them to design the entire web site's functionality. Knowing the system quite well I can recommend it. :-)
Posted by: adrian salamunovic | Mar 14, 2007 1:47:32 AM
I use packetel.com. They give you a local number and you can receive unlimited faxes for $3.95 per month. No setup, installation, or any hidden charges. Faxes are emailed in tiff or pdf format. I went with packetel because it was getting really expensive to receive faxes through myfax.com. I use my regular fax machine to send out faxes. Works perfect. I suggest you try packetel.com
Posted by: Andrew | Mar 14, 2007 2:40:25 AM
Like Davel I've used jfax (now j2) since 1998 around when they started. Never had any problems and it's really convenient. Some advice:
1 - Ignore their brain-damaged software. Set it to send you a PDF, and send to it by just sending it....documents! (Word, PDF, etc). Works great with a Mac too.
2 - for sending actual paper faxes to people I almost always use a conventional fax machine (why not, it's fine for that). I also find the fujitsu scansnap scanner really good.
Posted by: DV Henkel-Wallace | Mar 14, 2007 2:52:46 AM
I get a lot of spam with efax which I'm forced to open because of pdf delivery. If you could ask how spam level is on myfax, that would be great. It sounds like it's time for me to switch pending the answer to that.
Posted by: Dorrian | Mar 14, 2007 3:24:23 AM
I agree with Andrew. Packetel works great.
Posted by: Knox | Mar 14, 2007 7:35:13 AM
I used efax for years but got tired of them cranking up the fee constantly. I received not more than one fax a month (who sends faxes?) but they wanted me to pay $12 or something per month. I cancelled it and miss it, but couldn't stand the fee. I may try myfax.com.
Posted by: Paul Lightfoot | Mar 14, 2007 7:54:56 AM
Hi Fred,
Like Andrew, I too use jfax (j2.com) which I pay for because I have had it forever and it is a legacy number (and since it has voicemail, it is my default phone number for web registrations). For work, we use eFax which also works well. In both cases, skip the software.
I would also like to echo the recommendation for the Fujitsu ScanSnap S500 scanner-- it is awesome, super fast, smart (autosenses color and 2 sided docs), includes a full Adobe PDF license, and just works. Pretty close to magic, actually. Plus it has an incredibly small footprint so it's very home office friendly:
http://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-ScanSnap-18PPM-36IPM-Scanner/dp/B000F3YSQ4/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4729617-8752633?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1173873309&sr=8-1
Posted by: Tom | Mar 14, 2007 8:03:32 AM
Main RSS Feed of All Posts
VC and Technology Posts Only
