Online faxing is actually a very simple procedure and most of the hard work is carried out by your account provider.  They will take care of all of the necessary formatting issues so that you can send and receive faxes to and from other online fax numbers and also traditional fax machines.

How Does Online Faxing Work?

When you send an online fax you will first need to scan the paper document into your computer and save it in a standard file format such as DOC, PDF, TIFF or JPEG.  You would then log in to your account and select the file you want to send and also the destination number.  Once you have clicked on submit your online account provider will take care of converting this electronic document file into a format that can be transmitted over the Standard Telephone Network so that it can be read and received by traditional fax machines.  When you receive a fax in your online account this process will happen again (in reverse) and the fax would be converted into an electronic file that would appear in your online fax account just like an email.

What does Online Faxing Cost?

Costs vary across the different online fax services available, but in general you could expect to pay around $12 to $16 per month for a standard online fax plan.  You do need to watch out for hidden costs that can push the prices up higher than you expected though.  This can include overage fees if you go over the agreed account limitations on sent/received pages (usually around 500 per month) or fax online storage (around 30 days maximum).

Security

You do need to think about the security of your online fax account if you regularly send private or confidential faxes.  Make sure you check that the account provider has a good security policy in place and adequate encrypted SSL software.