I sold my fax modem years ago. Now I use a web-to-fax service for 10 cents per outgoing fax. I don't fax very often and over the years it hasn't even totaled yet to a large coffee. However, nobody can fax in but nobody does anyways..
Has fax faded away yet? Should a business still be faxable? Or does fax look old fashioned these days?
Let's say...
Fax # on business cards Fax # on signs Fax # on web sites Fax # on vans Fax # on T shirts
I think fax is not worthy of the added text space anymore.
Good question... I average sending 1 fax per week, receive 1 fax per month.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
My choice is to keep it around for a while yet (incoming and outgoing), but not advertise or encourage it.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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"it\'s the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
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Signatures on docs (followed by snail mail originals) gets things moving when the movers are inclined and available to do so. This doesn't necessarily mean you need to have your own machine... if you don't mind your receiving end sniffing confidential stuff....
My fax number costs $5 a month. The machine itself is a decade old, but still dances with current MS OS. It still pays for itself.
How much does text space cost? A strange question from a usenet typist
- a veritable can of worms where professionalism is concerned.
Spammers passed the technology by about eight years ago, so maybe that tells you something.
What I'd really like to have had was a telex terminal - now there's a dusty establishment symbol.
"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
Yea me to, but that one Fax in is usually very important, like a PO or something that needs signing and returned. Buyers at large companies still like Fax. Cheers Harry
I think Olimex, the pcb, people need you to fax back with a CreditCard number, and as an order confirmation. Probably saves the need for a secure website Seems very sensible
Excluding fax spam I suppose.. Which brings in another thought.. Perhaps most spammers have given up on fax. Another sign that fax is going...going...gone.
We still get a lot of purchase orders by fax. Outgoing, we do the occasional legal or medical (insurance stuff, prescriptions to providers) stuff. Maybe a few a day on average.
Spam (we get thousands per day) makes email a less reliable way to send important docs; some get killfiled by accident.
Our new Sharp digital copy machine has a bulk scanner mode. It will feed and digitize an entire document, both sides, and email anyone either a pdf file or a zillion tiff's. Very slick.
We run our business with an electronics fax service. Incoming: pdf to email. Outgoing: email and/or attached document to fax number. Used standard local phone number.
simple stuff and cheap we use
formatting link
but there are dozens of services around.
Govt, and edu dept's insist on a faxed Purchase Order, but as we only sell mail order via the web, we tell them to put in a shopping cart order. The fax is of no use to us.
We do have a fax machine here, but only use it when we have to fax a dozen physical pages. Even then, we have to connect it up to a line.
We also insist on proof of ID under some circumstances, but we mostly accept scanned documents.
Don...
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Don McKenzie
Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
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Just as there are printer drivers that allow you to direct the output of an app to a PDF file, there are printer drivers that allow you to send a fax from a computer. Last I checked, Windoze has it as a feature/option.
The sign-this-and-return-it thing has been brought up. That seems to be the only common use of fax these days.
If that never is an issue for you (and I think you would have mentioned it if it was), then going for ~4 months without any luddite clients (or potential clients) sending you enough business via fax to offset the expense, says it's time to think seriously about that whole thing.
I get several junk faxes a week... on my PC-based WinFax. I fax back
20 pages of solid black... hoping they have a conventional paper fax ;-)
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
I have a fax modem hooked up to the main telephone. It's off when I'm not faxing. Combine that with a scanner and printer, and I have all the faxing capabilities I need, at no monthly cost.
My mom, who is less technically inclined than I am, has a multi-function printer that includes faxing. Again, she just leaves it not plugged in to the phone when she's not faxing.
I use my fax monthly to submit receipts for expense reports. Saves a stamp. We're trying to figure out how to do an email gateway for it.
No, I don't think so. I work for a large company and we rely on faxes daily. Email has replaced a lot of the functionality, but as mentioned, for things like PO's, general ordering, many companies still want to do business with us via fax.
I personally own a fax machine --- a $75 model bought 10 years ago still works perfectly. I honestly never liked fax modems although I have had them for years. Although I'm not like this in respect to most technology, I've always hated faxing through a PC. It just had too many problems, and the software was never perfect enough --- it might miss a fax call or the fax modem would have problems sync'ing up to a remote. I noticed international faxing with modems was very unreliable, but my fax machine always worked well. (there's probably a technical underlying reason for this, but who cares? just use the fax machine)
I think faxes carry a little more weight than emails. While travelling overseas on various vacations, I've always insisted that the hotels send confirmation via fax(even if booked online) because their letterhead, etc, is nice to whip out if they do the "we don't have your reservation in the computer" trick.
....And it has happened. On more than one occasion. Many people have an inherent mistrust of things digital, whether misplaced or not. Too easily forged or edited in Word or whatever. I think a fax would be more acceptable evidence in a trial than an email......
Until the day cometh, and it usually will, where one of these hits you or your client:
a. The ISP goes down. b. Their ISP blocks your ISP's domain to "protect" against spam. c. Some confidential stuff absolutely cannot cross the web. d. A barrage of clever spam hits and the filter becomes overwhelmed.
My clients have experienced a,b and c and consequently I always keep a fully functional fax machine plus a backup.
--
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com/
"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.
One customer insists on faxing order numbers through, which as the customer is always right is the perfect reason to keep it. It'll also do a 'copy' in seconds without the tedious rigaramole of PC/scanner/printer and dealing with scads of buggy software. It'll also send a hand sketch instantly. And best of all, it contains within those mysterious and complex, clanking and whirring innards, a known-to-be-working, full page width, thermal print head (8 dots per mm + paper cutter!), that may yet see further service as a hard copy output for a data logger I'm thinking about ;)
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