Is Fax Dead Yet?

Can you say computer phobic?

CPA's are somewhat behind the time when it comes to technology.

No, they are smart. And us guys should sometimes think about it as well. There is hardly anything more reliable than POTS. How often have you seen an NNTP error, a server not responding at all, or the "Ready" light on the modem being off? Phone and fax always work unless some kid wrecks out in a suped-up low rider and hits a major connection box in which case Internet would be dead as well.

Case in point: Yesterday before lunch someone needed to see a copy of a document, quickly. Internet was already off, plus I had to leave in about 30 seconds. Now try that situation via email attachment. I just slapped it onto the fax machine, keyed in the number, hit "Send", done. Took less than the 30secs I had.

The next case, about 2hrs later: I needed to see a quote from an EMC lab. Customer said that scanning would be cumbersome because the bizhub thingie is at the end of a hallway and he was in a hurry as well, didn't want to dash back into the office to then take that file and prepare an email. Told him to fax it, he was glad I had a fax. So he put it on the bizhub, keyed in my fax number, hit "Send" and went on to his meeting. Very practical.

Also, emails can linger in cyberspace for quite some time, especially at times when everybody is downloading the latest rap song. A fax is instant, point to point. I could hear the fax machine spool up about two minutes after the call, roughly the time it takes for a brisk walk down that hallway and keying in the number. There were days when the client's engineer had my answer text-messaged by the time everybody had taken their seat in the meeting room.

Not to be too much of a foil here, Joerg, but there are plenty of scanners/MFP machines out there that can directly e-mail a PDF from a scanned paper document. (Everywhere I've worked in the past 5+ years now has had one... they plug into your Ethernet network and then connect directly through whatever your Internet connection is...)

Typing in an e-mail address does take longer than dialing a phone number, though. :-) And you've made some good points that FAX definitely has some points in its favor over e-mail, but I'm not convinced those are compelling enough that FAX machines are going to survive much longer.

I have several billing situations where I E-mail the invoice, the responsible engineer signs it off and FAXes it back to me. Then I scan it and E-mail to their accounts payable department ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Well, try typing my email address into a machine that only has the numerical keypad. It's possible but a real pain when the meeting starts in 30 seconds.

My main gripe with the web is reliability. It ain't there. It's like VoIP where I am sometimes tempted to tell folks to get a real phone. But I have to tread carefully since they are often clients.

scanners/MFP

Hmm, mine are nowadays very often accepted as PDF sans signature. Overseas clients then wire the funds which costs fees but saves the trip to the bank.

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scanners/MFP

Yep. $25 + $12 = $37 typically :-(

...Jim Thompson

Indeed. When I was at the SoS a few years ago we installed two Savin

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scanners/MFP

Hmm, BofA seems to charge less. I have the fees come in three tiers: $10, $20 and $28. Nobody has ever been able to explain to me what the basis for that is and when what gets charged. It's pretty much like the lottery.

scanners/MFP

Usually until the first one has reached a Blackberry or some poor guy in Upper Podunk on a noisy dial-up. Downloading 1 of 1 Emails, 2% complete,

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the

scanners/MFP

some

compelling

Mine come thru JP Morgan Chase...

$25 originating bank

$12 on Chase's end

...Jim Thompson

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scanners/MFP

Well, blame the carriers for not giving better bandwidth or broadband connections everywhere.

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scanners/MFP

Easier said than done when the carrier is a monopoly and it's a sparsely populated area where the ROI for them would be near zilch.

Some folks out here are on Hughes Net which works ok. Except when the weather gets really bad or something. Then phone and fax is the only thing that gets through.

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scanners/MFP

I have to use a web-based time accounting app, then either print the output to PDF and email, or to a dead tree and fax to my handler. Ain't computers wunnerful?

You or the client?

...

That doesn't produce much money.

The customer might not always right, but the customer is always the one who pays my bills. :-)

Thanks, Rich

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scanners/MFP

The client. But then my bank slaps on their own fee even though they shouldn't. Sometimes I can get that reimbursed by the bank.

Not necessarily. Case in point: Yesterday we needed a schematic while at the EMC lab. You know, the place where the Dollar clock ticks at several bucks per minute. So it had to be fast. Fax -> bzzzzzt -> beep -> done.