Fax to Mail VS Traditional Fax Machine

Faxing capabilities are some of the most indispensable technologies of a modern office. The ability to transmit signed and printed information quickly, anywhere in the world is required for successful business operations. However, today the faxing technology has changed a bit.

Faxing Services

With the increased use of the personal computers in the office environment, many companies are combining faxing and email capabilities. Sending faxes from a computer terminal requires three components: an Internet connection, email address and a subscription to a service.

Internet faxes are sent by dispatching an email to your fax service provider with the document attached. The attachment is converted by the service and sent by traditional phone line to the recipient's fax machine.

In order to receive faxes, your service provider assigns a toll-free telephone number for your contacts to use when sending documents. A sender who is using a fax machine dials the number, the document is sent to your service provider, who in turn receives the transmission and converts the fax to an email attachment. The document is then sent to your email address and can be opened and read as any standard email.

Traditional Fax Machines

Fax machines are pieces of equipment which send images and text from one point to another via telephone network.

Documents are fed into the machine and converted into machine-readable modulated sound. The data or image is then transmitted over a phone line connected to a public-switched telephone network. Therefore, in order for a fax machine to operate it must be connected to a telephone line. Many companies have telephone lines dedicated specifically for this. While smaller businesses often share fax and voice lines because special capabilities are not required.

When a fax number is entered by the sender, the machine dials the telephone number. After the receiving fax machine "answers," the data is then transmitted. The information is converted back to text or image and can be printed out on the receiver's end.