From...

July 13, 1999
Web posted at: 8:34 a.m. EDT (1234 GMT)

by David Strom

(IDG) -- There's nothing more frustrating for a business traveler than trying to send and receive faxes on the road. Having your most confidential business dealings exposed to the world of front-desk clerks -- or just plain lost in transit -- makes any trip irritating. And trying to stay put in one place long enough to receive a fax can be tough.

Fortunately, there are several Internet faxing services available that can make things easier, using either existing e-mail software or the Web to send and receive faxes securely and with less trouble. Although Internet faxing isn't new, in recent months these providers have added functions and made their products easier and cheaper to operate.

In most cases, the best solution for sending faxes is to use a fax modem on your PC, but that may not be practical when you travel and are expecting a fax or just want to fire one off quickly.

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Enter the Internet fax providers. Some offer services for both sending and receiving faxes; others specialize in one direction only. The sending/outbound services work in one of four ways:

•  Through an e-mail gateway maintained by the service provider. You compose your fax as an e-mail message and send to a special e-mail address that's maintained by the fax service provider, which transforms your message into a fax. This is the easiest method to use because there's nothing to learn and you can send messages to mixed fax and e-mail addresses.

•  Through a Windows printer driver on your local PC. This is best if you compose your faxes with Microsoft Corp. Office applications such as Word.

•  Through a series of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts you install on your Web server. This is good if you want to quickly install a fax gateway on your local network.

•  Through a Web form hosted on the fax service provider's Web site, which you fill out to send the fax -- great for occasional use.

One of the advantages of outbound services is the low rate for sending international faxes compared with the cost of using ordinary, dial-up phone lines. If you do a lot of international faxing, consider using those services exclusively.

Other advantages over traditional, paper faxing are that some services send confirmations on successful transmissions to your e-mail and you don't waste time trying to send a fax to a busy fax machine -- the services will make several attempts to send your fax.

But those services are just for sending faxes. There are other service providers that specialize in receiving faxes. They typically assign you a fax number in another area code and route the faxes to your own e-mail, as an attachment or to a place on their Web site where you can view your faxes. You may require special viewing software to see the fax attachment image or you may be able to use Windows Imaging or your Web browser to view it. Those services range from free to fee-based, depending on whether you want to use a supplied phone number or choose one that has an area code closer to your home. Some providers also offer toll-free fax numbers for an additional monthly cost.

Speaking of fees, in some cases, you'll end up paying an initial account setup fee and either a per-page cost for your fax or a monthly charge that will cover a certain number of faxes. At around 10 cents per page or less, all compare favorably with the cost of sending ordinary faxes over regular phone lines.

Listed below are reviews of nine providers and the technologies they support. Of the three described in detail, Jfax has the best range of both inbound and outbound technologies and NetMoves/FaxSav the most complete outbound offerings. EFax is a good first-time solution for outbound users as well.

eFax.com
(650) 324-0600

EFax was the first company to offer free inbound faxes to the public, but unlike Jfax, you'll need to download its viewing software to see your faxes, which arrive as e-mail attachments.

EFax also has an arrangement with eGroups that each eGroup will have access to its own fax number, allowing physical documents to be sent to the discussion groups.

It offers toll-free fax numbers, which cost $30 per year, an initial fee of $5 and 10 cents per page received. It doesn't currently offer any outbound services.

NetMoves Corp.
(732) 906-2000

NetMoves used to be called FaxSav, another longtime fax provider. It recently dropped its fees and offers a great many services for less than $5 a month, including an inbound fax number in its area code, special Windows print driver faxing software (FaxLauncher) and 100 pages, both inbound and outbound, per month. If you use more than your 100 pages, the cost is 5 cents per page.

If you want to specify the area code for your inbound number, it will cost an additional $3 per month. NetMoves has other outbound services including CGI scripts (FaxProxy) that turn your Web server into a fax machine and an e-mail gateway (FaxMailer).

Jfax.com Inc.
(888) 438-5329

Jfax was one of the original fax providers and has the most complete range of services.

The company was created by German rock star Jaye Muller, who was frustrated at missing his faxes when he traveled. Jfax offers two inbound services, both of which don't require any additional viewing software.

You can get a free fax number in a random area code, or, if you desire, a specific area code in one of 60 locations (or a toll-free number) that you can obtain for a monthly fee of $12.50. In addition, the company offers an outbound e-mail gateway under its Jfaxsend.com domain, which also has a $12.50 monthly fee.