Online Fax Comparisons
With online fax the way of the future when it comes to faxing, consumers have a wealth of choices when choosing a provider. It’s a buyer’s market, which means Internet fax services competing for your business offer great rates and rich service features. So how do you decide which online fax service provider is right for you? This section offers some tips to use when shopping around, and factors to consider and compare before making your final decision.
What To Look For In A Service Plan
Many Internet fax providers offer similar services and pricing plans, so you might need to dig deeper to find differences that will impact your faxing experience. Some things to review carefully are:
Extent of Included Features: While all online fax services offer the basic features for sending and receiving faxes, look further into the feature set to compare other tools that will enhance your faxing experience. For instance, being able to handle a number of different file formats, integration with commonly used programs and applications, fax alerts, delivery confirmations, fax forwarding and fax storage are handy features to have included in a plan.
User-Friendly Interface: Online faxing should be as easy as a few clicks. Take a look at the provider’s Web interface to determine how easy it is to find and use the service’s features and manage your account.
Customer Service Availability: The accessibility of an Internet fax service is essential, especially when you need technical support or have a question. Check to see if 24/7 customer support is provided, or whether the customer service hours accommodate your time zone. Also consider their contact methods. Comprehensive customer services include contact by online chat, email and phone.
Extent of Security Measures: While all Internet fax services secure their fax transmissions, the depth of the security measures is imperative for protecting your personal information. Proper security measures include 24/7 monitoring of their data centers, multiple firewalls, SSL data encryption during transmission, user authentication, operating system and database security, and backup and redundancy measures.
Price: While it’s natural to shop for the lowest price possible, it’s important to know what that price includes. As a gauge, the market standard for online fax services is $9.95 a month, which includes 300 total fax pages (sent or received) and 10 cents per page over the plan limit. However, some Internet fax services are less expensive and include more features than the market standard, while others cost more and offer less. Knowing complete details about a service plan, including its per fax page fee for going over the monthly limit, is essential for determining whether you are getting the best value for the price. It’s also important to look for hidden fees, like sign-up fees, an extra charge for a toll-free number and fax storage fees after a certain length of time.
Company Reputation: Before signing up with an Internet fax service, look at the company’s background and service reliability record. Check with the Better Business Bureau for their customer service reputation and read our online fax service reviews for an impartial, in-depth evaluation of the company and its services. Ask if the Internet fax provider offers a free trial offer or a money-back guarantee trial period and take advantage of it to get a hands-on look at how the service works.
How To Choose A Provider
With all things created equal among service plans, selection of an online fax service should be based on your needs. This checklist should help you in considering your faxing practices:
1. Think About How You Fax. Do you mostly send faxes, receive them, or both? This will help in choosing a plan that either offers a combined total of incoming and outgoing fax pages, or an unlimited number of either sent or received faxes.
2. Consider Your Fax Volume. If you fax a lot, you might want to select a plan that costs more per month, but includes more fax pages.
3. Decide How You Want To Fax. Do you still want to use your fax machine or do you want to be able to fax while on the go? Would you prefer an email fax platform only or have the options of email, Web interface, or fax machine? Not all online fax services accommodate all methods of Internet fax, so if you have preferences, look for providers that match them.