I need to fax a document from my computer. Fax Zero will only allow three pages. Does anyone know a free and secure way to do this? Thanks.
In an earlier thread, several people recommended fax.plus (10 pages free).
I have no personal experience with it, though. I always use FaxZero and pony up the $2.09.
Windows 10 has FAX software built in. Type “Fax” in your Start Search box and Windows Fax and Scan will come up.
That only works if you have a land line. And a fax modem or 3 in 1 printer. Not everyone does these days.
That’s right, except you don’t need a 3 in 1 printer.
You’d think the decline of the modem would have been parallelled by the demise of the FAX. It was a protocol that practically screamed “obsolete” as long ago as 1995, when any sane person would prefer an email with a full color scan file attachment instead of a black and white analog that leaves you with a paper printout after a series of phone calls: “I’m sending you a FAX ok?” “Yes that’s the correct number, just wait until it goes to voicemail and follow the instructions…” “OK I sent it, did you get it?”
I’ve sent two FAXes in the last five years. Both times I walked my old laptop down into the den where we have a landline and that laptop is old enough to have a modem port.
Do you have a printer and access to a library?
Thanks, all. I used fax.plus and it says it went through. We’ll find out on Monday. I’m not sure if I have the capability to use the built in Windows fax. It’s good to know it’s there.
I think it’s been at least that long since I sent a fax too. And the last time I did, I used one or another of the on line services.
I still have an old serial port fax modem in a box somewhere. I don’t have a land line though. I’m not sure why I keep it around. Now that I think on it, I don’t have a computer with a serial port either.
I send probably 20 or more faxes a week, so faxing has not exactly gone the way of Pony Express.
mmm
Lemme guess. Attorneys? Doctors?
I agree that it hasn’t walked off the stage into the obsolescence it deserves. I expected it to a long long time ago. A few ass-backwards professions insist on using them though.
Yes. I think medicine and insurance are the only industries that still rely heavily on faxes.
Not sure about law but that sounds plausible.
Please note that I agree that there are much better alternatives.
mmm
If your client group includes people in jail, who aren’t allowed any e-mail access by the corrections system, how would you suggest they be allowed to send documents back and forth with their lawyer, in a way that they can do themselves, to preserve solicitor-client privilege?
Been awhile since I was in jail. It does seem like a reasonable point, but I’m surprised that the corrections system gives them access to a FAX machine. And reciprocally it seems like it would be easy enough for them to supply a terminal with a GUI that would let jailed people access webmail but would not execute any applications. Would also not assume that the folks running corrections would be incapable of spooling a copy of outbound FAXes to read if they were inclined to spy or intrude on privacy. At any rate, append “corrections system” to the professions clinging to the past.
I think you hit on why they’re still in use, without actually saying it.
Faxing is fundamentally a point-to-point method- your fax machine negotiates a handshake with the receiving one, and then the data is sent. There’s no storing, forwarding, addressing, packets, etc… like there is with email, and as such, faxing is considered more secure, as someone would basically have to listen in on the entire transmission and record it in order to get the message, unlike email, where there are more options for nefarious behaviors.
Of course there are various sorts of encryption used in emails and secure email methods and providers, but that’s a fairly recent thing; back when we all figured faxes would die a swift death, there wasn’t any of that, so faxes hung on due to security reasons. In fact, faxes are HIPAA compliant, unlike a lot of secure email methods.
I’m surprised that you don’t slam the automotive industry as being an “ass-backwards profession” for insisting on using the wheel.
If something remains in use far longer than you think it “should,” perhaps you should re-calibrate your personal definition of “backwards” and “obsolete.”
Lesson for the day:
Just because an invention is old, does not mean that it should be discarded. Sometimes things remain in use for a long time precisely because they fulfill a need.
Yes, some professions like doctors and lawyers prefer a technology which is compliant with their legal duties of confidentiality:
I’d be shocked if any jail or prison in the US allowed incarcerated people independent access to fax machines. * And although the incarcerated in my state’s prisons have access to email , any communication with a lawyer sent through it will not be treated as legal correspondence and is subject to monitoring etc. The only way to have correspondence with a lawyer,doctor ( and a few other entities) treated as privileged correspondence is to send it by snail mail.
* I do know that it’s often possible to get a document to someone incarcerated as I do it fairly often - but it involves faxing or emailing it to staff at the facility who then get it to the incarcerated individual.
That seems a rather bizarre comparison. The wheel is an invention that is still being used all over the world in all devices. Nothing at all has replaced it for the vast majority of its uses, both mechanical and for transportation.
The fax machine, on the other hand, is an old technology that has been superseded for decades now by other services that are more capable, efficient, and secure. Even their required infrastructure—the phone landline—is falling out of fashion. The only reason they stick around is because some industries have not standardized on one of many more secure replacements.
The websites we use on a daily basis can send more information faster and have better security than faxes. Nearly all sites these days use end-to-end encryption, meaning no one can snoop on it in any way, even the least important sites you use. This is not true at all for faxes.
If fax machines ceased to exist tomorrow, there would be some disruption in certain industries, but everything they do could easily be replaced with something else (that is more efficient, convenient, and secure). This is not remotely true of the wheel.
It’s no more point-to-point than a secure internet connection, and probably shares the same data lines. The signal is digitized, packetized, and routed to the destination. The data may pass through several third-party providers. It’s an illusion that it’s somehow more secure than an encrypted connection. You don’t even have any certainty that you’re sending the fax to the right party.