Can someone explain how efax works? My client opened her own account but said her free trial is up. She wants me to research other free options. I thought efax offered a totally free acount as well as a paying one.

Thanks!

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Lori

So do you have to have a fax number first in order to use this? Thanks for the info Gals, I love hearing about "free" products and services!!
Someone wanted to fax me something the other day and I didnt have a way to do it, so I will try it out!!

Has anyone ever had someone's line transferred to your line in order to answer calls for them? (I'm sure tons of you have!!) If so, can you please explain to me how this works?

Thank you very much for all the great info here!!

Karen

I just signed up for the free incoming faxes on eFax and my clients will have to pay a long distance rate to send faxes. This shouldn't be an issue though since most of my clients aren't local. Those who don't want to fax, scan documents and attach to an email. For confidential documents, we still Fedex or USPS and insure. Does anyone know of a better way to send confidential docs?

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Jenny McKinney
http://www.offsiteofficepro.com

I went to eFax but did not see a free option. Am I missing something? Thanks

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Bonnie
Protege Business Solutions, L.L.C.

I've been looking around for faxing options - thanks for the info!

Thanks for posting Faxzero. I had RingCentral a while back, but I had issues so I ended up cancelling that service. I get a rare fax here and there, and I still have the need to send here and there as well, so this is a great option for the sending end!

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Doreen R. Patrick, MVA, ACS, CIVA
www.virtualbusinesspartners.net

I had an efax # for over a year and then last month received more than 20 faxes for the month (highly unusual) and found out about the 20 faxes or less per month or upgrade feature. I was able to set up a new line after speaking with their support team. I was told I would have to wait 30 days to set up a new account.

I use trustfax.com for my outgoing faxes. They offer a basic local plan for $4.95 a month which includes 100 incoming / 50 outgoing pages per month. I have a toll free line for $4.95 a month which includes 50 pages a month in/out. This really hasn't been an issue as I don't use the fax that much. Last month was an just an odd month. Anyway, efax is great for the free option. I use the toll free line in my signature and the efax for a client that has been sending me quite a few faxes lately.

Just my 2 cents.

Michelle

Just found a site that compares E Fax Service.

Here is the link.

http://www.fax-compare.com/home

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Sarah Mosure

I read this information on the forum and wanted to let you know I took your advice and am set up with my fax and myvoice which is great so far! Its $10/month each after 30 days trial and I get 100 free minutes on my business line and it has some really nice features!
Can anyone suggest what head set works good for scribe and also for skype?

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Deana

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to throw my two cents in here, too. Sara Mosure (mosureofficesolutions) suggested Vonage. My husband and I have an account with them, too. If you are a small business owner, Vonage will offer the service for free provided their technicians have to provision the device before you add it. So, feel free to check it out! www.vonage.com

Thanks!

Kathya

One comment that I would like to present since I've been doing fax research. If you don't receive a prompt reply from the sales or support department - just think of how they'll respond when you are their customer! I've found this once already with an online "chat" at one company. We were connected and chatting, but he took forever to reply almost like he didn't know the sansers. I became so impatient, that I replied back I would not use their service based on our "chat".

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The Doctor's Rx
"The Doctor's Prescription for Success"

These are the companies I researched for online fax service:

• Faxdigits
• Faxzero
• MyFax
• CallWave (I use to have this company and they were great, but pricing has increase since I used them before.
• K7net
• Efax
• echosign
• Srfax
• Onesuite
• RingCentral
• Trustfax

After doing much research I narrowed down my research to three companies.

• Trustfax
• Echosign
• Onesuite

Here were the items I researched:

1. Set-up fee
2. Monthly fee
3. Incoming cost
4. Outgoing cost
5. Storage (for how long)
6. Required to download a software to use fax service
7. Customized coversheet / Did the company have thier name on the cover sheet?
8. Digital signature
9. Deactivation for non-use
10. Requires a contract
11. Can cancel at any time
12. Change of your fax number if you up or down grade your plan
13. Would you service cancel if you did not use their service for 30 day or have a zero balance.

I'm able to email my contract, but wanted a fax that I wouldn't have to sit at the combo printer/fax machine or shut off my recorder/voicemail waiting for an incoming fax. A couple years ago we used CallWave before when we had dial up and it was a true treasure. We used CallWave as an internet answering machine plus a fax in one low monthly fee. They increase their fax fee, so they were out of the running since others were lower and had other options.

Here's what I was looking for: I can email documents from my computer, so I really don't need a stand-alone fax. If I do, I can use my printer/fax combo for outgoing faxes. What I did need was a stand along fax for incoming faxes and avoid paying the $24 per month extra line fee with the phone company. So finding a company that had a low monthly fee and low incoming fax fees were what I was looking for. In addition, I didn't want a company who had their name on the cover sheet. One company was out of business (K7.net) and another I dropped promptly since they had poor online chatting. I figured if they didn't take care of my chatting how would they be for support.

Onesuite had a low month fee of $1 for Basic and $2.95 for their Plus plan. The would only allow 100 pages to be sent under the plan and they required their software to be loaded on your computer in addition to a "sorta" customized cover sheet.

Echosign was a close 2nd choice. I liked the fact of the digital signature. Their monthly fee was Free or $14.95, so for the price it was a no.

TrustFax was the perfect choice for me. They offer 25-hour support which is a huge bonus especially when we can work with clients everywhere. They offer so many choices of plans that you can truly find one that will work for you - they offer annual or monthly plans. I liked the fact that I didn't have to download "their" software and their cover sheet doesn't have thier name on it. I chose the Power Local $29.95 plan that offers 50 FREE pages per year out going and 150 bonus incomming with 20 MB of monthly storage and a local number. As mentioned above, the incomming was important to me. You can upgraded the Power Local to a toll free number for I believe $5 more per year. I chose the 30 trial which will roll over to the $29.95 in 30 days, which works out to $2.49 per month and can be upgraded anytime thru my account.

I want to thank Deb with Greenleaf Accounting here in the VAF's for the recommendation of Trustfax. Today I emailed asking her for her referral code, so she could get credit. If you choose to try Trustfax, please use think of me as your referral source.

Thank you!

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The Doctor's Rx
"The Doctor's Prescription for Success"

Robin,

Thank you so much for that wonderful and thorough run-down of fax services!! I'm trying to decide if it's something I want to have or not, and you've certainly given me a lot of information.

Cheers,

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Circle Assistants

This is a great thread. I have alot of research to do now.