Send and Receive Faxes Online - Free Services
By John Corcoran
This article lists the free online fax services out there. No fax machine required - all you need is Internet access. Not only will you save on ink and paper, you will save some money as well!
Online Fax Services
With online fax services, you don't need to have a fax machine to send or receive faxes. You can send documents or text from your browser or e-mail account direct to fax machines anywhere in the world. Some providers will even give you a free fax number where you can receive incoming faxes by e-mail (usually in a PDF attachment).
About Free Services
How do these companies provide such services for free? A lot of the free fax providers support their free service by putting ads on the cover page of your fax. Some do it as a preview for their paid service, and most provide either send-only or receive-only services for free, with the corresponding service being at a premium.
Do keep in mind however, when it comes to free services, the providers are under no obligation to get your fax to its intended destination in the timeframe you want, or even at all (after all, there are many other people using the service). These services are best for occasional or non-urgent use. For business use, it is better to go for the paid online fax services (which are still cheap).
Faxzero.com (Free To Send)
- Fax Microsoft Word (.DOC) documents, PDF files, or type in plain text.
- Covers the United States and Canada
- Ads on the fax cover page
- Limits: You may fax 1 document (max. 3 pages per document), and you are allowed a maximum of 2 faxes per day.
FaxDigits.com
(Free To Receive)
- Receive free unlimited incoming faxes in PDF form in your e-mail inbox.
- Free fax number (U.S number), which includes unlimited incoming calls.
- Control panel and call log feature.
Metrofax or Metrofax.net
(Free to Send)
- 'Nicely-formatted' faxes
- Faxes can be sent to most fax numbers in Maryland, D.C and Virginia.
- Requires free registration
Freefax.com
(Free to Send)
- Text-only faxes
- Worldwide coverage - Check coverage here
- Will display a third of a page of ads on the cover page.
Burnham-On-Sea.co.uk Free Fax
(Free to Send)
- Text-only faxes
- Worldwide coverage. Has a form where you can enter the recipient's fax number and it will check if that fax destination is covered.
Sendsmshere.com Free Fax Service
(Free to Send)
- Text-only faxes
- Worldwide coverage - check list of countries
- Can send anonymous faxes
TPC Fax
(Free To Send)
- Text-only faxes
- Worldwide coverage - Check coverage here.
- Can send faxes via the web interface or from your e-mail client
FaxIt Nice
(Free to Send)
FaxIt Nice provides a free fax service as a preview of their paid service.
- Fax Word or PDF documents
- Coverage - U.S only
If the URL above doesn't work, try this link
Fax34223.co.za
(Free to Receive)
- Receive faxes directly to your e-mail inbox (as PDF or TIFF) via a free fax number.
- Receive a free (FREECALL) 0866xxxxxx fax number for life.
- Coverage - Works within South Africa only