It really depends on your needs. There are many businesses that still rely
on faxes and cannot use e-mail. Most people don't realize that sending an
'internet fax' is really just sending a document to a third party, who then
actually sends the fax for you via telephone lines. Its not secure because
the fax has to go through a third-party. Most of these fax services charge
per page, and some also charge a monthly service charge and in reality you
could end of paying a lot more for faxing that you could do yourself - which
is just as easy and much more secure.
Yes, there are advantages of internet faxing, you don't need any extra
hardware or software or a telephone line to use, but the cost of a fax modem
is so cheap to buy anyway. Most already have the telephone line. The price
you'd pay for a month of service of internet fax could pay for your analog
fax modem. Cost of long distance in North America per minute now is
actually less than the per page prices some of these fax services charge.
For example, a 3 minute call at 6 cents a minute (lets say 3 average text
pages) might cost you 18 cents while some services will charge you 10-15
cents per page.
The ideal solution is to have an internet "pay as you use" service, and an
analogue fax modem (w/software) you can use when you need it.
Russ Valentine said:
I agree. As the number of users who still have an analog fax modem
continues to decline, Internet Fax Services are filling this need. Any of
the ones that are approved to integrate with Outlook should be fine. I've
used Venali with good success
(
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/EM010954981033.aspx?pid=CE010171881033),
and many of these firms are recognizing the need to present packages for
low volume users.
Another option, of course, arises when you realize that a simple
standalone fax machine costs less than the price difference between Vista
Home and Ultimate
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
David A. Lessnau said:
What kind of fax load are you talking about? If it's small, it might be
cheaper and easier to just use one of the internet faxing sites. For the
couple of faxes I send/receive each year, I use eFax and Fax1. I think
the Microsoft Office Marketplace might have more options.
Since home premium does not have the fax program in it..just wondering
if
there is one out there that will work with 32 and 64 bit...changing to
64 bit
soon as the dvd gets here
