Several years ago, I signed up with a service called eFax, which let me, for free, receive faxes by e-mail. Folks would call a number (up in Minnesota, I believe) from their fax machine, and it would automagically route to my work e-mail account. Since I receive very few faxes, to be honest, it seemed a very convenient way to do things while on the road or working from home or the like, especially since the only cost was the occasional (well, a few times a week) spam mail from eFax offering me junk I didn’t want. If I really wanted to make use of the service, or get a local area code, or an 800 fax number, I knew I could subscribe for their pay service ($13/mo.), but I really didn’t need that.
I knew there was a maximum I could receive in any one month, but, as I said, I get, at most, a fax or two a month, labor corrections or overtime approvals or stuff like that. No problem.
Well, somehow, this past month I received over twenty pages (some vendor info, some OT and labor correction notices, etc.). Which led to some e-mail from eFax, saying, “Well, now you’ve done it.”
Seems that the over-20 number is the Line of Death for the free eFax. Not, “well, you’ve gone over, so no more faxing for you this month,” but “well, you’ve gone over, so no more faxing for you, for free, ever.”
*Sigh*
I really don’t need to spend $13/mo. for fax service. It’s a convenience, not a necessity. In theory I have a fax machine at home (though we really need to get rid of that line), to receive things in a pinch. I hate to give it up (and will keep it on my home e-mail), but the free days are over. Unless someone has something similar to recommend.
Well, I could actually set up a new dummy e-mail account on my home domain, set it to auto-forward to my office, and route a new free eFax number there. Hmmmmm … well, no, that wouldn’t work — not only would it violate their customer agreement, but it might endanger my other free account. Nertz.
One possibility: K7. Looks cheesy, though. Doing a quick Google around, it seems that eFax/J2 has bought out most of the other free fax firms (or domains).
Note that it is possible to live without faxing. Most of our offices actually have photocopy-to-email. But not all, and that’s sometimes not the automatic response. Must continue to ponder this.
To clarify, this is not an issue about faxing per se, but about scanning. While there are any number of ways for someone to electronically send a message to my e-mail account (duh), the issue is about how to scan a physical piece of paper (e.g., a form) and get that to me in a way that I can retrieve it anywhere (e.g., by e-mail). Or, more properly (since it’s exceedingly rare that I need to do that outside of my workspace), how do I make sure that others can, if it is needed, to so to *me*?
And (just to further clarify, for my own sake if nothing else), I’m not looking to cheat anyone, nor do I necessarily expect something for nothing. If it costs money, I’ll do without. If there’s a way to do it that’s convenient and free (what I had previously), I’ll do it. I’m mildly irked at eFax for turning a free service into a free trial, and for simply not cutting me off for the month, but cutting me off permanently. I understand why, it just irks me.
I use MaxEmail (not intuitive to a fax service, I know). They have a free service, that I think is time-limited (30 days, perhaps). They have a “lite” service, which is something like $12/year and allows you to receive all the faxes you like. Send too, but you pay a bit for those. They also have higher-priced plans that you can pay for to get an 800 number or a local area code number or something, but if you don’t care that your fax line is in the suburbs of Chicago (or somewhere similar), it’s tough to beat $12/year.
As a bonus, they also have an email box (press 1 to leave an email, 2 to leave a fax or something like that), which will send WAV attachments to your email box. I have used that on occasion, but mostly I use it for receiving faxes, and it does quite well. They may have more options, but I have the faxes sent to me as PDF files. You can also send PDF files and other attachments when sending your faxes, and they will convert them and fax them.
I think the total setup cost was $21 or something – the base fee, plus a minor charge for incidental faxes (a sort of pre-paid credit for sending faxes), perhaps even some form or taxing or something. All in all, not bad for a year of fax service.
I’ve seen some like that. I may end up going that way. Or, perhaps, seeing if I can do without faxing altogether.
EFax Plus service sucks. Consumers Beware. They charged my account without asking. The customer service people were BEYOND rude at me for stating that. I have to go through legal routes to get my bank charges back from EFax. EFax and all its stock holders and employees are people without hearts. They take from the unknowing. They don’t tell you they take out your money until you call and complain. Annual Subscription to a online fax service!?!? Especially one that costs $139.99. That is unheard of!!
EFax J2.com Sucks
EFax J2.com Stinks
EFax.com J2.com Sucks
EFax J2.com Stinks
Stay Away From EFax. They take your money illegally!
EFax is the biggest scam ever!
Can’t speak to the pay service, but they didn’t actually cancel my free service, so, aside from the daily spam they send me, I consider myself uncheated.