All In One Printers - Internet Fax - and Send Fax from Internet

A fax is the short name for facsimile. A facsimile is a document sent through a telephone line. The introduction of fax as a means of sending documents over the telephone line overshadowed the telex and tele-printers. By 1990s the fax machine had become the in-thing for almost every business in the world. In comparison to a telex, faxing documents was more convenient and cheaper. But with the emergence of internet by 1990s, the fax did not last longer as it faced unbeatable competition from internet-based alternatives. Today, a fax machine is not necessary to many businesses. But in some countries, the law still believes that documents sent through internet are vulnerable to interception whilst documents sent through fax are not. This may not last for long as more than 50% of the world largest markets, the stock markets, are today transacted through the internet using appropriate internet security and encryption. 

Today, many people still ask how they can send fax by internet because doing so is cheaper than faxing through a telephone line. The simple answer to that question is that you will need to subscribe for internet fax service. There are many companies providing such services online. Some internet fax services are provided free perhaps because the cover page of your fax document will be loaded with their advertisements which pay for the free fax service. There are many providers who offer such service like Send2Fax, Docuharbor, RingCentral, MaxEmail, FaxitNice, AirComUSA, MetroFax, GreenFax , FaxPipe, FaxFreedom, SmartFax, Fax.com, FaxAge, RapidFAX, eFax, SRFax, etc. To send internet fax, these providers may require you to install special software on your computer.

Below are variations of the several connections that a fax document can be transmitted from point one to point two:

1. Fax Machine → Phone Line → Fax Machine

2. Fax Machine → Phone Line → Computer

3. Computer → Phone Line → Fax Machine

4. Computer → Internet → Computer (email)

5. Computer → Internet → Computer → Phone Line → Fax Machine

Why would one want to send fax through the internet? The answer is to reduce cost by avoiding phone line charges. The cost of phone line is extremely high compared to cost of internet. Relative to phone line charges, the cost of internet is practically next to nothing.

If you look at the five connections listed above, in number 4 (Computer → Internet → Computer (email)), there is no phone line involved. The connection, Computer → Internet → Computer (email), is the cheapest connection one should aim at in sending fax as it involve no telephone line. The charges for a telephone line are what make sending a fax to be expensive.  Any other connection will require you to subscribe at a fee for fax/phone services and nobody is going to give you that “free” unless you indirectly agree your faxes be turned into advertisement copies.

Did you know that the traditional fax machine is actually an electronic instrument composed of a scanner, a modem, and a printer? The traditional fax machine transmits data in the form of pulses through a telephone line to a recipient, usually another fax machine, and these pulses are then transformed into images and then printed by the fax machine on special fax papers.

A traditional fax machine will cost the upward of $100, a fax ink cartilage/ribbon will cost $20 and in addition a fax machine will consume paper just like a printer will. Compare this with the All-In-One color printers that cost the upward of $50. These Three-In-One printers will print, scan documents, photocopy, and will send document as a fax. A price of $50 for such a printer is a gift. One good feature about these all-in-one printers is that you can use toner refill instead of buying the original toner. I found out that a jumbo toner refills of $1000 are equivalent to original toners of $30,000. That indeed is a huge saving (or rather, manufacturers of original toners are really making huge profits).

When it comes to printing, the cost of toner being used is a very serious business. In fact I would recommend you start by finding the availability of a toner refill before buying the printer. This is because manufacturers of printers are also manufacturer of toners and huge profits are made in selling toners. This means that manufacturers of printers are constantly changing the models of their printers to come up with new models that are not compatible with the available alternative inkjet cartridge refills and inkjet refills in the market. A good manufacturer of alternative inkjet cartridges and inkjet refills for all inkjet printer models is Calidad. Its worthy checking with Calidad before buying your printer as your saving on toners will be very significant if you use their refill toners.

Once you have bought your all-in-one color printer, connect it to your computer and install the software that comes with the printer. Once that is done, you can now send your fax document through the internet as long as your computer is connected to the internet. All you need do is scan your document using the all-in-one printer into the computer and then send the document as an attachment to an email. The recipient will print the document once the email is received. In essence, you do not need a fax machine if you are connected to the internet.

If you have all-in-one printer and a computer connected to the internet, you do not need to spend more money paying for fax charges. Today, there are very few people who are using traditional fax machine and do not have email addresses. Those that are there without email addresses are indeed negligible, and if a fax must be sent to them, then be prepared to pay for the phone charges.

Today, everyone who has a computer connected to internet should have an all-in-one color printer for that computer. These days, $50 is not a lot of money.  One can buy a color printer for that amount which is a small amount even to a student. You can imagine one has a computer connected to internet and still have to walk up and down the stairs looking for someone who can print or send fax on his/her behalf. Invest that $50 only once by buying yourself an all-in-one printer that you will use for many more years to come.

So, all you do is look for alternative inkjet cartridges and inkjet refills available in the market, then buy the appropriate all-in-one printer and connect it to your computer. Once that is done, you are in business like any other professional – you can print in both color and black & white, you can scan documents, you can send documents as fax and you can make copies of documents right in your office or home at affordable cost of toner refill.

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