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Technology Outlook

Faxing on the Cheap
(jump down to Final Analysis: Free Web Fax)

Give up your fax machine? Are you crazy? You rely on it to send important documents across town and around the world. But wouldn't you ditch it if you could get the same service over the World Wide Web--for pennies a page?

Fax software is the latest bastion of business communications to make it to the Web, and it's easy to see why smart companies are quickly adopting it. While a fax machine is arguably one of the most useful business tools ever invented, it's also one of the most infuriating. You know the routine: Create your document on the computer, wait in line for the network printer to spit it out, then stand in line again at the fax machine to send it. And don't be surprised if you get slowed down by a paper jam, a busy signal, or someone ahead of you sending a lengthy document. Even if you're lucky enough to have an assistant who takes care of such drudgery, you still lose their services for as long as it takes to complete the fax obstacle course.

Sure, you could install more fax machines or add fax modems and run PC fax software--even use a dedicated fax server. Whichever way you go, it gets expensive, especially when you add in the cost of service, support, long-distance charges, and accounting and installation problems sometimes associated with adding new phone lines.

Putting your Internet connection to work as a supercheap fax machine is beginning to sound a lot better. While it can't completely replace your fax machine or PC fax software just yet--you still need them to receive faxes--it saves you money. (However, NetCentric says that an update to FaxStorm, which will be available by the time you read this, will let you receive faxes.) By relying on the Internet to send faxes, you dramatically slash your hefty long-distance bills, plus save on paper and fax-machine toner. Internet faxing also saves you time: You have to send a document only once, even if you're faxing it to 10, 50, or 100 people. When they receive it on the other end, the fax looks as if you sent it from a fax machine. And Internet faxing frees up your fax machine, so it can stand by to receive important documents or business orders.

Fax Pair

Web fax technology is in its infancy, so right now you've got just two choices to make it happen: NetCentric's FaxStorm or FaxSav's FaxSav for Internet Suite. Both products are available for free download and don't require any additional hardware or phone lines to send faxes. And both charge 15 cents per page for domestic faxes and varying rates for international faxes. You also have the option of setting up a fax account at each company's Web site that's billed to your credit card; FaxSav charges you up front in $15 increments, while NetCentric charges you as you use the service. You may also have access to Internet faxing through your regular fax software. Symantec's new WinFax Pro 7.5, for example, includes a special setup wizard for establishing a NetCentric FaxStorm account.

How You Use It: Web Faxing

Right now you can use Web fax software only for sending (not receiving) faxes. It's easy to do with NetCentric FaxStorm--not much different than printing a document (click on links to see screen shots). Don't Get Up: Print a document as you normally would in any Windows application, but instead of choosing a printer, select a fax service. Public Address: Select the recipients or groups of recipients to which your fax will be broadcast. You send a document only once, no matter how many people you're faxing. No Long-distance Charges: FaxStorm's software prepares your document and sends it over the Internet to a fax server, where it is forwarded to its final destination. Fax Facts: FaxStorm provides real-time information about your fax jobs, so you can check up on which ones have gone through and which are still in the queue.

Here's how it works: You create a document in your word processor or any other Windows application. When you're ready to fax, you go to the program's printer setup box and choose the fax option instead of a printer. The fax software then prompts you for recipient and fax-cover information. Finally, the software prompts Windows to start up your Internet connection, and it securely sends the encrypted document to the fax company's central fax server. From there the document is retransmitted over the Internet to the fax server closest to the recipient. At the local server, a fax modem dials the recipient's number and delivers the fax to his or her fax machine.

Because Internet fax software relies on local fax servers, it bypasses the long-distance charges that are par for the course with PC fax software or a regular fax machine. While the savings may not be that great for a New York to Washington, D.C., fax, it can be quite substantial for longer hauls, such as New York to Los Angeles or New York to Sri Lanka.

Sending faxes over the Internet isn't only cheap, it's also reliable. When an Internet fax server encounters a busy signal, it keeps trying the call until the fax finally goes through. When your faxes are delivered, the fax server automatically pops off an e-mail to tell you your fax has been sent.

All the Frills

In addition to taking care of basic faxing chores, Internet fax packages give you a bunch of handy utilities that make sending faxes faster and easier. You can use the address book to list the people you fax most frequently, then quickly send broadcast faxes by selecting all the recipients at once. Or you can create your own fax groups for even faster broadcast faxing. For example, if you publish a newsletter, simply selecting a group entitled Subscribers faxes the latest issue to your entire client list. Fax programs may also maintain a special list of frequently sent faxes, like the directions to your office, a price list, or a lunch-order form for the local deli. You also get utilities for importing names and fax numbers from other programs, such as dBase, Paradox, or WinFax Pro.

Some Internet fax packages also include scanning tools that let you directly send pages that weren't created in your computer, like newspaper articles, drawings, and book pages. For example, FaxSav's FaxScan module works with any TWAIN-compliant scanner for one-step faxing. Fax packages may also give you tools for adjusting the resolution of the faxes you send.

For Servers Only

Internet fax software sounds irresistible, but what if your business has already invested in an expensive fax server--a special computer that handles all incoming and outgoing faxes to your company or department? You can still take advantage of the Internet for easier and cheaper faxing. If you travel on business, you know what a hassle it is to receive faxes on the road. Clients and customers expect you to be at your desk, so sometimes important faxes wind up sitting in your in-box for days until you return to the office.

Businesses that use the popular Castelle FaxPress fax server can use Elonex's HT Fax to set up a gateway between the company's FaxPress server and the Web. With HT Fax, you sign on to your company's FaxPress server from any Web browser to send or receive faxes, whether you are at a customer's office, a hotel, a conference center, or even an Internet cafe.

Top Products	Price	Pros	Cons	Verdict
NetCentric FaxStorm (617) 720-5200	Free; 15 cents per page for domestic faxes	Easy to use; excellent address book and contact manager; good graphics output.	Lacks scanning tools.	A cheap and easy way to handle your business faxing chores.
Elonex HT Fax (800) 481-1130	$195*; faxes charged at full phone rates	Receive and send faxes from any Internet-connected PC in the world.	Requires a Castelle FaxPress server and a LAN connected to the Internet; full phone charges.	You can keep in touch with your FaxPress fax server no matter where you are.
FaxSav for Internet Suite (800) 909-0040	Free; 15 cents per page for domestic faxes	Fast and simple; built-in scanning tools; useful broadcasting features; big savings on international faxes.	Limited address book; little control over fax contrast, resolution, and half-toning; poor graphics output.	A good choice for international faxing or sending documents not created in your PC.

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Final Analysis: Free Web Fax
Internet Send-off

If you've got an Internet connection, you'd be foolish not to use it to send faxes. You don't even need to buy any additional hardware, and the fax software is free for the downloading.

Internet fax software won't make your fax machine or fax modem obsolete just yet; you still need those devices to receive faxes. (However, NetCentric says an update to FaxStorm that lets you both send and receive faxes will be available by the time you read this.) But you save big money by eliminating long-distance phone bills plus paper and toner costs. While it's not quite free to send a fax, you pay just pennies per page to send one around the world. You also save lots of time with Internet fax packages because you can send a broadcast fax to hundreds of recipients in a matter of seconds.

So which should it be: NetCentric FaxStorm or FaxSav for Internet Suite? Both give you similar services, but FaxStorm is easier to use and provides an excellent address book and contact-manager utility. FaxSav for Internet Suite gives you some handy features for handling broadcast faxes, such as the ability to store your group lists on FaxSav's server so you can share contacts with coworkers.

When it comes to output, we found FaxStorm's faxes looked better than FaxSav's. For example, gray and color bars, as well as black-and-white snapshots, came through the FaxStorm's server with acceptable fidelity while FaxSav tended to darken pictures too much.

Both products are equal when it comes to domestic fax rates--15 cents per page--but FaxSav is more affordable for sending international faxes. For example, a 1-page fax to Israel costs you 99 cents with FaxSav and $1.20 with FaxStorm.

If you frequently send faxes that aren't created on a PC, such as copies of articles and drawings, consider FaxSav. Its scanning tools let you scan in a document and fax it immediately.

Businesses that have already invested in a Castelle FaxPress server should look at Elonex HT Fax. While it's expensive compared with the other two free packages, it lets you send and receive faxes from any Web browser.

DANIEL LEVINE

Decision Maker: Choose the Best Internet Fax Software for Your Needs