eFax (2013)

Faxing in the twenty-first century may seem outdated in the era of email and instant messaging, but it's still a vital part of day-to-day business happenings in the US, and even more so in some foreign countries?Japan, notably. Fortunately, you no longer need a dedicated fax machine (and the associated cost of phone line, paper, and ink) to send and receive paperwork. eFax, an Internet-based fax service gives you a real fax number that you can use to send and receive faxes?using your inbox or browser. It's a little more expensive than competitors such as Send2fax, but with the price come a number of business-friendly features (digital signature, unlimited fax storage, large file transfer) that make it a must-have for those that want to ditch the physical fax machine. Efax accounts can also be used with the company's free eFax for Android?and eFax for iOS mobile apps.

[Disclosure: J2 Global, the company that owns eFax, also owns Ziff Davis and PCMag.com. We liked eFax?long before the sale, however. You can check out our eFax for review from 5/16/2011, which dates from before the sale.]

Simple Setup
The eFax setup process was quick and easy in my testing. You start by searching for a new fax number (based on area code, state, or country), or porting an existing fax number into the system. There are even toll-free numbers (800/866/877/888) that you can grab at no additional charge.

I signed up for the service by keying in a zip code and choosing one of the available numbers. I selected the 718 listing available for Brooklyn, New York, and clicked "Next," which took me to the account-creation page. There I chose one of several phone numbers (the one I thought I'd most likely remember), input my name and email address, and clicked "You're Almost Finished." For the final step, I entered my billing information and clicked "Start Faxing." I received my fax number and PIN a few seconds later.

Cost
There are two eFax account types that can be used across the mobile app and desktop: Plus and Pro. eFax Plus ($16.95 per month or $14.13 per month with an annual membership) includes 150 pages of incoming and outbound faxes, and a 10-cent per page coverage fee once you go over that amount (there's also a $10 one-time set up charge). eFax also offers a Pro model ($19.95 per month or $16.63 per month with an annual membership) designed for large businesses and individuals with heavy faxing needs. There's a $19.95 one-time set up fee, but with the higher cost comes 200 pages of incoming faxes and a cool voicemail feature that sends left messages to your inbox. Pro accounts also have a 10-cent per page overage charge.

The Plus and Pro accounts are relatively expensive compared to Send2Fax' Home Office and Small Business plans which are $8.95 per month (150 faxes) and $12.95 per month (350 faxes), respectively. MyFax?has three plans, one of which starts at $10 per month for 100 faxes sent and 200 received. Send2Fax and MyFax, however, lack eFax's digital signature and large file sharing features. Those should be considered if you don't need anything more than basic electronic faxing.

Note: The eFax website no longer offers a free, basic account that lets you receive 10 faxes per month is no longer offered on the website, but is available via the mobile app. There is, however, a free 30-day trial offer.

The eFax Experience
Using eFax was as simple as signing up for an account. Firing off a fax required that I open my e-mail client, key a phone number into the address field, add the "@efaxsend.com" extension to the end of the number, and attached the file to send. The recipient contacted me stating that he received the fax six minutes after it was sent. When he responded with a fax of his own, it arrived in my inbox seven minutes later?not bad considering the money I saved on a dedicated machine, ink, and paper.

You can also send and receive files using the Web interface. By default, eFax documents arrive in the PDF format, but you can change it to EFX or TIFF in the Web site's preferences section?I like the flexibility. The eFax Web site also lets you view your entire fax history (which you can keep indefinitely at no additional charge, unlike MyFax and Send2Fax), send faxes using your online address book, update your account, or access the Help area.

One eFax's standout features is the ability to add to digital signature, which can be added to a document using either the Web interface or the free-to-download eFax Messenger (which is available for both Mac and PC). Creating a signature is as simple as faxing your John Hancock to yourself, opening it, and then clipping and saving it to your account. After you've saved it, you can add a signature with just a button click, which eliminates the need to print and sign documents by hand?extremely useful.

The eFax Messenger desktop software gets the leg up on the Web interface as it lets you attach one of fifteen cover pages that range from basic to artful. These cover pages are vastly superior to the ones offered in the Web interface?in fact, the Web interface has a fill-in-the-blanks form field?so eFax Messenger is worth a download for this alone. Received faxes that are in the EFX format can only be opened within eFax Messenger.

We've all experienced the sting of an email bounce back that was the result of attempting to sent too large a file; eFax eliminates that by letting users upload a file and giving them an email-friendly link. The feature lets Plus and Pro account users upload and send files up to 1GB in size. It's simple. It works.

Should You Subscribe to eFax?
eFax works because it makes the fax process simple?you don't need to own a machine or visit Kinkos. All that's needed is a Web connection, which means you can fax from nearly any location. eFax may carry a greater cost than Send2Fax, but you can store an unlimited number of faxes indefinitely, email large files, and digitally sign documents. All in all, eFax is an excellent, well-rounded service for business customers who want to save on paper and ink, and it's the Editors' service for anyone who wants to communicate by fax without the expense and hassle of owning a fax machine.

More Small Business Reviews:
??? eFax (2013)
??? Kickstarter for iPhone
??? RingCentral Office
??? WriteRoom (for Mac)
??? HP M220 802.11n AM Access Point
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/_5XNfwPyfB8/0,2817,2415489,00.asp

Sahara Davenport Resident Evil 6 arnold schwarzenegger revenge revenge adam shulman adam shulman