Back in the days when you have to send a fax, you required a fax machine along with a dedication line and other installations were need to be made to send and receive data. This implied that one need to invest a considerable amount of money and time to set up things and gain the ability to send the documents to his/her clients.
In the present, if you try to establish such thing, it takes a considerable amount of time, but if you require a fax number, then it’s a piece of cake. With the advent of the Internet, fax technology has undergone many changes, and it now allows you to send and receive faxes via Gmail. Along with this, you no longer require a dedicated line for fax purposes as you can use your own Google fax number.
A Google fax number is nothing but an online fax number which forwards all the received faxes directly to your Google Inbox. With this you can also send a fax using your computer and via your Gmail’s dashboard.
To send a fax from Gmail, you will require the following things: A Gmail account and a well trusted online fax service. This opted service will act as an interface between incoming data and your Gmail account, to send and receive faxes via the internet. These email fax services provide various features but in this article, we will put some light on the fax number offered by these services.
In most of the cases, these services will provide you an option to choose from a local, toll-free number or a vanity number. This is quite important to select the type of fax number which fits your business requirements. It doesn’t mean you can’t keep your current number.
To get a free virtual fax number, you have to signup with any email fax service provider. These websites or services provides you with the ability to send fax pages, but there aren’t any option to receive faxes. The most salient feature of using such service is that you don’t have to configure or set up anything, as you can send and receive faxes automatically.
Now there are various plans for sending fax online which you can choose according to the number of faxes you require to send and receive each month. There are no contracts whatsoever so you can cancel these services at your own wish. Such plans will include a free fax number which makes it a great solution for most of the businesses. Free fax online platform provides you great alternatives.
To get your own fax number, you have to sign up with such fax service which provides free trial. This free trial account will offer you a free fax number and will also provide you the access to all of the major features for a time period of 30 days. This service will be free of cost and if you decide to continue with the service after the trial period is over, you can get any plan according to your business requirements.
Recommended Google Fax Services
The online fax service which we recommend can easily be integrated with your Gmail account. Two of the best online fax services are mentioned below:
Being one of the leading online fax service providers, it comes with an extensive set of features to organize and manage your various documents. This service is a perfect fit for the businesses which have to handle a large number of faxes. This service offers local, toll-free number in the US, UK, and Canada.
With its impeccable service and excellent ratings from around the world, it is one of the favorite online fax services for international customers as this service provide fax numbers in over 42 countries. You can also select from local or any toll-free international numbers according to your need.
How Fax Number Works?
As soon as you sign up, you can start receiving faxes. When anyone sends you any fax from his/her computer or fax machine, the document will automatically be converted into a TIFF image and it is forwarded to the fax service provider’s server, which then convert this image into a PDF file and it is then delivered to your Gmail inbox.
These fax service providers provide the users with a local fax number in the US. With services like RingCentral, eFax, and MyFax, you get a number in various countries like UK, Canada and other countries. It is quite important to use a fax number corresponding to your business’s location, In case you have clients from all over the US, then getting a toll-free number is a better option.
Keeping Current Fax Number
In case you already have a fax number then it is a better proposition to keep the same number to further avoid delays while communicating. If you want to transition over to online faxing while maintaining your current number, it is quite possible.
Here comes number porting. In this process, it picks your current fax number and transforms into a digital line which allows you to send fax via the internet. But this transition can easily take up to a week to get it completed, and in most cases, the fax service will provide you a temporary number until then.
Email Faxing Related Facts
By opting for online fax, you get rid of fax machine as it brings the following features and benefits:
- Internet Fax works quite faster than traditional faxing.
- It provides the ability to send and receive faxes via your Gmail account, and you can do it via your smartphone too.
- You also get the option to send a fax from cloud storage like Google Drive and Dropbox.
- It takes away the requirement of a dedicated land line and a fax machine.
- You can also store your fax documents online and can sign them electronically.
- Last but not the least, you also get a free fax number, which is the most fantastic feature of online fax services.
It takes few minutes to sign up, select your fax number and start your free trial of online fax services. After this, you can seamlessly transmit and receive faxes from any location.
If you are mostly on the move due to your business, these service provides you the ability to view and send faxes on your smartphone.
You also don’t have to think and get worried anymore about complicated land line installations or any sort of malfunctions.