The communication technology has improved a lot in recent decades. And if your business uses a fax for communication, it’s time to say goodbye to your old fax machine and start using an online fax service. There are several Internet fax services in the market and choosing the best online fax service can be a daunting task. Below we have shared a few tips that will help.

Make Sure You Can Receive Faxes Online or in the Email

Some internet fax services send the faxes to your email. This can be a big problem for field employees as they may not be able to access their work mail outside the office. Hence, you need to make sure the Internet fax service you select allows you to send and receive faxes online and does not restrict its use to email.

Assess Your Needs

The Internet fax service subscription plans allow you to send and receive a limited number of faxes every month for a fixed fee. For the overuse of the service, you need to pay a specific amount for every fax (sent and received) that can increase your tax bill significantly.

The first thing you need to do is find out how many faxes you send and receive every month. You can then select a subscription plan which will ensure you do not end up paying high overuse charges every month for the Internet fax services.

File Types Supported

Some Internet fax services allow you to send and receive faxes in TIF format only. The best online fax services support popular document formats like PDF, PS, PSD, CSV, and many more. This is particularly helpful for businesses having a document system and they need to send faxes in different file formats.

Understand the Fee Structure

Every Internet fax service has different subscription tiers and features associated with it. You need to carefully scrutinize the fee structure of different service providers and understand the fee structure in detail.

The pricing webpage on the website might not mention all terms and conditions or charges related to a subscription plan. Hence, you need to contact the customer service of the service provider to know what you are paying for, the faxing limitations, overuse charges, and setup fees if any.

Research the Company Behind the Service

 The online fax service provider should have a solid infrastructure to provide efficient and uninterrupted faxing services. You will be surprised to know some small providers don’t have their infrastructure to provide such services and operate from a basement or small offices with a small staff.

Check the details of the service provider like the capacity, redundancy capabilities. You can find information about Internet fax services on online forums related to the industry. This will help you make an informed decision.

Request Free Demos

It is quite easy for any Internet fax service to make tall claims about their services while the truth may be different altogether. Leading online fax service offers a free trial period where businesses can use the service and experience the functionality and quality of the fax service offered.

The best online fax service will offer you free demos to win your trust before offering any subscription plan. If the service provider does not offer any free trial period or free demos, consider it as a red flag.

Confirmation of Fax Results

Confirmation of fax communication is an important aspect of businesses. Traditional fax systems offered confirmation about fax deliveries. Make sure the online fax service you select offers some kind of confirmation of fax results. This can serve as a proof of fax communication and can be used as evidence in legal matters.

Check the Scalability Options

The Internet fax service must offer easy scalability options that allow you to scale up/down your fax communication as per business needs.

The scalability factor ensures the fax communication system can cope up with the increase in communication needs when required. The ability to scale down after the peak period is over ensures you don’t end up paying for high capacity when not required.

These are some of the factors that you should focus on while evaluating the best online fax services.