Free Fax Number - Comments Page 1

An advantage of FAX is that it's much more secure than e-mail, and has its own defined legal protections for both sender and receiver. These advantages are negated if a FAX winds up as an e-mail attachment or inline e-mail image.
If you set up your POPS line for both voice and FAX with an answering machine that picks up on 3 rings and the FAX modem on 4 rings, you retain the advantage of real FAX without a FAX machine. When you're expecting the occasional FAX, just turn off the answering machine temporarily.
Some versions of XP and Vista have the FAX software included for free, and all versions of Windows 7 (except maybe the cheapest) have FAX software.

For the past five years, I have used a free inbound fax and voicemail service from http://k7.net/. Incoming faxes and voicemail messages are sent to your email. Your assigned fax/voicemail number will be an area code 206 (WA). You must use the service at least once every 30 days or your account will be cancelled. Of course, you can purchase additional services from the K7 folks for outbound faxing, local phone number or an 800 number. Great service. The fax machine is officially obsolete.

I don't think computers come with fax modems anymore.

I've spent hours looking for a FAX service that meets my need. I am perfectly willing to spend up to $2.50 (per transmission) to send or receive a FAX from my Internet-connected PC. EVERY free trial or inexpensive service I have checked requires me to do something I don't want to, such as paying a small fee whether I send FAXes or not, or limitng me in incoming only, or perhaps 3 Free FAXes before I have to upgrade. I would realy like a service where for a Paypal or Debit Card fee would transmit or receive from a known FAX node, perhaps with a free pinging service to make sure the FAX machine is turned on.

I like the "No-nonsense" answers!

DAniel B.

I think that it's pretty amazing that the FAX still even exists in the business world. Why? Do we not have better technologies available to us today? My FAX machine sits in a musty corner of the basement with my 8-track player and mimeograph machines awaiting a future archaeologist. Really, it should be the business sending the FAX that should be embarrassed - not the recipient that no longer has this obsolete technology employeed.

I use http://k7.net. It offers FREE fax and voicemail!

Another source of free fax numbers is k7.net. It offers combination voicemail/fax numbers, but you can select fax only in the account maintenance section. The numbers are in the 206 area code. Users are required to receive at least one fax every 30 days, or the account will be closed. And accounts do get closed!

Hi Bob: Just a line to say thanks for all the great info you send. I always look forward to your e-mails.
I have owned a fax machine for about 10 years and only used it to copy a document from time to time.
During the past year I decided to make some room and sell a few things and the fax was one of them.
First there was the 3 day church rummage sale where no one needed a fax machine. Second, several
of the neighbors had a combined garage sale and guess what? Once again the fax came home. Third,
I had a garage sale at my home one weekend and I still had the fax when it was over. So I called several
pawn shops and was told that they do not accept fax machines because they have no resale value.
All I wanted was $15.00 for it. A (Brother) Intellifax #775 had to be worth something. It had a new ribbon
along with the owners manual! Finally, the light come on and the answer was (Goodwill) who cheerfully
accepted my fax. A few weeks later I donated a couple of 15" monitors ( which had also been
casualties of my spring cleaning escapades) to Goodwill. Low and behold, there was my fax being put to
good use right there in the office. When I left, I was beaming with pride, knowing that my fax was
now employed to such a worthy cause. It is like the old saying (things happen for a reason)..........
Anyway, have a nice day!!!

I find it odd that nowhere is it mentioned that this or these free fax services only work in the USA or at any rate not in the UK - am I right?

After some years of using a fax machine, now I'm really enjoing online faxing with PopFax.com, which offers fast and cheap fax email service.
http://en.popfax.com/

Bob,
That Efax URL appears to have been removed. It redirects the user to the home page. Looking under "site map" shows nothing resembling a free service, aside from the 30 day trial.

The free efax offer no longer exists. I guess it was nice while it lasted! I'll have to check out http://k7.net - thanks for this info Victor and Kenneth.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Incorrect -- the eFax Free offer is still good. But you have to read carefully. Like I said: "The totally free service is buried deep in the eFax website, and if you're not careful, you might miss the offer. When you click on the link, there is a form to fill out for the eFax FREE service. But on that same page, there are several links and references for the eFax PLUS service, which is not free. Ignore all that, fill out the form and you'll get the eFax FREE service."

The "K7" unified messaging service is free, and it can be used just as a fax number. I believe there's a 100 message per month limit (or something like that), but it's still a nice service for free. All you really have to do is remember to send yourself a fax during any month when no one else does so that K7 won't disable your free number because of inactivity.

SEE: http://www.k7.net

For those willing to pay a little something (which I finally did just because I got sick of remembering to send myself a fax to keep the account alive in months when no one else sent me a fax), the FAXAWAY service is far superior, dollar for dollar, than eFax (and I say that as someone who was an eFax customer for years, and who now uses Faxaway).

Faxaway charges a mere $1 per month as a "maintenance" fee for receive-only customers (a mere $12 per year). Only if you SEND through Faxaway do you pay more... something like 11 cents per minute.

See: http://www.faxaway.com

I have used fax.com for quite some time. Their rates are very reasonable. You only pay for what you use, there is no monthly or minimum fee. Highly recommended.

hello Bob,
I tried to reach the form you suggested. The problem is that the URL is automatically changed to another one (http://home.efax.com/s/r/fr_home?VID=49895&CMP=OTC-be )and no forms to fill appears ! Of course no possibility to get this free number in Belgium.
Is there possible to avoid this bad URL replacement ?
(I receive your newsletter from let's say 1995 , I still remember "The springle adventure" at the Alabama university :-))
Thank you very much for this long way with your help.

Jack: eFax certainly works outside US, I've been using it for years from Ireland.

Thanks, worked like a charm. I just needed to receive a fax and this is perfect.

Hi, Bob - well, I can't find the free one either. I looked too. Anyone else have any luck?

If you only fax on ocassion, is it better to purchase a printer without a fax? One less thing to go wrong?