Online fax services allow you to send faxes over the Internet and may also allow you to receive faxes online by using a virtual fax number. This number can be local or toll-free, depending on where you live and the numbers available. Some fax services charge an additional fee for these numbers, but others may bundle them as part of a package for a monthly membership fee. Some providers may also charge an installation fee for the number, but this is not always the case. Discounted rates may be available on multiple numbers, and this can be very convenient for businesses. Each of the virtual fax numbers can be routed to a different email address for a different employee. These numbers typically work by allowing faxes to be sent to the virtual number, which then converts them to a computer-compatible format, such as PDF or TIFF, and then sends them to the recipient’s inbox as an email attachment. These can be viewed online or on many mobile devices.

These services are very convenient for many people because they allow you to send faxes without the need for a fax machine. Faxes can be sent from anywhere you can take a laptop, for example, as long as there is an Internet connection. They can save time because they can convert their image and text documents directly into file types that can be sent as faxes. These can be sent to a regular fax number or to another online fax recipient without the loss of quality that can result from printing documents and passing them through a fax machine. This conversion is also done almost instantly, in contrast to the time it takes to slowly feed each page of a document through a fax machine. It also reduces waste caused by regular fax machines.

With regular fax machines, every page of every document must be printed in order to view it. With online fax services, it is possible to view your faxes on a computer or mobile device. You do not have to print every fax. This allows you to eliminate junk faxes and unwanted pages and documents without wasting ink and paper to print them. Services also help save time because they may be able to keep trying to send the file until it is received, while some fax machines may not send the file and after several attempts, the machine may need to turn pages and retry the process. You don’t have to wait on busy fax lines, because your documents will be stored on your service provider’s secure servers until they’re received. Documents you receive as email attachments often have better visual quality because they’re converted on your computer, and services can also help eliminate problems like missing pages, hard-to-read pages, as well as problems like paper jams.