www.desktopFAXservice.com - Frequently Asked Questions

Isn't faxing "going out of style"?

Not Really. Because faxes do not get stuck in spam filters or a junk folder, and because they are not lost in a flood of spam, they remain an important way of sending and receiving important documents from customers and trading partners.

If I go to an outsourced service, can I keep my existing fax number?

In most cases yes.

Using information you provide regarding where your existing fax numbers are located, we'll indentify an outsourced faxing service that best meets your geographic reach... both domestically and internationally. On occasion, it is possible that a few of your more remote locations may not be in a service's footprint. When that happens, we have other tricks up our sleeve that'll help to make your transition to the service as smooth as possible.

Some of my people use PCs, some Macs, some iPhones, and some, Blackberrys. What do I do?

Don't worry about it.

Use of an outsourced faxing service will not be impacted by the types of computers, or versions of software your people use. Indeed, one of the major advantages of outsourcing as opposed to using your own server is that server software is closely tied to your network environment - a change in one will often impact the other.

It seems like everyone is running a fax service today. How do I know which one is best for me?

You are right.... there are many fax services advertising on the Internet these days.

In our opinion however, only a small handful of these companies have the experience, network and footprint to be in the "best of breed" category... and these are the companies we work with. Additionally, it should be noted that some of the services which are perfectly fine for consumer use but are not as suitable for business applications (speed, security, detailed reporting, and reliability being only a few of the characteristics that seperate the two). We only work with those services that are "business grade" services.

Tell me some things that a service can do that my fax machine/server can't

1. Turn your smart phone/iPhone into a scanner/fax machine.
2. Never Busy Faxing - the ability of a service to provide capacity to assure that people faxing *to* you will not get busy signals... even if two or more do it at the same time.
3. Reporting - the ability to provide detailed reporting including cost breakdown by customer or application or department, etc. if needed
4. Broadcasting - the capacity to send large volumes of faxes in a very short time to your customers without impacting the rest of your faxing operations
5. 24X7 end user help should a problem occur
6. Limit junk faxes
7. Retry on busy numbers without using any of your resources
8. Be implemented within a day or so... without any upfront expenditures.

I need to have my people pay by credit card... can I do that?

Yes.. in addition to monthly invoicing ,credit card billing (enterprise wide or per user) is available.

If I implement outsourced faxing, do I need to do anything on my network or with my ISP?

No. Outsourced faxing makes minimal demands on your network.

Sending or receiving 3,000 one page faxes monthly represents about 2 megabytes of additional traffic on the network daily. By contrast, emailing a single spreadsheet can demand more resources than a days worth of faxing. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find that customers who have moved away from fax machines actually utilize less network resources because the users no longer need to print documents before faxing them.

I need to broadcast a fax every Friday... how fast can a service send them out?

Fast. Typically, you upload the distribution list (only once unless it has changed since you last used it) and your document[s] that you need to broadcast, via a web site. You can then instruct the service to immediately initiate the broadcast, or to schedule it for a specific date and time. Small broadcasts (less than 1000 recipients) are typically completed within minutes, while larger ones (up to 60,000) may take a few hours. In both cases, they are delivered *much faster* than you could have done them yourself.

Our faxes need to be sent and received by a custom computer application - easy or hard?

Easy.

The business oriented services offer a number a ways for automating faxe traffic - including XML, pre-existing APIs, FTP to shared folders, and if needed, custom interfaces. In many cases, a standard SMTP solution works perfectly well. If that does not meet your needs, XML is usually the next best choice. We will arrange for direct access to chosen service provider's techies before you sign on - to assure you that your exact needs will be easily met.

I need to fax out a relatively non-standard file format.... can I do that?

Over 170 different file formats are supported by the business oriented fax services. We point you to the service that can handle your file format.

My faxes contain confidential information.... is it protected if I outsource?

Yes.

Business fax services use an Internet protocol called TLS (transport layer security), which is a superset of SSL (secure sockets layer - the security used to protect your Internet communications when you are doing bank transactions or making online purchases.) Additionally, because your faxes are delivered to your inbox instead of being left sitting on top of a fax machine for anyone walking by to view, you benefit from the additional security of privacy in your own office.

If you help us get outsourced faxing implemented and rolled out, how much do I need to pay for your services?

Like your insurance broker/agent whose fees are paid by the insurance company, ours are paid by the faxing services - you pay nothing.

What about junk faxes?

They are a problem - no doubt about that.

However, because of the successful application of laws barring them, you are not likely to get many. And if you do, several of the services enable the user to flag a junk fax to block future delivery from the same fax number.

A brief introduction to business grade faxing services (3.5 mb)

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