Fax options

Every once in a while Darlene and I need to send a fax, because of folks who refuse to integrate into 21st century technology. Considering Darlene's desire to acquire a physical fax machine [shudder], I decided to investigate what other options exist besides buying a physical facsimile device ($40 for an el-cheapo model [Oh!]..... plus $53 for replacement cartridges [a-ha!]).

There exists something called internet fax service, where the service provider basically acts as the fax machine (you still get a fax number - it's just not physically located at your home - the provider takes care of sending and receiving the actual 'fax'). You interface for sending and receiving using regular e-mail. This has the advantage of not needing a second line, not needing to find a place for yet another device in your office / computer area, no cartridge costs, plus the added benefit of being able to both send and receive faxes from anywhere (through a computer), as long as you have an internet connection. Your computer doesn't even need to be on to receive a fax. Sounds pretty decent.

So I checked and my telephone provider (Telus) offers such a service. Awesome! Simply fork over $15 per month [choke] and $0.12 per page (the first 100 sent and 200 received faxes are free). That means after my 200th page, junk faxes are going to cost me money..... PASS! $180 per year plus page costs. That doesn't seem too affordable to me for casual fax usage. Consumers should be able to get such a service for less than $5 per month, or better yet, offer the service for free (maybe ad supported) to subscribers who average less than 20 faxed sheets per month. You should also be able to forward junk faxes to the provider so that they are not counted toward your total number of pages.