VoIP Fax

VoIP Fax – The Basics

Before there was VoIP fax, there was just fax. Fax was a way to send documents over a traditional telephone line. Traditional fax required special machines that connected to a phone line and could print out the document that was sent.

When VoIP became the standard way business phone service was transmitted, it wasn’t long until VoIP did the same for fax. The advantages to fax over IP, or FoIP, were immediate and obvious, although there was some confusion that still lingers today.

Before VoIP Fax

• Fax was resource intensive.
  • Required fax machines which in turn require maintenance.
  • Required materials like paper and ink.
• Fax was very slow in transmission and often had to be present.
• Fax required an employee to spend time managing the fax send/receive process which was very time inefficient.
• Fax often required a dedicated phone line for use, further adding to fax’s expense.
• Fax is inherently insecure. Faxes are printed out from a single machine usually located in a common area.

VoIP Fax and Why You Should Use It

• Fax over VoIP uses email transmission to send and receive faxes thereby reducing the monthly expense of a phone line.
  • Lowers monthly expense to the telecommunication provider.
  • No need to install special cabling in the business office.
• Because Fax over VoIP uses email to transmit, faxes can be encrypted for additional security.
• Fax over VoIP can have multiple recipients adding to efficiency.
• No dedicated fax machine needed and resources like ink, cartridges, toner, maintenance, and paper are needed.
  • Saves countertop and storage closet space.
  • VoIP faxes and can stored and archived for little cost as a VoIP fax takes very little storage space.
  • Since paper is not used anymore, it’s Green Friendly.
• With the use of an adapter (VoIP gateway), Fax over VoIP is backward compatible. For example, if you wanted to send out faxes using a traditional fax service, but have incoming faxes using VoIP you can.
• VoIP faxes don’t give you busy signals.
• Because faxes are sent to an email client, employees don’t need to be in their office to retrieve fax.
• VoIP faxes can be sent to other VoIP fax accounts and to traditional fax machines.
• If needed, a received fax can be sent on to another employee by attaching the fax to another email.
• The number of employees who are allowed to send and receive faxes is configurable.
  • No need to stand guard at a fax machine to safeguard your fax.
  • Those who shouldn’t be sending faxes are not able to.

How VoIP Fax Works

• Sent as an email.
• Fax recipient is the fax number used in the email sender field.
• Fax is attached as a pdf document.
• Success/failure of fax is emailed to sender.

The Evolve Difference

• Our support will configure and test your VoIP fax service at no additional cost.
• We will work with your IT support team to ensure compliance with their security rules.
• Evolve’s VoIP fax is integrated into our platform and your account.
  • No third-party invoice to pay.
  • No additional provider needed to resolve any service issues.
• Evolve VoIP fax is HIPAA compliant.

Will VoIP help your business? Let’s talk!