Send Faxes From the Web: Three Services Tested

PC World - Though you might be tempted to ditch your office fax machine, you probably have to send out at least a few faxes every year. Windows lets you fax from the OS itself; but it requires you to use a landline that your small business may not want tied up, and it lacks security and mobile features that your business may need.

Luckily, a number of services can keep you covered even if you don't have a fax machine connected to an old telephone line. I took three Web fax services for a quick test drive. Here's how they fared.

FaxZero

FaxZero is a bare-bones fax service, with no options for receiving faxes or for faxing from your mobile devices. Nevertheless, as long as your fax is less than three pages long and you don't need to send more than five faxes a day, FaxZero is free and doesn't require any type of sign-up process. Just enter your contact information and the fax number you want to send to, and then upload the document you want to send. FaxZero should send your fax in a matter of minutes. When I tested the service with a two-page document, I received a confirmation e-mail about 3 minutes after I pressed Send that my fax was on its way. The fax arrived at its destination moments later.

If you plan to fax a lot of documents, however, FaxZero isn't your best option. It charges $2 for each fax that exceeds three pages in length and for each one beyond the company's limit of five free faxes per day. That isn't much of a burden if only a fax or two each week aren't free, but if you plan to use the service as a replacement to a regularly used fax machine, the overage fees can add up quickly.

MyFax

MyFax is a feature-rich fax option that's great for users who need more than an occasional fax machine replacement. The company makes sending even international faxes by email easy; all you have to do is address your fax to @MyFax.com. When you sign up with MyFax you automatically get a fax number in your local area code for receiving incoming faxes. The service automatically converts faxes into PDF files and stores them on MyFaxCentral, the company's easy-to-navigate Web dashboard. When I sent my two-page test document from MyFaxCentral to myself, I received the fax along with a confirmation email message almost immediately after pressing Send.

If you don't want to use MyFax's site for some reason, you can arrange for all incoming faxes to go to your email address as well as to five other email addresses you choose. MyFax even has mobile apps available that let you send and receive faxes on the go via your Android or iOS smartphone.