How to Take Advantage of a Virtual Dedicated Fax Line Service
Having a dedicated fax line has always been the surefire way to avoid interruptions when sending and receiving faxes with a fax machine. Traditionally, these are additional phone lines that you need to install in your office, so they can be used exclusively for fax transmissions. Companies without these lines often ran into fax problems, which lead to paper waste and varying grades of frustration!
Today, thanks to online faxing, there's no need to have these lines anymore. That's right, you can fax without a phone line, using your Internet connection to access a virtual fax line that will redirect incoming faxes to your computer. In this article we'll talk about some of the common ways you can get a dedicated fax line, but most importantly, you'll learn how in just a few minutes you can start faxing without the fax line cost.
Digital dedicated lines work just the same as common ones, with the added benefit that they let you receive electronic faxes readable on any computer, smartphone or tablet. They also make faxing cheaper and faster. This is your chance at improving your communications and learn how to send a fax without a home phone line.
What is a Dedicated Fax Line?
A fax line is a physical or digital line that serves to transmit analog or digital faxes respectively. Landlines can also be used to send and receive phone calls, but the idea is that these lines are just used for faxing. Digital fax lines can only be used for faxing.
Companies prefer to install a dedicated line for faxing to avoid interruptions during the transmission and ensure faxes can be received automatically.
Do you need a dedicated phone line for fax? No. You can either use your common phone line (and risk interruptions during delivery) or sign up with an online fax service for a virtual line, you can find more about it below.
What's The Difference Between a Fax Line and a Phone Line?
A fax line is a type of phone line that is specifically designed for the transmission of faxes. Fax lines, also known as dedicated fax lines, are used to send and receive faxes using a fax machine or a computer with faxing capabilities.
A phone line, on the other hand, is a communication channel that is used for telephone calls. Phone lines can also be used to transmit faxes, but they are not specifically designed for this purpose and may not offer the same level of reliability as a dedicated fax line. In addition, phone lines are typically used for voice communication, while fax lines are primarily used for sending and receiving faxes.
How to Get a Physical Dedicated Fax Line
You can get a fax line is by requesting one to your phone company. The fax line service provider will charge you for installing and opening a new physical line for you.
The process of setting up a fax line is the same as installing a common telephone voice line, this means that you’ll have to wait several days until experts arrive at your home or office. These type of lines are needed by traditional fax machines. Sure, you could just plug it on the phone box, but you run the risk of interruptions and delays.
Another way to hook up your fax machine to a dedicated fax line is through external USB devices. You can plug them on your computer and add new functions among them the ability to send fax.
This method of connecting fax to a computer is not so popular though because you still need a physical line and you have to add to your expenses the cost of the USB device. One of the most popular devices for this purpose is Magic Jack.
How to Get a Virtual Dedicated Fax Line
These days you can fax without a phone line. If you fax regularly, there is a better way to do it, with a dedicated fax line that works faster than a physical one and stays active 24/7 to both receive and send faxes with Gmail. I’m talking about online faxing. Right now it provides the easiest way to get a cheap fax line, proving to be more cost effective than traditional phone lines.
Online fax services let you create and have a dedicated fax line in minutes. They use the Internet to transmit faxes, with a type of technology that is able to convert incoming faxes into digital files that you can read directly on your screen, among other features.
The dedicated fax line service they provide is always ready to receive faxes, it doesn’t matter if you are away from your office. Faxes will arrive automatically.
One of the best things about digital dedicated lines is that they are very easy to set up.Basically, you just need to head over to an online fax service of your preference and create a new account. This makes it extremely easy to set up a fax line at home for example. Services like like eFax let you create a test account for free.
You will be asked to choose between local and toll-free numbers from a list a available numbers. Pick one, and it will be ready to receive faxes after you complete the account creation.
Learn how to get a free online fax number on our guide to receive fax on email.
Understanding How Your Virtual Fax Line Works
Once you have chosen a Google fax number, it will be linked to your Gmail address, helping you receive a send a fax at any time.
When you send faxes to that number, the contents will be transmitted to fax servers owned by your provider, where they will be converted into a digital document, usually the conversion is from fax to PDF, because it’s a type of file that can be read for free across various devices.
It’s important to note that people sending you a fax won’t notice there’s something different when sending a fax. That’s because your digital fax number is no different from a common phone number!
The PDF file is finally forwarded to your email in a message that contains additional information about the fax transmission. Now instead of having to wait for the fax, turning on the machine, and all those time-consuming steps, you just need to check your email for new messages or activate desktop/mobile notifications.
For businesses that have an existing number and want to move it to a virtual line, online fax services offer what is called a “porting” process. This process moves your number to a digital platform, but it make take a few days to complete.
Any number that you are moving to an online fax service needs to propagate across the Internet in order to work properly, and that’s something that you can’t speed up. It usually takes around 5 days until it’s fully working. During that time you’ll get a temporary virtual fax number at no extra cost.
How much Does It Cost to Get a Fax Line?
The cost of a fax line can vary depending on the type of fax service you choose and your location. Here are some common types of fax services and their associated costs:
- Landline fax service: This is a traditional fax service that uses a dedicated phone line for faxing. The cost of a landline fax service will depend on your phone service provider and the specific plan you choose. It may include a monthly fee for the phone line between $10-$30, as well as any long-distance or international charges for sending or receiving faxes.
- Fax-to-email service: This service allows you to send and receive faxes using your email account, without the need for a dedicated fax line or physical fax machine. The cost of a fax-to-email service will depend on the provider you choose and the specific plan you select. But plans are withing the $5-$15 dollar range, and includes hundreds of pages to fax per month.
In general, landline fax service is often the most expensive option, while internet fax and fax-to-email services tend to be more affordable. It's worth shopping around and comparing the different options to find the fax service that best meets your needs and budget.
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