Freeware faxing software for (a) Windows XP - no modem or phone and (b) Windows 98 - modem and phone

[Frank D]

I just switched to Time-Warner RoadRunner cable and in the process gave up both my phone company phones (for cost reasons). I didn't realize at the time (and they didn't mention it) that I would lose all regular Windows/modem/phone-based faxing capabilities. I've searched the net and tried two or three downloaded programs purporting to enable faxing via Windows, but have not been successful. As a workaround, I've been sending scanned images via e-mail, which works very well, but there are times when e-mail won't do. Does anyone have a freeware solution to this problem?

On another tack, a friend of mine uses Windows 98 and has a fax modem, a regular phone company phone, a scanner, and would like to start faxing. He's asked me for help. Can anyone tell me the best way to set this up? Thank you.

Frank D

 

[Eric]

You have to have a regular phone to talk to a fax. There are services
(like eFax) that you can "print" to and they will take the file and fax
it for you, but they charge. After all, they're going to take your
file, run it through a fax modem at their end, and make a call over a
regular phone line so they have to cover costs.

If this is just a "once in a blue moon" problem then you are probably
better off just using your local Kinkos to send faxes that you can't
send via e-mail. Otherwise, sign-up for a pay service or find out how
much the most basic phone service is and do the cost-comparison.

 

[Frank D]

Eric wrote:
| You have to have a regular phone to talk to a fax. There are services
| (like eFax) that you can "print" to and they will take the file and fax
| it for you, but they charge. After all, they're going to take your
| file, run it through a fax modem at their end, and make a call over a
| regular phone line so they have to cover costs.
|
| If this is just a "once in a blue moon" problem then you are probably
| better off just using your local Kinkos to send faxes that you can't
| send via e-mail. Otherwise, sign-up for a pay service or find out how
| much the most basic phone service is and do the cost-comparison.

I was afraid of that. That answers question part (a).

Thanks!

Frank D

 

[Eric]

Frank D wrote:

On another tack, a friend of mine uses Windows 98 and has a fax modem, a regular phone company phone, a scanner, and would like to start faxing. He's asked me for help. Can anyone tell me the best way to set this up? Thank you.

Frank D

Part B is a bit tricky; you need to get a couple of things working
together. Here is what I do.

First, there should have been some faxing software with the modem.
WinFax Lite used to be everywhere. The link on Pricelessware doesn't
seem to point to it anymore (or maybe I'm confused) but you could
probably Google and find it. I didn't like it and went with a $20
shareware program instead. Either way, that program will cause your
modem to appear as a printer to Windows. Have your friend look around
and see if they have the disk. If not, have them contact the
manufacturer. If none of that works... I see new modems for $10 all
the time; you can always get one with new software.

Ok, now you can probably print from any Windows application and have it
fax as many pages as needed.

But, if you have to get your image into the computer then you have to
scan it in first.. Irfanview can talk to most scanners. If you are
just doing one page, "acquire" the image and print it to the modem
driver.

If you are doing two or more pages... you may have some work to do if
you don't want to dial five times to send five pages. Some fax
software can take a couple of print jobs and put them together as one
send.

Or... I use a the FreePDF writer <http://freepdfxp.de/fpx732.htm> (they
have a version for Win98 at the bottom of the page). Scan and print to
that software. Rather then create a different PDF each time, choose
the "add to next" option after printing each page until you have them
all together. That is really great when you want to include pages from
different programs. When you are done, let it create a single PDF that
includes all the pages. Then open the PDF and tell it to print to the
fax.

Once you get used to all these steps it's amazing what you can do.
But, I can certainly see why OfficeDepot still sells stand-alone fax
machines.

Oh, and one more thing. It makes a lot of sense to scan your own
signature and save it as a JPG file. I use that to "sign" documents
I've written in OpenOffice so I can fax them without having to print,
sign my name, scan and then fax them.

 

[Susan Bugher]

First, there should have been some faxing software with the modem.
WinFax Lite used to be everywhere. The link on Pricelessware doesn't
seem to point to it anymore (or maybe I'm confused)

dunno - could be or the web page could be wrong, I'll doublecheck -
should be showing a link to SOS's site - DL link is working. . .

Program: WinFax Lite
Author: Delrina
http://www.sover.net/~wysiwygx/index.html
http://www.sover.net/~wysiwygx/Apps2.html
DL (winfaxlite.zip)
http://encoderx.co.uk/id/id.php?fid=WinFax

Susan
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Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org (not maintained)

 

[Eric]

Yep, I was just confused. Thanks for giving the links Susan.

 

[Susan Bugher]

Yep, I was just confused. Thanks for giving the links Susan.

YW Eric.

Susan
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[Lefty Mills]

"I just switched to Time-Warner RoadRunner cable and in the process
gave up both my phone company phones "

How do you plan to call 9-11 or other emergency services if your
electricity goes off? Telephone companies usually supply a small
amount of electricity so calls can be made in a blackout.

Lefty

 

[Lou]

You have to have a regular phone to talk to a fax. There are services
(like eFax) that you can "print" to and they will take the file and fax
it for you, but they charge. After all, they're going to take your
file, run it through a fax modem at their end, and make a call over a
regular phone line so they have to cover costs.

If this is just a "once in a blue moon" problem then you are probably
better off just using your local Kinkos to send faxes that you can't
send via e-mail. Otherwise, sign-up for a pay service or find out how
much the most basic phone service is and do the cost-comparison.

Many other local small stores will fax for 10-20 cents per page.

 

[Lou]

"I just switched to Time-Warner RoadRunner cable and in the process
gave up both my phone company phones "

How do you plan to call 9-11 or other emergency services if your
electricity goes off? Telephone companies usually supply a small
amount of electricity so calls can be made in a blackout.

Lefty

Device called a cell phone?

 

[FirstName LastName]

"I just switched to Time-Warner RoadRunner cable and in the process
gave up both my phone company phones "

How do you plan to call 9-11 or other emergency services if your
electricity goes off? Telephone companies usually supply a small
amount of electricity so calls can be made in a blackout.

Lefty

cell phone, smoke signals, scream!?
backup generator, UPS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply
Uninterruptible power supply

 

[Al Klein]

Device called a cell phone?

Which can be connected to a computer which can send faxes through the
cell phone?

 

[Frank D]

Al Klein wrote:
| On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:50:06 GMT, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
|
|| Lefty Mills wrote:
||
||| "I just switched to Time-Warner RoadRunner cable and in the process
||| gave up both my phone company phones "
|||
||| How do you plan to call 9-11 or other emergency services if your
||| electricity goes off? Telephone companies usually supply a small
||| amount of electricity so calls can be made in a blackout.
|||
||| Lefty
||
|| Device called a cell phone?
|
| Which can be connected to a computer which can send faxes through the
| cell phone?

Thanks to all for the comments so far. Sending faxes through a cell phone (which I have) sounds promising. What kind of software would be needed? Any examples?

Frank D

 

[Frank D]

Eric wrote:

| First, there should have been some faxing software with the modem.
| WinFax Lite used to be everywhere. The link on Pricelessware doesn't
| seem to point to it anymore (or maybe I'm confused)

dunno - could be or the web page could be wrong, I'll doublecheck -
should be showing a link to SOS's site - DL link is working. . .

Program: WinFax Lite
Author: Delrina
http://www.sover.net/~wysiwygx/index.html
http://www.sover.net/~wysiwygx/Apps2.html
DL (winfaxlite.zip)
http://encoderx.co.uk/id/id.php?fid=WinFax

Susan
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Search alt.comp.freeware (or read it online):
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Pricelessware & ACF: http://www.pricelesswarehome.org
Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org (not maintained)

Susan Bugher wrote:
| Eric wrote:
|
|| Yep, I was just confused. Thanks for giving the links Susan.
|
| YW Eric.
|
| Susan

Thanks, Eric and Susan!

I'll follow up on your recommendations.

Frank D

 

[El Gee]

"I just switched to Time-Warner RoadRunner cable and in the process
gave up both my phone company phones "

How do you plan to call 9-11 or other emergency services if your
electricity goes off? Telephone companies usually supply a small
amount of electricity so calls can be made in a blackout.

Lefty

OT, but feel the need to respond:

Just because you drop your analog phone service does not mean that you
cannot dial 911. Federal law demands that a residence with a connected
phone line (with or without service) be able to make 911 calls in case
of an emergency. if you have your phone home phone service disconnected
and keep an old corded phone around, pick it up and you *normally* can
dial 611 (the local carrier) and 911 (emergency service). The same
holds true for cell phones.

--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
El Gee // www.mistergeek.com <><
Know Christ, Know Peace - No Christ, No Peace
Remove .yourhat to reply
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Frank D]

El Gee wrote:
| Lefty Mills wrote:
|| "I just switched to Time-Warner RoadRunner cable and in the process
|| gave up both my phone company phones "
||
|| How do you plan to call 9-11 or other emergency services if your
|| electricity goes off? Telephone companies usually supply a small
|| amount of electricity so calls can be made in a blackout.
||
|| Lefty
||
| OT, but feel the need to respond:
|
| Just because you drop your analog phone service does not mean that you
| cannot dial 911. Federal law demands that a residence with a connected
| phone line (with or without service) be able to make 911 calls in case
| of an emergency. if you have your phone home phone service disconnected
| and keep an old corded phone around, pick it up and you *normally* can
| dial 611 (the local carrier) and 911 (emergency service). The same
| holds true for cell phones.

Thank you, Lefty and El Gee,

This past week we had a one-day power outage and during that time, using the regular hard-wired phone (now supported by Time-Warner rather than the local telephone company), we were able to make and receive all phone calls normally. So that part of the question has been answered.

Frank D

 

[Tomguy]

I fax from home infrequently, but I have used a freeware fax program called
Call Center. It works with a fax modem in Win98 and XP.

http://www.v3inc.com/

 

[Frank D]

Tomguy wrote:
| I fax from home infrequently, but I have used a freeware fax program called
| Call Center. It works with a fax modem in Win98 and XP.
|
| http://www.v3inc.com/

Tomguy,

This looks like exactly what my friend with Windows 98 needs. Thank you!

Frank D