Why is the fax machine not dead yet?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terry
  • Start date Start date
T

Terry

Instead of faxing to a phone number I would have thought it would have
been replaced with an email address years ago.
 
Terry said:
Instead of faxing to a phone number I would have thought it would have
been replaced with an email address years ago.

Fax > Sent easier than Scan > Fax > Sent.
 
Terry said:
Instead of faxing to a phone number I would have thought it would have
been replaced with an email address years ago.
Fax machines are convenient but sometimes troublesome. Not necessarily the
machine itself but the transmission.
For myself, I prefer sending and receiving faxes.
 
PC's can fax with WinFax Pro or similar, and there are Fax to email
services.
A fax machine gives you hard copy, a fax machine can
send hard copy drawings and images without having to scan
them into a PC, which can be quicker, more convenient, and
sometimes better if the drawing has small print.
 
Emails may be lost and the receipient does not know it is lost on the way.
This is another reason why fax is used by businesses still.
 
Some people want hard copy without the hassle of converting a file and
printing it. Fax is more secure since it goes to a specific phone number.

Art
 
Arthur Entlich said:
Some people want hard copy without the hassle of converting a file and
printing it. Fax is more secure since it goes to a specific phone number.

Art
What's nice about FAX is you have more legal rights at your disposal to
fight unsolicited, meaningless, unwarranted incoming FAX transmissions.
 
In a number of business and financial worlds, as well as the legal world,
email is still not considered "legal delivery", but fax is. The financial
world has recently moved forward in this regard, but acceptance is slow to
happen.

I'd be happy to see digital fax, quality would improve hugely.
 
Dan G said:
In a number of business and financial worlds, as well as the legal world,
email is still not considered "legal delivery", but fax is. The financial
world has recently moved forward in this regard, but acceptance is slow to
happen.

I'd be happy to see digital fax, quality would improve hugely.
Mine are sent via VOIP. No trouble in receiving but sometimes trouble
sending. On my end it's an environmental thing.

mark_
 
Bennett said:
Add the need, sometimes, for a handwritten signature.

A fax is generally quicker and even though an email may have reached the
persons mail server it may not be delivered for days. A receipt that's it's
been delivered is optional. So you never know that it's been delivered
anyway.
An email is (debatably) more likely to reach the intended recipient, in a
company there only a few fax machines so the one for the person it's
intended for lies for ages in a great pile of faxes for other people.
 
jasee said:
A fax is generally quicker and even though an email may have reached the
persons mail server it may not be delivered for days. A receipt that's it's
been delivered is optional. So you never know that it's been delivered
anyway.

A lot depends on exactly which setuop.

Faxes recieved at the central corporate fax machine that get put in
brown envelopes and left in pigeon holes may stay there for days.. I
remembert a job I did once for Christian Dior, where the advances were
to receive TELEXES on a box, on a PC and then select them and manually
e-mail them on (via a ghastly IMB mainframe e-mail) to the person whose
attention it was marked for..
An email is (debatably) more likely to reach the intended recipient, in a
company there only a few fax machines so the one for the person it's
intended for lies for ages in a great pile of faxes for other people.

Most corporate e-mail systems will get there faster than a fax.

Of course if you are not polling to pickup the e-mail, it will stay on
the server..mine is set to poll every 5 minutes, giving an average
latency of 2.5 minutes.

A considerable advance on the 'poll once an hour' UUCP that we USED to
use..when fax WAS quicker.
 
jasee said:
A fax is generally quicker and even though an email may have reached the
persons mail server it may not be delivered for days.
False
A receipt that's it's
been delivered is optional. So you never know that it's been delivered
anyway.

True
An email is (debatably) more likely to reach the intended recipient, in a
company there only a few fax machines so the one for the person it's
intended for lies for ages in a great pile of faxes for other people.

True
 
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