Monday, October 31, 2011

Why send an Internet fax when you can just email?

Confused as to why you need to send an Internet fax when you can just send your usual email? Here’s a comparison of Internet fax and Email.

Internet Fax and Email Dissimilarities

All points stated, it may seem much better to transmit an e-mail than send an Internet fax. Nonetheless, there are some advantages to Internet fax when we think about other elements.


  • Faxes give correspondences a a lot more expert air than e-mail. Some service providers also contain pre-set cover letter templates which are customizable.
  • An email account could be easily misused, and you have spam messages from your “friends” as evidence for that. Internet fax providers, however, give you the option to make use of your secure online fax account to send an Internet fax.
  • Emails are easy to mess with. They can be changed or edited at whim. Faxes are not easily changed, and it would take considerable skill to do so.
  • Anything sent by means of the internet is not 100% secure. But you can choose to send an Internet fax through a service provider that automatically encrypts all your faxes.
  • Email is fundamentally unsecure. An administrator can easily read email sent through the server. While an uncommon practice, networks can also be sniffed and emails read. For those who feel that there’s a risk for their sensitive emails to be intercepted, you could use an encryption scheme for e-mail. Nonetheless, this could possibly be cumbersome for both sender and receiver. Very good e-mail encryption tools are also usually not free.


Similarities of Internet Fax and Email

Email and Internet fax have common features and functions that may make them much more efficient and convenient than using snail mail or conventional fax.


  • Email is cost-free, and it is possible to also send an Internet fax for free by way of some service providers. Nonetheless, it could be ideal to subscribe to paid Internet fax service in case you need to have much more to make use of the service regularly and need a lot more advanced features.
  • You can attach an electronic signature to each email and fax messages. The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act recognizes the validity of electronic signatures in 47 US States. Also, business, commercial and governmental transactions via electronic means are given legal effect and enforceability provided that the details is obtainable to both parties and also the signatures may be linked or logically related to the record.
  • In business, you can use both for marketing products. Provided that your content is intriguing enough, email marketing can be an efficient form of promoting products and services. Whereas, you are able to send an Internet fax to all those you have an Established Business Relationship (EBR) with or to those that have openly published their number online or in an open directory.
  • You can send several email messages, the same as sending a fax broadcast
  • You can send an Internet fax and an e-mail via handy Internet-connected devices like notebooks and smartphones
  • Messages could be sent easily and conveniently to recipients through the internet

Internet fax and e-mail may have similarities, however, when we think about professional-looking and security documents, it’s still much better to send an Internet fax.