Online Fax Broadcast - What Is It?

Just as the name suggests it is broadcasting a fax to a large number of recipients at once. And because this type of faxing is web based, you use your email system and your web connection to send or rather broadcast your faxes. Basically, you're using your email system to send your fax to your contacts via an email attachment. More or less, it is the equivalent of a mass email mailing to your clients.

Of course, in the above scenario it is assumed everyone knows what online fax is and how it is done. Online fax is known by many names: email fax, web fax, fax to email, electronic fax or even computer fax. What you have to remember, online faxing is simply using your computer, your email system and your web connection to send your faxes. The only other element involved is your chosen online fax service provider which handles all your faxes in return for a small monthly charge or fee.

You have to sign-up to one of these providers who will act on your behalf to handle all your faxes. Monthly charges are around $7-$10 and for that price you're given a local or toll-free fax number and an online fax account or interface where you can log in to check/send your faxes. Most services will have fax broadcasting as a special feature which you can use if you want to contact a large group of people at once. However, you must check this feature first before signing up as not all providers carry this service.

Fax broadcasting is a great convenience because you can "import" your list of contacts into your fax account and then instantly send (broadcast) your fax to these contacts. This is not only quicker but in many cases it can be cheaper, especially if you work out a corporate fax plan rate with your provider. Most of the fax services offer this feature and you can custom your fax plan to meet your specific needs. Your can also in many cases, negotiate special fax broadcast rates in order to save your company some money.

As more and more of our business tasks and communications move into the computer age, online fax broadcasting will probably become more common. Especially when you consider this type of faxing is paperless, inkless, cheaper and much more portable than the old fax machine in the office. Plus, reaching your clients or customers through their cell phones, netbooks, PDAs, PCs, iPads... makes it much more likely your fax will reach your client and will be read.

However, just as email spam can be an abuse of the email system, so too can fax broadcasting, if it's not used in the proper manner. Just make sure you have your client's permission to send them your fax and this issue should not be a problem. Legitimate usage of fax broadcasting to contact customers and clients about special events or sales can be of a great benefit to any company or business. It is one avenue which should not be overlooked if you want to directly reach all your contacts instantly.

Online fax broadcasting is a helpful practical service whose time has finally arrived. Are you or your company using it?

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For more information on Internet Fax Services use this handy online fax Comparison Guide: www.onlinefaxguide.com