Disadvantages of fax machines and how to avoid them

The disadvantages of fax machines getting to you, but you can't do a thing about it- your business is tied with using fax to send documents to business partners, just like how it has been for the last 10 years (or god knows how long).

Well, if you are getting sick and tired of using fax machines and all the hassle that come with dealing with fax machines, we have the perfect solution for sending fax in a more effective way.

Before that, we should review the disadvantages of fax machines to understand why people may dislike fax machines so much.

What are the disadvantages of fax machines?

Even though fax machines have made it possible for companies and individuals to send scans and hard-copy documents to one another in a very short about of time, many disadvantages, however, still exist with fax machines and outdated fax technology:

Fax machines require constant maintenance: Fax machines require paper and toner to operate, for sending and receiving of fax documents. Just like having a printer, you will incur additional costs in the form buying paper packs, ink cartridges, toner cartridges, and also on regular servicing, fax machine troubleshooting and repair of machine parts for your fax machine.

Fax machines require a landline phone number: Fax machines are connected to landlines and rely on it for transmission of fax documents. In other words, you will need to purchase and maintain a separate land line from your local carrier just to keep the fax machine operational. Fax land lines cost any where from between $30 to $60 a month.

Fax machines works only one recipient at a time: Fax machines have a big limitation where it can only send or receive from one recipient at a time. If you try to get someone to fax you something while your fax machine is currently busy with another fax, he or she is going to get a line busy error. This limitation may come as a huge problem if you need to fax to multiple parties in a single day. If you need to send fax to 30 different people, you pretty much have to perform the fax 30 individual times.

Fax machines are bulky and not portable: Fax machines are bulky and connected to a landline, which means that it is extremely un-portable. If you need to fax a document, you will need to walk to where the fax machine is located in the office. Imagine if you are on the office phone and someone asks you to check the incoming he just sent. You will need to ask him to hold on and wait for you to walk to the fax machine and back. A big problem if the fax machine is on another floor or on the other side of the building. Furthermore, if you need to move offices, you will need to install a new land line socket with the same fax number just to get it to work again.

Fax machines have human security problem: Fax machines are usually located in a copy room or in a corner close to other printers and fax machines. Anyone who walk past the fax machine would be able to see your private documents and even take them anyway without your permission. Since fax machines have an open tray, it is not possible to enforce security or privacy of fax documents received on a fax machine.

Fax machines are not environment-friendly: Do we still need to explain this? Fax machines use heaps of paper each time as they print full documents and usually just on a single side. If you are receiving spam, that is paper that is wasted and previous trees that are being cut down unnecessarily.

Fax machines do not help with documents management: After a fax document comes in, you will need to file, organize or arrange the paper documents manually. The fax machine simply has no way to automatically file paper documents on your behalf. If you compare this to emails, you can quickly drag and drop any incoming attachments to a folder you want. With a fax machine, you will have to do this completely manually.

Are there still any real advantages to using fax today?

Fax is still widely used in the business world and in most of the developed countries. For example, US, Canada, Israel and Japan still consider fax as a very essential method of document sending with key uses of fax machine in communication. Do you agree with this? Are there any real advantages to using fax? We will see below:

Fax is the best way to hard-copy documents:

When a fax document arrives, your fax machine instantly prints it out as a hard-copy document. Therefore, fax makes it easy for someone to send you a copy of any hard-copy document. With email, you may have to download the attachment and get it printed out separately which may be a bit of a hassle.

Fax has low hacking risk:

Email accounts and computers can be easily compromised through hacking and infection of computer viruses and malware. In comparison, fax machines are safer and more secure as they make use of land lines for communication. For a malicious party to hack the fax transmission, he has to intercept the fax at a very precise time at the moment of transmission, which is an almost impossible task to perform.

Fax transmission has high document security:

The unlikeliness of a fax transmission getting hacked, helps to preserve document security, which is the reason why organizations such as government, law and healthcare still see fax as the preferred mode of sending hard-copy documents. Remember the time when you had to make an application to a government agency and had to submit sensitive documents through fax. Using fax helps to retain the security of document transmission and also sender privacy.

Fax has widespread use:

You may have used fax machines for a long time now, and the people you know at other companies are still using it too. You may prefer using other modes of communications such as emails, but you surely cannot deny that tons of companies, workers and people still rely on fax as the main mode of hard-copy document sending. The high adoption rate of fax machines makes it almost certain that any organization you need to send a document to would have a fax line you can use.

Fax is still reliable:

Using email for sending documents require the right software as well as the technical skills to compose emails with file attachments. This however is never a problem with fax machines. Sending a fax is straightforward and not overly complex, you almost only need a fax machine, the recipient fax number and a few practices, before you can confidently fax documents in the future.

Fax is still convenient:

Sending documents through email is actually more tedious compared to fax. It requires you to first scan the document, then upload it to a computer, and then attach it to a well formatted email message. Fax on the other hand, is far more convenient and quick to send a document. To fax a document using a fax machine – just insert it into the machine and enter a number, and your recipient receives it in seconds.

Well, I still hate fax machines for its disadvantages. What is the best solution for me?

Using a faxing mobile app to send fax from iPhone may be the best solution to your trouble with fax machines.

Fax mobile apps help you to send electronic fax with zero difference between physical faxing and electronic faxing. You can send any document in any shape and size and it will be received by your recipient as a clear, highly readable fax document.

Is this like sending fax from computer without phone line? We would say that Fax mobile apps are much more convenient that sending efax from computers. efax requires expensive software that might are difficult to use and expensive to buy.

Fax Zap for iPhone

Zap Fax App by Appsverse allows you to transform your iPhone into a fax machine to send and receive any fax documents from any fax number.

To send faxes, simply scan the document you want with your phone camera, which instantly creates a business ready document to be faxed. Next, simply type in the fax number you want to fax to, and hit the SEND button.

If you want to receive faxes, simply select your own Fax number in the app that and it becomes Fax phone line. No need to maintain a dedicated fax landline with your carrier. With your own fax phone line, you can receive faxes directly into your phone in the Zap Fax inbox as text and image messages that you can save to email or forward it to a person.

See Zap Fax App by Appsverse on Apple App Store available for iPhone and iPad.