More About Online Fax Services
Prices
Before choosing an online fax plan, you should consider several factors that will affect the total price of your service. If you'd like to port (transfer) your existing fax number, then RingCentral and Nextiva can do it at no additional charge. If your fax usage has seasonal spikes, you will want a plan that will not charge a fortune when you fax more pages than are allotted in your plan, such as Nextiva, which charges only 3¢ for additional pages.
Features
While most online fax services provide very similar features, there are some notable points of differentiation of which you should be aware. For example, if you need multiple users to be able to access the fax service from multiple email accounts, MetroFax won't work for you, as it only allows you access through one email address. Do you want to be able to schedule Fax Delivery for specific times? If so, you'll want to stick with RingCentral and MyFax.
Fax Transmission Speed
We tested 5 online fax providers to see which was the fastest at transmitting faxes. For each provider, we sent 5 faxes at random times of the day and marked the time when the fax was sent and received. The average transmission time for the 25 faxes we sent was 2 minutes and 34 seconds. We found that some services, such as Nextiva, were up to 30% quicker than the others.
Ease of Use
All online fax services have their own user interface, settings and features that they design to be as user friendly as possible. If you're planning to use additional features or customizable settings, or if are not particularly tech-savvy, we recommend that you first make check how user friendly a service is before you commit to purchasing one of their packages.
Transferring Existing Numbers
If you already have a fax number and your clients or business partners already know and use it, it's a lot of trouble to start over with a new one. All service providers we reviewed offer the ability to port (transfer) an existing number. Some, like RingCentral, do it for free. MetroFax and eFax however, charge $49.95 for this service. Additionally, some provide simple instructions for the transfer while others haven't made the process quite that easy.
customer support
The form of customer service that you prefer (phone, email, or self help) may also be a consideration when deciding on an online fax service. Some services, like RingCentral, eFax and MyFax provide 24-hour phone support. Some answer phones faster than others and some have helpful online resources such as FAQs, online demos and tutorials.
