How faxing works?

The fax machines took the world by storm in the 80's everyone wondered how it was possible that a machine scanned a document, transmitted it across a telephone line and it came out at the receiver's end looking just like how the document was in the first place. Just so, it is a mystery in the 2K era as to how a document can be sent over the World Wide Web to a conventional fax machine. The process in reality is pretty simple and has a simple logical explanation to it. The best part is that it can be used by everyone, at any place in the world!

There exists numerous ways to have a document faxed from the internet to a desired fax machine; thus saving the sender a lot of time as well as money if they have their fax sent from the net than from a conventional fax machine. Additionally, paperless communication is possible, which is not only environmentally friendly but makes organization easy as well. It is of utmost importance that one be familiar with the foundation basics of the past fax technologies in order to trace how far fax technology has advanced.

The Traditional Fax Machine

The conventional fax machine employed the use of a scanning device such as a scanner in order to have the document scanned. The scanned document was then converted to a sound and then transmitted by means of a modem through a public telephone system to the destination fax machine. There the document is regenerated from the sound and printed with the help of a printer that is present in the fax machine.

The major disadvantage of using this system was the requirement of a separate phone line for the fax machine, long distance services, toner and fax paper to have the faxes that are received printed out.

Faxing based on the computer

With the increase in the number of computers being equipped with or fitted with modems, the ability of sending faxes through computers radically evolved. Here the system was similar to that of the traditional fax machine. A document was sent out to the destination fax machine via the computer's modem. Additionally any computer which was installed with the fax software could receive faxes provided the power was switched on. Computer faxing was a step forward in the field of faxing, but it still required a phone line. Also the long distance phone charges applied to faxes which were sent out of the local network.

Internet Faxing

The next and perhaps ultimate advancement in the faxing field presented itself in the late 90's in the form of internet faxing. This system requires a facsimile server or a fax getaway to have the documents transmitted from the net to the telephone unit from where it is transmitted to the recipients fax machine. So basically what happens when you have a fax sent is that the document passes through to a phone line from your email. From there it is then transferred to the recipient's fax machine. The biggest advantage of online faxing is the feature of sending and receiving more than one fax at the same time. Also an added bonus is that the recipient's computer need not necessarily be on to receive the facsimile transmission.

Wish to start sending fax via email right away? Shopping for the right email fax can be confusing as there are tons of email fax providers around. In case you need help, do check out DumbShopper's unbiased guide on Internet faxing.