Landline-less Fax

Landline-less Fax: a reader asks…

Hi Chris, I have a problem that’s probably more common than I think. Here’s my situation: I live in a condo and don’t have a landline, just a cell phone. I have a computer and internet service at the condo. On rare occasions I need to send out faxes, but often need to be able to copy and scan things to my computer. Is there a multi-function device that will do this for me – without a landline? What do you do?

Yes, your situation is getting more and more common as people are ditching landlines (that get nothing but solicitors, scammers and so-called research groups) and only using their cellphones for primary telephone communications. Add in the sort of silly fact that old-fashioned facsimile services are still occasionally needed – mostly for legal documents with an ‘original’ signature. I find it amusing that organizations will accept a facsimile of your signature as proof, instead of an original, notary-certified signature.

And yes, there is a solution for you, but there are potential issues. HP has a line of multi-function printers that have the built-in capability to use efax.com’s internet fax service. You can purchase any one of these devices for your home:

1. HP ENVY 110, 111, or 114 e-All-in-One Printer
2. HP Photosmart 7510 or 7515
3. HP Photosmart eStation

You’ll also need an account with eFax.com. They used to have a service that offered 20 incoming and 20 outgoing pages each month for free, but they’ve discontinued that, and now the free version only allows 20 incoming pages per month. To send outgoing you’ll need a paid version, the cheapest is $16.95/month, which lets you send 150 pages per month (and also receive 150 pages per month).

According to several sources, HP and eFax.com have a partnership so if you buy one of the above printers you should be able to create an eFax.com account through the printer’s touchpad or control panel, and then have access to free 20 incoming or outgoing pages per month. Some users have reported that they had trouble getting that set up, and that neither HP nor eFax.com was very helpful in resolving the problems. This support document at HP.com tells you how to setup eFax.com on an HP Envy 110 printer.

There are other ways to get documents sent to or received from someone:

1. You can use your multi-function device to scan in a document and then email that scan to someone. And of course, most organizations and individuals now have email capability.
2. You can use your multi-function device to scan in a paper document and then use another online faxing service to send the document. That same (or another) online faxing service can establish a local or non-local fax number for you, and even deliver incoming faxes to your email inbox (as PDFs).

For that online faxing service, here are two free options if you only send a few outgoing faxes per month:

1. http://www.gotfreefax.com/, which allows you to upload a pdf, image or MS Word document to fax
2. http://www.bestfreefax.com/, which is a bit more primitive, but has essentially the same functionality.

Of course, these do nothing about receiving faxes, so you can choose the separate free eFax.com account for the occasional incoming fax. This service gives you a non-local incoming fax number, which might be an issue for fax senders in your local area. If your volume needs are a bit bigger, or you are concerned about privacy and don’t want to open up yourself to even more marketing annoyances (the usual result of using ‘free’ services), then lower-cost alternatives to eFax Plus ($16.95/month) include:

1. http://www.fax.com/ $9.99/month for 300 pages
2. http://smartfax.com/ $6.95/month for 250 pages
3. http://www.faxage.com/ $7.95/month for 50 pages

There are dozens of other vendors offering fax services, this is just a quick skim of the top-rated services. If you want dead-simple ease of use, then get yourself and HP Envy and get through the setup – then you can treat your printer almost exactly like a fax machine/landline combination. If your needs exceed the 20 page limit, then you can upgrade to eFax Plus and also get a local incoming fax number.

Lastly, you asked what I do – I use email and electronic documents (and electronic signatures where allowed) whenever possible. Otherwise I use an eFax Plus account, have it set to deliver incoming faxes to my inbox as PDFs, and still use a landline with my HP Color Laserjet 475 to fax outgoing paper, or use my eFax.com program on my computer to send outgoing electronic documents as a fax over the internet.

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