Any point in having a Fax machine?

[bill8379]

I re-inventing my co. and I've never had one in 8 years but every once in a while someone mentions it. I bought a scanner that I never use, and of course I have a printers..

[PROCUT1]

If youre just doing residential work, its a convenience for dealing with business matters.

If youre going into the commercial business its practically a must

[hoyboy]

Are you serious? How could you not have one?

[bill8379]

I've always been almost exclusively residential but that could change.. not sure what you would even use the things for. To me it seems like a precursor to email or something.

edit: I have about two weeks to finalize my yellow page and new phone number as well as domain name. The lady from the phone co. asked me if she could fax a form to me. Don't have a fax so she emailed it but it did get me thinking.

[Dstosh]

Get one, It is so much easier to fax stuff when you can.

[carcrz]

I just scan & email. No paper & just as easy.

[M&MLawn]

I use eFax.com and its super easy and you can even receive a certain amount of faxes for free.

[ATVracer]

I have a Lexmark all in one printer that scans, copies and faxes. It costs about $120 and has lasted 2 years with both my wife and myself's business. I say get one, you never know when it can come in handy.

[Grits]

I don't have one and I was just thinking tonight of how much I need a fax machine. I email a lot of things, but some things just need to be faxed. For example: A property management company that I do work for just emailed me a W-9. I have to fill it out and it would be nice just to be able to fax it back right now. Sure, I could scan it and email it, but it'll look like crap when they get it.
I vote....YES to fax machines!

[bill8379]

Sure, I could scan it and email it, but it'll look like crap when they get it.
I vote....YES to fax machines!

Good point. I have a scanner but I haven't even bothered to install it in over 3 years. That's one of the most useless pieces of equipment I've ever boughten.

Staples is selling (at least around my parts) a brother Colour 6-in-1 Printer, copier, scanner, fax, PC fax, photo capture centre... $79.96 (Save $50). I've always been leary of these super "all in one" machines but I've wanted a copier for a long time. I actually think that's why I bought that scanner, so I could copy things.

[Luvs2Play]

34 years, never needed one. I can go to the office supply store and pay them $2.00 to send a fax. Have never had a commercial account want to fax me anything.

[RedSox4Life]

If youre just doing residential work, its a convenience for dealing with business matters.

If youre going into the commercial business its practically a must

Like he said.

[lawnpro724]

Keep in mind that just about every business you will do work for and ones you want to do for have at least one dedicated fax if not more. Just about half of all estimates I give are sent by fax not to mention revisions and even some invoices. A fax machine is a piece of equipment that everyone should have in there office if they are doing much commercial work. If your only doing residential and thats all you intend to keep doing then there might not be a need for a fax machine but other than that I consider it to be a required piece of equipment.

[bill8379]

I was just talking to the phone co. and I found out I don't need a separate phone line for a fax machine. All I need is a Teen ring feature and to make sure to get a fax machine that recognizes Voice + Data. I'm going to get one since there's no monthly cost added to the phone bill.

Could someone explain that a bit better? I'm a little confused because some of the fax machines look like telephones but I don't want to use it as a phone.

Would you recommend those all in ones or thermal and whatever other types of models. I would think, simpler the better eh?

[lawnpro724]

I was just talking to the phone co. and I found out I don't need a separate phone line for a fax machine. All I need is a Teen ring feature and to make sure to get a fax machine that recognizes Voice + Data. I'm going to get one since there's no monthly cost added to the phone bill.

Could someone explain that a bit better? I'm a little confused because some of the fax machines look like telephones but I don't want to use it as a phone.

Would you recommend those all in ones or thermal and whatever other types of models. I would think, simpler the better eh?

Hey Bill, yes you can have a fax machine on the same line as your phone. I have the Brother Intellifax 775 and answering machine and several other phones along with DSL on one line without any problems at all. Make sure you get a plain paper fax machine ( one that takes the same paper as your printer ). To use your fax machine with an answering machine press the receive mode button on the fax and select TAD which stands for (telephone answering device) this feature will let the fax machine know there is an answering machine on the line. Whatever fax machine you get make sure it has this feature. I'm not a big fan of those all in one wander machines and prefer a standalone fax but thats up to you. If something breaks on one of those all in one machines and you have to take it in for repair you may be out of everything for weeks or longer if you know what I mean. No printer, copier, scanner, fax and so on. Oh you can also use it as a phone, I do with mine and it sits on my desk.

[DiyDave]

Buy an all in one printer for about $150.00. They do everything from scanning to photo printing to faxing, scanning. The thing to remember is that the ink for these things is about $2000.00/oz, so use it sparingly, get printing done at a print shop (staples, Kinko's etc). Another tip is to unplug the fax line when you are not expecting faxes, and tell your customers to call in advance, before faxing, otherwise the junk faxers will use up all your paper and ink sending you faxes trying to sell stuff you don't want!:laugh::laugh:

[bill8379]

Make sure you get a plain paper fax machine ( one that takes the same paper as your printer ). To use your fax machine with an answering machine press the receive mode button on the fax and select TAD which stands for (telephone answering device) this feature will let the fax machine know there is an answering machine on the line. Whatever fax machine you get make sure it has this feature.
I'm make sure of the TAD thing, thanks for that.

If something breaks on one of those all in one machines and you have to take it in for repair you may be out of everything for weeks or longer if you know what I mean. No printer, copier, scanner, fax and so on. Oh you can also use it as a phone, I do with mine and it sits on my desk.
I'm not a fan of them either, I think exactly like you. Besides I have 3 printers as it is, one of them is a colour lazer. And I have a scanner (that I never use or have installed... )

The thing to remember is that the ink for these things is about $2000.00/oz, so use it sparingly, get printing done at a print shop (staples, Kinko's etc). Another tip is to unplug the fax line when you are not expecting faxes, and tell your customers to call in advance, before faxing, otherwise the junk faxers will use up all your paper and ink sending you faxes trying to sell stuff you don't want!:laugh::laugh:
Man, you mean people can spam you on the fax machine?:laugh: I didn't even think of that. As far as ink costs go, I'm an old pro at refilling not only ink cartridges but toner as well. I buy 8oz bottles of ink for a $100 and refill them with a syringe then plug it up with a glue gun. I think it costs me about $2 to fill a cartridge.:laugh:

But back to that spam. Do these things print out automatically? I would have thought it would be like email, maybe a screen that lets you review and decide to discard or print? (If this isn't a invented feature yet I hereby patent it)

[DiyDave]

Yes, Virginia, there are fax spammers. And if you fall for the line at the bottom of the page, saying that you can be removed from their list, by calling this number, I have a bridge to sell you! What I like to do on a slow day, is to pick up one of these spam faxes, call the advertiser, listen to his spiel for as long as I have time or patience, then say: "Well I was really interested in your {product, service, etc}, but since it originated from a spam fax, I'll have to ask you to kindly remove my name from your spam list." If they tell me to dial the other number, then I just tell them that it's so small that I can't read it, and the last time I called them, I just got 3 more calls from idiot spammers like you! I think I have to see if I can get re-registered on the gov't do not call list. Does anybody have that number?:hammerhead::hammerhead:

[carcrz]

I don't have one and I was just thinking tonight of how much I need a fax machine. I email a lot of things, but some things just need to be faxed. For example: A property management company that I do work for just emailed me a W-9. I have to fill it out and it would be nice just to be able to fax it back right now. Sure, I could scan it and email it, but it'll look like crap when they get it.
I vote....YES to fax machines!

Download it as a pdf online & then type it in. Looks much better IMO. Then just attach the file in an email.

[bohiaa]

LMAO....

This issue just came up with me about a month ago.....

Not going to tell you the steps I went through, "Cause It will make me look bad"

But You cant even find Fax machines anymore....

It's VERY OLD Machinery.......