Need to Fax Internationally?

Writing a Good Cover Sheet for a Fax
Cover letters on international faxes serve multiple purposes, and writing a solid cover sheet gives your international fax many advantages. First of all, faxes with cover sheets are generally treated as more important by companies or people that receive them. It’s probably just a psychological factor, but it works. Second of all, a cover sheet is a cheap way to buff up the security of your faxes. Since most fax machines are kept in the middle of offices, it is important that your international faxes reach the intended recipient. Right near the top of your cover letter you should place “TO:[recipient]”( see example below) to ensure that the international fax gets to the right person. If you sent the fax to the incorrect number, then the accidental recipient can notify you that the message was not meant for them.
In addition to being a good security measure, cover letters can also ensure the integrity of your message. By indicating on your cover letter the number of pages (including the cover sheet) it has, you can notify the recipient of the full length of your fax so he or she knows if a paper jam occurred and they didn’t get the entire fax. Also adding the date of the fax, the recipient’s fax number, and who you are gives anyone who picks up the fax all the necessary information they need to deliver the fax.
Formatting your fax cover sheet is also important. This ensures that your fax looks professional as well being easy to read. You want to make sure that it is only one page and that the fonts you use on the cover sheet match the fonts you use in the body of your international fax. 12 pt Font should be a perfect size, but just make sure that it is not too big or too small. If you are including notes in your cover sheet, perhaps about the nature of the fax or to act as a cover letter, keep it to 3-5 paragraphs.
In Summary:
• Use a cover letter to seem more important
• Use “TO:” to secure your international fax
• Write the number of pages (including the cover sheet)
• The date
• Your contact information
• The recipient’s fax number
• 12 pt font
• No clutter
• And use the same font as the body of your international fax.
Check out http://www.freefaxcoversheets.net/ for templates for cover sheets.

Are There Any Advantages to Fax Machines?

In the age of the Internet, email, and email-to-fax services, it’s almost ludicrous to think that some industries and companies still rely (quite heavily) upon fax machines. Even though the fax machine is something of a dinosaur, there are still a few good reasons why some businesses can’t (for the moment) function without them.
For almost every reason why someone would use a fax machine, there’s an equally accurate reason why that same person could simply use an email-to-fax application. Yet, certain legal documents require an original or faxed signature, and some companies still use fax machines solely based upon international communications.

What Types of Industries Still Rely Upon Fax Machines?

Even though an emailed document may be a form of legally admissible evidence within the United States, this is not the case throughout the world. Therefore, companies that function on an international level often use a fax machine to send and receive data.
Many companies including transportation companies, law firms, web design companies – nearly any company that does business internationally — own (at least) one fax machine. For universal reasons, using a fax machine seems to make sense. However, many countries do recognize emailed documents in lieu of faxed documents, and this is something that any international company should consider researching in order to save time any money.
Restaurants also tend to use fax machines, though this is highly impractical. Running a fast-paced restaurant is tricky enough, but combining restaurant stress with waiting for a fax to arrive simply adds to a restaurateur’s stress level. When it comes to restaurants, using an email-to-fax system is a better way to get things done quickly.

Beware the Electronic Document

Just as some people are reluctant to swap a home phone for a cell phone, some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of operating entirely upon an electronic basis. Further, some people simply don’t want to deal with the hassle of setting up an email-to-fax program – even though there is very little hassle involved.
In some instances, a faxed piece of paper won’t even suffice – think about all the “original copies” that you’ve had to send to lawyers and accountants over the past few years! Still, in most instances, choosing an email-to-fax option is a legal, viable, and secure way to operate any business. Couple this with the fact that using an email-to-fax system is entirely more efficient, and running a lucrative business will become a lot easier.

The Death (and Revival) of the Fax Machine
The original purpose of the fax machine was relatively straightforward – to send copies of documents from one person to another through telephone wires. When all was said and done, the fax machine served its original purpose rather well. Today, the fax machine is starting to go the way of the Atari or the dial-up modem.

The Truth about Emailed Signatures
Due to Internet gossip, general paranoia, or plain old misinformation, many people are under the impression that a faxed signature is the only type of signature that is legally binding. The fact is that this assumption is simply not true.
The United States Congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act in June of 2000 in order to make electronic signatures legal. This act states that nearly all kinds of transactions are legally binding based upon a simple electronic signature (this is why it’s so very easy to make impulse buys online with a credit card).

The Future of the Fax Machine
By using an email-to-fax program, a person can attach a scanned document to an email, send the email to another person’s fax machine, and wait as technology magic happens – the document is printed on the receiver’s end within a matter of minutes.

There are many different email-to-fax programs on the Internet, and most of them charge a minimal fee for this type of service. If a signature is required, the person sending out a fax can electronically sign a document prior to sending it.

Alternately, a document can simply be signed electronically, and then sent back to the original sender via email. Once the recipient receives the signed document, this document can then be stored on a computer or printed in order to provide a person with a physical copy of the document.

Both of these methods work rather well, and both of these methods are increasingly becoming the best way to send and receive signed documents. While the fax machine was once an important part of the business world, there’s really no need to wait around for a fax to arrive ever again (unless, of course, you want an excuse to take an extra long lunch break!).

In the age of scanners and email attachments, why do companies still fax? It can be a real problem for companies who don’t own a fax machine and need to communicate with agencies or services that require it. However, there are many reasons why faxing is prevalent throughout the world and international faxing is still a viable communication method. Faxing is especially common in foreign countries such as Japan where scanners and email have failed to push out the fax machine. There are a few reasons for this.

Simplicity- When faxing many pages at a time, a fax machine is useful for loading sheets in all at the same time to send through to the receiving end.  It is also much easier to send a sheet of paper through a machine versus scanning it, saving it, emailing it, sending it, and having the receiver open it and print it out.

Market is Too Big- In foreign countries the market for faxing machines is too big to be shut down by advanced technology in this day and age.  Internationally, faxing is very widespread and the products are still growing.

Slow Adoption to New Technologies – Many companies and individuals are slow to adopt when it comes to technology and are hard to change when a new product or advancement comes out. In larger companies, technology is integrated into systems and processes that make adaptation of a new technology harder than for an individual.

Although it may seem a pain that many companies over the world still use seemingly outdated technology, there are many signals that it is not going away anytime soon. Using online faxing services is a great way to reach these companies when needed while not making huge investments in a machine. Internationally, faxing is going strong and it makes good business sense to be accommodating of this.

Here’s an interesting post with a simple explanation of how faxing works.

The fax machine was invented by Alexander Bain in 1843, and the basic idea behind fax machines is quite simple.  It is possible to send a fax anywhere with a phone connection, including sending faxes internationally because the sheets of paper are transmitted in sound form (i.e. over phone lines). Here’s how it works:

Step 1: As the original sheet of paper is fed into the faxing machine, a photo sensor scans the page.  What the sensor is actually scanning is quite simple.  The photo scanner looks at a small area, roughly 0.01 inches squared, and decides if this area is white or black. Like black text on white paper, for example.

Step 2: There are two preset frequencies (the pitch of a certain sound tone) for black and white.  When the scanner senses a black area it sends one tone over the phone line, and when it senses a white area it sends the other tone over the phone line.

Step 3: The fax machine on the other end of the phone line “hears” the tone and then prints each area according to the sounds it hears. Since both computers know how big the standard scanning area is, and the pattern with which they scan the page, the fax machine on the other end can print out the paper.

Different methods for faxing have occurred during the 150 plus years since it has been invented, but that is the in-the-nutshell idea behind how a fax machine works. The original fax machines used tin foil, alcohol, and electrodes to read the paper.  Now, you can take a document or file on your computer and send it to a fax machine using an online international faxing service. However, the basic concept has remained the same; data transmission through sound.

Along with all the advantages that modern technology has, it seems that an equal amount of problems come with it. The number one issue for the average consumer is privacy, or security of their information. People are worried if what they put into their computes, say into their phones, or scan into their fax machines will end up in the wrong hands. Although no method of communication can ever be truly secure, faxing provides many security advantages that other forms of communication do not have. At the same time, fax lines can be easy and cheap to tap into, so certain security measures must be taken.

Why faxing can never be truly secure: Risk of Human Error

Whenever you communicate with someone, there is always the risk that human error will misdirect the message. In the area of faxing, there are a few simple security risks that are hard to fix because of human error.  For one, a fax machine user can accidentally type in the wrong fax number and send the fax to the incorrect fax machine. Also, even if the fax is sent to the right location, that international fax machine is often in the middle of a busy office full of people who could intercept it. The same problems come with emails, phone messages, etc., however.

How to secure an international fax message using a fax machine:

There are a number of things you can do to strengthen the security of your international faxing. First and foremost, we recommend using fax-to-email software to ensure protection equal to that of your email.

1.)   You can use encrypting hardware which will scramble and protect the message you are sending in case it is intercepted by another party. Unfortunately, the receiver also needs to have the same encryption hardware and this can get expensive for both ends.

2.)   A strongly suggested security method is to set up fax sending protocols within your company or just for yourself.  You can add a cover sheet to every fax that includes important information like number of sheets faxed, names of the sender and recipient, request for a confirmation once the fax is sent, and any other metrics you can use so that the recipient knows that the integrity of the fax is intact and can confirm it with you.

3.)   Place your fax machine in a secure area.  If you have fax machines for your company, only give employees access and make sure that it is not open to the general public.  If it is your fax machine, still make sure that it is in a safe physical location.

Why faxing is a secure alternative to email or other forms of communication

Since an international fax is an image file, it cannot be edited to include programs that may harm your fax machine or computer (if you are using an online international faxing service). This means that viruses, worms, malware, and spyware cannot be put on your computer or fax machine with a fax.

In short, faxing security requires some common sense practices and measures, but overall it is a very safe method of communication. For further resources, see below.

How to Secure Sending Faxes

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/enterprise-security/articles/8262.aspx

Legal Elements of Faxing Security

http://www.connotech.com/FAXBIBL.HTM