# Goodbye Fax Machine



## BamBamm5144 (Jul 12, 2008)

I am getting rid of my landline. I only have it for faxes and I only fax one or two things a month.

Who knows of a good program where I can still accept faxes but have them sent to my email account?


----------



## Kent Whitten (Mar 24, 2006)

efax has been around forever. Dunno how the service is though.


----------



## chris klee (Feb 5, 2008)

Kent Whitten said:


> efax has been around forever. Dunno how the service is though.


What he said. 
Efax works pretty good. Never had an issue.


----------



## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

I have 2 suppliers that rely pretty heavily on fax.

I just forced them to join the 21st century and email me. It doesn't make them happy but I cut that cost of a land line and/or monthly efax charge.


----------



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

I stuck my fax machine in a closet a year ago.


----------



## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

I have some paranoid clients that prefer fax.


----------



## jamestrd (Oct 26, 2008)

hello fax...its free if you only do small amounts of fax..you can send and receive, do digital signatures etc..they have an upgrade if you need more..
works great


----------



## Solar Control (Jan 27, 2009)

RingCentral

They work great with every company except for iSqFt. We have a fax without the paper/toner hassles of old and everything is automatically archived.


----------



## skcolo (May 16, 2009)

I only use my fax for a scanner anymore. Email is a way better record.


----------



## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

angus242 said:


> I have 2 suppliers that rely pretty heavily on fax.
> 
> I just forced them to join the 21st century and email me. It doesn't make them happy but I cut that cost of a land line and/or monthly efax charge.


I did that as well. How can I get a fax or send one on a jobsite? I am not going home to send it or try and find a drugstore that has one. :no:

What strikes me as odd is that some of my supplier/sales folks don't have their own company e-mail and have to have someone else e-mail me. I thought this was the information age.

I have a fax, but only because it is attached to my wide format printer. No land line here either. I just convert everything to PDF and e-mail it.


----------



## Sar-Con (Jun 23, 2010)

We keep our fax machine around for the client that likes to send a $2,500.00 PO along with a 40 page contract.

I'm looking into doing the whole fax to server function but a few throw backs in the office like the hum of the dam thing....:whistling


----------



## PrestigeR&D (Jan 6, 2010)

I'm surprised that technology is still around........


A email takes seconds and with such more detail...

Faxing.........

I don't fax,...and that's the fax.....:laughing:


Its Just to time consuming,....and limited......



An email...can send a wealth of information in seconds...detailed 

As far as the fax.....

Every time I hear the tones of a fax machine, 


Well,
......this guy comes to mind...










B,:laughing:


----------



## overanalyze (Dec 28, 2010)

It's funny how it's usually the older salesmen that fight technology. I think I am down to two now that still fax over quotes. Our fax is a smart fax so we only have one line. Email is preferred always!!


----------



## Sar-Con (Jun 23, 2010)

Hold on a minute, let me print out the word document so I can walk it over to the fax machine, create a fax transmittal, look up your #, fax you, then wait for another page to come back confirming your receipt....


----------



## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

I hate fax machines but they are sort of a necessary evil in the security industry. 

Who else remembers telex machines and how cool they were.


----------



## skcolo (May 16, 2009)

Homing pigeons are the answer.


----------



## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Inner10 said:


> I hate fax machines but they are sort of a necessary evil in the security industry.
> 
> Who else remembers telex machines and how cool they were.


I remember playing text games on them. It seemed like the future had finally arrived. Mind blowing at the time.


----------



## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

I still use an Aldis lamp......


----------



## J L (Nov 16, 2009)

Nextiva. Been using them for 5 years now. Faxes to email. When you send a fax, it will email you a copy of the sent fax.


----------



## GregS (Oct 1, 2006)

Inner10 said:


> I hate fax machines but they are sort of a necessary evil in the security industry


I haven't had a land line for 10 years and I do security. What's the fax for? If for notifications, I get all that by email.


----------



## Big Shoe (Jun 16, 2008)

What's a fax? :jester:


----------



## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

GregS said:


> I haven't had a land line for 10 years and I do security. What's the fax for? If for notifications, I get all that by email.


Must be something in the water in Ottawa but I have a few clients who don't trust the security of email or anything internet related. If they want to update the call list for their alarm account they fax it to me. Signed documents get faxed.

Also a few construction companies prefer fax, often when a site office is deployed it will have a fax and telephone only...no computer.


----------



## smalpierre (Jan 19, 2011)

Inner10 said:


> I have some paranoid clients that prefer fax.


Fax should be way easier to hack than email. All you've got to do is clip on to their line with a recorder, and play it back to a fax machine. I'm sure a butt set with a talk battery could make any fax machine think it was recieving a call, then play back the recording ...

It's simple in band encoded signal over a pots line - no encryption or anything. How hard could it possibly be?


----------



## Big Shoe (Jun 16, 2008)

Inner10 said:


> Must be something in the water in Ottawa but I have a few clients who don't trust the security of email or anything internet related. If they want to update the call list for their alarm account they fax it to me. Signed documents get faxed.
> 
> Also a few construction companies prefer fax, often when a site office is deployed it will have a fax and telephone only...no computer.


I believe that to be true. And my neighbor who has everything still thinks texting is stupid too.
You can't change every ones mind to come out of the Ice Ages.


----------



## daniels (Nov 14, 2012)

A what? )


----------



## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

smalpierre said:


> Fax should be way easier to hack than email. All you've got to do is clip on to their line with a recorder, and play it back to a fax machine. I'm sure a butt set with a talk battery could make any fax machine think it was recieving a call, then play back the recording ...
> 
> It's simple in band encoded signal over a pots line - no encryption or anything. How hard could it possibly be?


That`s it...you would have to physically connect to the line or physically grab the piece of paper from the machine. A client doesn`t know who has access to your email account and the information could sit right there in the open. Today more than ever people use browsers, tablets and smartphones to hold their passwords leaving a very unsecured environment. 

How many faxes have you successfully copied with a line recorder? I have enough trouble getting a POTS line that is clean enough to even send and receive a fax. :laughing:

...Most people don't use email encryption either, when emails are sent they are not encrypted. If you are concerned about the lack of encryption with a fax machine you can use a STE like the military. 



Big Shoe said:


> I believe that to be true. And my neighbor who has everything still thinks texting is stupid too.
> You can't change every ones mind to come out of the Ice Ages.


For the price of a phone line I don't mind appeasing those few people who still want to fax.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

smalpierre said:


> Fax should be way easier to hack than email. All you've got to do is clip on to their line with a recorder, and play it back to a fax machine.


:no:

Fax machines exchange a series of handshake signals both before and after the actual transmission to identify the type of machine/capabilities, test line condition for optimum speed and so forth. It's an interactive process that a recording won't do, and the connection would fail.

A dedicated hacker could write an app to decode such a recording with a computer, but that would be much more involved than hacking an email.


----------



## chris klee (Feb 5, 2008)

Inner10 said:


> For the price of a phone line I don't mind appeasing those few people who still want to fax.


It was cheaper for me to get fios with internet and phone than internet alone. 
my printer is a wide format all in one. wouldn't take much to set up the fax feature. 
havent needed it yet.


----------



## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

chris klee said:


> It was cheaper for me to get fios with internet and phone than internet alone.
> my printer is a wide format all in one. wouldn't take much to set up the fax feature.
> havent needed it yet.


Maybe I'm just old and stubborn.:laughing:

I like POTS.


----------



## smalpierre (Jan 19, 2011)

Tinstaafl said:


> :no:
> 
> Fax machines exchange a series of handshake signals both before and after the actual transmission to identify the type of machine/capabilities, test line condition for optimum speed and so forth. It's an interactive process that a recording won't do, and the connection would fail.
> 
> A dedicated hacker could write an app to decode such a recording with a computer, but that would be much more involved than hacking an email.


Asterisk (Open Source Linux based PBX software) has a fax library that has been used for just that purpose.

http://codezen.fr/tag/fax/


----------



## smalpierre (Jan 19, 2011)

Inner10 said:


> That`s it...you would have to physically connect to the line or physically grab the piece of paper from the machine. A client doesn`t know who has access to your email account and the information could sit right there in the open. Today more than ever people use browsers, tablets and smartphones to hold their passwords leaving a very unsecured environment.
> 
> How many faxes have you successfully copied with a line recorder? I have enough trouble getting a POTS line that is clean enough to even send and receive a fax. :laughing:
> 
> ...


Getting to your telephone interface isn't usually difficult, it's on the side of the building. Simple VOX recorder, put 2 alligator clips on the end of the mic wire and clip on and stuff into the network interface, or run the wire somewhere incognito-like. Retrieve later at a convenient time.

It's a LOT easier than hacking into the internet providers usually heavilly guarded network, finding and compromising an email server, and not getting busted in the process.

You are absolutely right about people's useage of email though. They will store passwords on phone then lose it or leave it laying around. I have had to do many many password resets for people that forgot their password because of that. 2 years later and corp changes everybody from Exchange to Lotus Domino and BAM! 2000 people need password resets :laughing:

Encryption wouldn't even solve that problem since the public key is stored in the client and remembered in a similar fashion to password saving. Does keep mailserver hijackers from reading it though.


----------



## smalpierre (Jan 19, 2011)

belmanliving said:


> Sir,
> I would like to suggest you that if you are having Mac os x 10.6 at your perusal then you can get a newly designed modem which can be used for sending and receiving fax through your mail.
> 
> You may follow this link for detailed description:
> ...


Fax modems are common - at least they were when modems were common. Drivers available for just about any OS. I used to use my Windows 3.1 box to send / recieve faxes. You still need a phone line to use a modem for that though.

Most of them you set up a virtual printer which basically instead of sending to a printer, sends to the modem.


----------



## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

smalpierre said:


> Asterisk (Open Source Linux based PBX software) has a fax library that has been used for just that purpose.


Well, that's not a dedicated hacker, that's the whole open source community. :laughing:

The fax_decode link in that article does illustrate the complex handshaking that goes on. Years ago, I would eavesdrop on that signal exchange when troubleshooting and could actually understand what the machines were saying to each other. :smartass:


----------



## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Tinstaafl said:


> Well, that's not a dedicated hacker, that's the whole open source community. :laughing:
> 
> The fax_decode link in that article does illustrate the complex handshaking that goes on. Years ago, I would eavesdrop on that signal exchange when troubleshooting and could actually understand what the machines were saying to each other. :smartass:


To a certain extent we still do that with alarm panels.


----------

