I want to send and receive faxes on my Mac.

Question

I want to send and receive faxes on my Mac.

There have been lots of discussions about faxes in these forums and they all confuse me. Let us simplify.

I receive and send faxes about 10 times a year - yet I am paying for a dedicated fax line. It seems like a waste of money to pay for this line. I would like to ditch the phone line bill.

I get so few faxes it seems like a waste to subsdribe to a service like eFax. I understand that some of these services are free if you only send/receive a few faxes. Is this true? Or is it only free for the first 10 days or something?

I guess the problem is that a regular fax machine dials a phone number to reach you . A computer does not have a phone number to get the fax.

I have a regular landline for normal voice. Could I run this to the computer? Would the computer recognize a fax and accept the message? What if I am not home - will the fax be receieved by the computer?

Can I send and receive faxes on my Mac without a land-line phone connection - like via the internet? It seems in this modern world, there must be a way!

Thanks!

Mac OS X (10.3.x)

Posted on Nov 16, 2011 12:37 PM

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Answer 1

Lanny

Level 6

13,245 points

Nov 16, 2011 2:14 PM in response to Dan D-'Errico__

You just need to make sure that the USB modem is a full controller based modem, unlike Apple's USB modem that was partially software based and is no longer supported.

See this link for info on the subject: http://www.sustworks.com/pa_guide/compatibleModems.html

See this link for sales info on the USRobotics full controller based modem: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013FDLM0?ie=UTF8&tag=sustworks-20&linkCode=as 2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0013FDLM0

I still run into issues where companies don't allow email attachments, but will except fax messages.

If you're in the market for a combo printer/scanner that has fax capability, and it meets your needs, fine. But, in most cases it will be a compromised solution, i.e., cheap inkjet printing, marginal scanner, etc. I also observed that companies seem to orphan the drivers on combo units more readily.

Also, keep in mind that your computer would have to be left on to use a USB Fax modem for receipt purposes. A combo printer/scanner/fax should be able to recieve a fax with the computer shutdown.

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Answer 2

sig

Level 8

35,872 points

Nov 16, 2011 4:05 PM in response to Dan D-'Errico__

Use eFax to receive faxes. Make sure you sign up for the free account and make sure you tell them your preference is to receive a fax in TIFF format not in their fax program. (Lion won't run their fax program).

To send faxes for free use:

http://www.gotfreefax.com/

Very simple both are free.

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Answer 3

deggie

Level 10

167,739 points

Nov 16, 2011 1:34 PM in response to Dan D-'Errico__

It is not a modern world that is the question, you are trying to go backwards in time. You would need to find an Apple analog modem (try eBay). Do not upgrade to Lion if you are going to do this, it does not support analog modems.

A far better approach would be to get a new printer with faxing capabilities. While you are at it get one that is Airprint compatible.

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