How to Send a Fax Online while Traveling – without paying high fees from an Internet Cafe!

I was recently traveling for an extended period of time and I noticed my credit card bill was outrageously high.  When I logged in and checked my statement, I noticed several unauthorized charges from a large Canadian Telecom company.

I immediately called the credit card company from an Internet Cafe Phone Center.

“No problem”, they said, “simply send us a fax with the details of the unauthorized charges, sign and date the document”.

It cost me 4 Euros to send a one page letter to Canada from Europe.

Afterwards, this reminded me of the power of SaaS:  the slogan, “All you need is an Internet connection and a browser”.  Why bother with a clunky old analog Fax machine?

And high fees?

First, faxing depends if the document is a paper hard copy or an electronic PDF or Word file.  Let’s assume it’s an electronic digital file.

I’ll also assume you need to send only, and not receive.  That’s another story with higher costs for reserving a fixed number.

How to Send a Fax Online

Here are 4 low cost options:

(1) FaxZero Free Fax  

You upload your file from any browser, and use your email address for the “return address”.  You must have access to your email (hopefully web based) to confirm by clicking on the link.  This prevents SPAM abuse or from some sending on your behalf.

This service is free, with an Ad on the cover page, a 3 page document limit, and a maximum of 2 free faxes per day.

HINT: If you have a Gmail account, anything after the + and before the @ is omitted, so you can use jimson@gmail.com and jimson+007@gmail.com to the same mailbox and send more than 2 faxes per day.

For $1.99 via Paypal, that limit is raised to 15 pages without the ads.

There is no setup costs, and no minimum.

This is the best option by far to send a quick fax in a pinch without the investment.

(2) Fax1 Send-Only Account

This service is more robust with 3 options – from a web browser, Email, or Microsoft Office using Microsoft Internet Faxing.  It’s very convenient if you have your laptop configured with MS Outlook and MS Word.

There is no monthly fee, and you pay as you go. New accounts get $1 of a free trial use and costs only $0.12 per page to the USA.  After you have used your free $1 credit you must purchase a minimum of $10 credit.  The credits does NOT expire.

Basically you have 8 free pages to send out before committing.  That’s not a bad deal.

(3) InterFax 

Like Fax1, the Basic pre-paid package costs $10.  To the USA cost $0.13, and to Canada $0.11 per page.  There is no monthly service charge, no setup charge, and unused credit never expires.

(4) GreenFax Send-Only Service 

The basic pre-paid package costs $25, but sending pages are much cheaper.  Sending faxes to US and Canada costs $0.07 for the first page, the $0.05 for each additional page.  A 15 page fax costs $0.77.  There is no monthly service charge, no setup charge, and unused credit never expires.

This is the best deal if you plan on faxing many pages.

I am sure there are many other programs out there, so please share your experience in the comments below.