Mac app to receiving a fax?

wicky

wicky

play thing
I need to receive occasional faxes but don't have a fax machine (and don't want one). Is there an affordable & reliable Mac app solution that will create a PDF or Email?
 
Thanks for the reply Mr.

I have considered eFax, but the pricing model seems almost prehistoric and doesn't suit my needs. I was hoping for a nice little app or a progressive, forward thinking service that allows me to pay-as-I-go, because I need the ability to fax so infrequently that it's hard to justify a pointless monthly subscription.

I know I could signup to eFax for a month and then ditch them, re-signing under a different identity each time I need the service, but that seems unnecessarily tedious in this day and age.
 
wicky said:
... I was hoping for a nice little app or a progressive, forward thinking service ....
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It is not possible for an application on MacOS X to do what you want absent a fax modem that connects your computer to a telephone line.

If you want receive faxes from others, then you need a number for them to dial. A fax service would provide that. If you want to send faxes to others, then you must have a fax modem or you must email the document to a head-in that then delivers it to its destination fax machines via telephone lines. A service will do this. The most recognized online fax service is eFax. However, there are others.
 
Thanks again. I appreciate the education.

I sort of understood this anyway having previously sent and received conventional faxes. Obviously, one needs a number in order to receive, which is all I'm concerned about as I have no need to send. I guess I was hoping that some software might exist that would offer a client-side proxy number based on an online service providing the actual telephone line.... or something.

I don't really mind if it's local software or an online service, but I wish to avoid signing up for a monthly subscription for a service that I will use very infrequently. I'm sure eFax and it's competitors are very good, but they don't seem to cater for my pay-as-you-go requirements.
 
Thanks Diablo.

I suspected that I wasn't alone –*it doesn't seem like such an unrealistic request.

I'm very surprised that there isn't a nice glossy, os-exy app/service for this. I mean, the fax's days are numbered, but there is still a persistent need to accept an occasional bureaucratic fax. I would have thought there's quite a target audience.

Appreciated.
 
wicky said:
Thanks Diablo.

I suspected that I wasn't alone –*it doesn't seem like such an unrealistic request.

I'm very surprised that there isn't a nice glossy, os-exy app/service for this. I mean, the fax's days are numbered, but there is still a persistent need to accept an occasional bureaucratic fax. I would have thought there's quite a target audience.

Appreciated.
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Unrealistic is a matter of judgment. I own a license for FAXstf Pro 10.9. This version was released in 2007. It is my understanding that one additional update, FAXstf Pro 10.9.1, was released before the utility was abandoned by its developer. I am of the opinion that if there were a market for fax software, this utility would have been updated and that it would have competition from other developers.

In my own experience, fax is a technology that you use when you absolutely must have a low-quality copy and are required to pay extra for it. It has been years since I have seen a fax that could not have been replaced by a scanned image transmitted via email. In fact, many could have been replaced by a PDF transmitted by email. Faxes usually come from businesses and individuals that are clinging for no good reason to this ancient technology that predates the telephone. Last year, I received two faxes. They are both examples of my description of fax in 2012.
 
Thanks Mr.

I agree that in most cases it's ageing business institutions that still cling to this old tech, but not in all cases. According to my banks take on the Data Protection Act, faxes appear to be governed by (slightly) different laws in the UK than applies to email, hence the need for a fax. I imagine there are also other specific circumstances that fall outside of general use case scenarios.

Personally I believe that it's ridiculous that all offices aren't legally obliged to be paperless by now.

I don't agree with the assumption that no market exists for the service, simply because some software company failed to market themselves correctly and sunk as a result. The fact that eFax et al have a seemingly thriving business is evidence that there is a market. If they offered a pay-as-you-go solution I'm sure I wouldn't be the only person using it.
 
wicky said:
...

I don't agree with the assumption that no market exists for the service, simply because some software company failed to market themselves correctly and sunk as a result. ...
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I don't want to get into a back-and-forth on this, but you mischaracterized what I wrote. I stated that Smith Micro abandoned FAXstf Pro and that no other competitor entered the market. You leaped to the conclusion that Smith Micro fumbled marketing the product. As a Mac user for decades who had been familiar with FAXstf Pro for much of its lifecycle, I certainly saw none of the marketing deficiencies that you assume. Lest you forget, the last version was FAXstf Pro 10.9.1, not FAXstf Pro 1.9.1. When the Smith Micros abandoned it, FAXstf Pro had been on the market for more than a decade. Nothing that Smith Micro did prevented a competitor from picking up the slack left by its exit from the market. Nothing that Smith Micro did prevented another developer from entering the market. Well, the fact that neither of these events happened supports my contention that fax software market was a market not worth entering.
 
You're entitled to your opinion, but that seems a bit speculative to me.

FAXstf failed and you're assuming that it has to be because there is no market. Plus, the failure can't be down to inappropriate marketing because you didn't personally observe any particular marketing deficiencies?

eFax and it's various competitors clearly illustrate that the market for a soft fax exists. One plausible reason why nobody has yet taken on the mantle left by FAXstf is that an online service is the dominant business model. Or, maybe, OS X software developers are simply turned on by sexier apps (fax is kinda past it's prime). Or various other reasons.

As for Smith Micro... They've tried to establish themselves in every market place from games to business tools with limited success, and the established brands (eg. Poser) that they acquired, they've only managed to make more obscure. They failed to position themselves as market leaders in any of their chosen corners of the software industry, despite being around for quite a long. All things considered, I imagine they have an intimate knowledge of marketing deficiencies.

It's an interesting debate, but I don't want to get entangled in whether the software should or could exist. I was just enquiring to see if it does exist because I simply want to receive a fax.
 
Wow - once I started looking I realized how crowded the online fax market is. So many opinions on which one is the best - seems like they all have tons of complaints as well as tons of positive reviews. I suggest going with one that has at least an A rating with the Better Business Bureau.

It is worth persisting though as the benefits of online faxing are considerable.
 
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