Myfax online fax service

Despite being overtaken by faster, more efficient and more environmentally friendly methods, fax machines still exist in some homes and offices.

But people who need to send or receive faxes don’t have to buy a machine any more, with the advent of computer-based services such as Myfax.

Registering for the service was fast and it’s fairly cheap at £5 per month for 100 sent and 200 received pages.

Once we’d registered we received an email confirming our new fax number and account setup details.

Setting it up involved following a simple step-by-step procedure to send a test fax, creating a password and viewing an optional demonstration video, making it extremely easy for even total beginners to get started.

The online account page shows current fax usage and allows users to send and receive faxes, but the service also integrates with email applications such as Microsoft Outlook, if you have a compatible one installed.

To send a fax, the fax number and country code are entered into the To line of the email with ‘@myfax.com’ at the end.

For emailed faxes, the subject line carries the name of the recipient and any body text forms a cover sheet. Up to eight attached documents then form the fax message itself, so sending faxes through Myfax really was as simple as sending an email.

Received faxes, on the other hand, arrive in your email inbox as attached PDF documents, from where they can be saved, printed or sent on.

If you do have trouble during any stage of the process there is documentation available along with a quick-start guide and freephone support number.

We were impressed by the straightforward setup and operation of the service and, though it took a while for faxes to arrive (between 30 seconds and one minute per attached page), it is still going to be more convenient than dealing with reams of paper.

At £5 per month for the basic service, this is a cheap and convenient way for home users and small businesses to remain fax-capable without having to shell out for new machines and more paper.