Wednesday, July 22, 2009

How to Send a Wireless Fax

The Easy Jack 2 is the only product I know of, that allows you to send and receive wireless faxes, with consistency and quality, from any fax machine. The Easy Jack 2 consists of 2 parts which look almost identical...one end plugs into an electrical outlet near the phone jack, and the other end plugs into an electrical outlet where you're needing a phone line or fax machine (in my case, the garage).

I recently moved into a duplex, and due to limited space, decided to set up my office in the garage. As far as I'm concerned, the most basic components of any office are a computer with internet access (be it hard wired or wireless), and a phone line for sending faxes. Personally, I don't need a phone line as most of my talking takes place on the cell phone (one less bill). So, having my internet set up just fine through a LinkSys Wireless G router, now it was time to set up the fax machine. Obviously one method in this case would be to run a phone line outside, across the walkway, inside and along the corner of the wall, and finally into the phone jack, but this would be tacky. I figured there must be another method for setting up my fax machine, so I did some research and weighed my options.

One method I do not recommend for sending or receiving wireless faxes is Voice Over IP (VOIP). With VOIP services such as Vonage, "if" you are actually successful in sending or receiving a fax, you are technically sending a fax through a wireless internet connection, and not a phone line. As such, the results and reviews of this method are mixed, and in conclusion, for those needing to send and receive many faxes without fail, VOIP is not a solid enough technology at this time to take seriously. Also, if you make most of your calls by cell phone like me, the monthly service fee makes this method less attractive yet.

The Magic Jack is a popular product on the market right now, which I do not recommend for sending or receiving faxes. To my surprise, when I called Radio Shack in search of a product that would allow me to send a wireless fax, this is the only product they carried, and when I asked if it would work for sending faxes, the gist of the answer was, "at best, maybe." From what I understand, the Magic Jack plugs into your PC's USB Port, and my hunch is that the Magic Jack, in terms of sending faxes (let alone receiving faxes and the hassles that might present) uses a technology similar to the VOIP method, and like VOIP services such as Vonage, Magic Jack charges a monthly fee...no thanks!

The Easy Jack 2 has the benefit of being independent from your PC, and plugs directly into your fax machine, so unlike other methods requirying a working computer and internet, this will work regardless. Also, for those like me who hate bills, there is no contract or monthly service fee. The Easy Jack 2 can be purchased online, for a reasonable price. I paid about $40 for mine, on Amazon.com, probably the same price as a long length of tacky phone line. Lastly, in addition to offering the flexibility of sending and receiving faxes from anywhere in your home, office, or work area, the Easy Jack 2 of course also allows you to make phone calls, by connection any house phone.

2 comments:

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  2. Hi
    Thanks for sharing your research. I often need to send faxes from my laptop. This presents 2 difficulties.

    1) Sometimes I'm not near a phone line [and therefore not able to use XP's built-in fax service to send the fax via my laptop's modem].

    2. Sometimes I'm using my Acer netbook which has neither a modem nor even a port to plug a phone line in to.

    Have you come across a solution that enables sending a fax directly from laptop to recipient's fax machine [via internet] - preferably as a print to fax method? (That's the most convenient way to fax a web page. No need to save it, upload it, convert it, etc!)
    Thanks.

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