How to: Send a Fax Online the Internet for Free

Infopackets Reader Karin S. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I recently received a letter in the mail from the government requesting additional information on my account. The letter states that I can mail or fax in my information back to them (they won't accept email attachments for some reason). As such, I would prefer to fax the information as that is the fastest method. I would like to know if you can recommend a good, free fax service over the Internet that I can use to send this information? Thanks! "

My response:

I did a bit of research, and there are two popular websites offering free faxes services - Fax Zero and My Fax.

Fax Zero allows you to select multiple attachments (up to 3), with 5 free faxes per day, and a 20 megabyte file limit - however, the fax you're sending can only contain up to 3 pages. That is a major limitation. For example: most of the time I send a fax, I usually include the original letter as part of the correspondence so that it's clear to the receiver what the fax is about. That would be the equivalent to responding to an email and having the original email below your response. If you include the original letter + your response, that will likely exceed 3 pages.

On the other hand, My Fax free allows only 1 attachment, but the attachment ("document") can span up to 10 pages long. So, if you had multiple attachments, you could easily get around this issue by opening up MS Word (for example), then inserting scanned images and documents into 1 great big document. Also, with My Fax free you can send up to 2 faxes within 24 hours, so if you really had to - you can also split a fax into 2 separate faxes in a single day, spanning a total of 20 pages.

How to: Send a Fax Online the Internet for Free

Since Fax Zero only allows 3 pages per fax, I decided that My Fax free is most likely the best choice.

Here's a quick run-down on the features on My Fax free:

• Easy to use user interface online the web
• Quickly and easily send a fax using the Internet
• Accepts only 1 document (.doc, .pdf, etc) - up to 10 pages, 10 MB in size
• You can use MS Word to place scanned images, text, etc into those 10 pages to form a single document
• Enter sender and receiver information + document + optional message, and click to send the fax
• After you click to send fax, you must confirm by email before the fax can be sent
• You will receive notification by email if fax was successful or failed

You can visit My Fax free by using the link below:

http://www.myfax.com/free/

I hope that helps.

Got a Computer Question or Problem? Ask Dennis!

I need more computer questions. If you have a computer question - or even a computer problem that needs fixing - please email me with your question so that I can write more articles like this one. I can't promise I'll respond to all the messages I receive (depending on the volume), but I'll do my best.

About the author: Dennis Faas is the owner and operator of Infopackets.com. With over 30 years of computing experience, Dennis' areas of expertise are a broad range and include PC hardware, Microsoft Windows, Linux, network administration, and virtualization. Dennis holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science (1999) and has authored 6 books on the topics of MS Windows and PC Security. If you like the advice you received on this page, please up-vote / Like this page and share it with friends. For technical support inquiries, Dennis can be reached via Live chat online this site using the Zopim Chat service (currently located at the bottom left of the screen); optionally, you can contact Dennis through the website contact form.