How does fax work

Start Faxing Now ». Toggle navigation Menu. Sign Up. Sales: Small Business How it Works Solutions We have solutions for every type of business, no matter the size. See what makes us stand out compared to other online fax services. Read about eFax vs. How a Fax Machine Sends Your Fax To send your fax, your fax machine in most cases actually uses the plain-old telephone network. Today, faxes optically scan documents without physically touching them.

These machines shine a light, which reflects off of the black or printed areas of the surface but not the white or blank areas. Related: Who invented the car? But how do faxes talk to each other? Before sending a document, the two faxes in different locations have a quick conversation, called a handshake, to confirm there's really a fax machine on the other end, explained Abe Lopes, owner of Ace Copy Inc. Fax machines split a page up into a grid of many tiny squares, similar to pixels.

In real time, the sending fax reads one line of squares at a time and uses beeps to tell the receiving fax whether the squares are black or white represented by ones and zeroes, respectively , Lopes said. It can be a flexible, inexpensive option for transmitting documents. Internet fax services usually assign a fax number to each person who signs up for the service.

People can send faxes to this number, and customers can send faxes via e-mail without using a fax machine. Here's how it works. Sign up for our Newsletter!

Mobile Newsletter banner close. While fax machines still serve their purpose , there are far too many disadvantages to using them rather than faxing online. The rest is as simple as sending an email. You only need to attach the document, enter the online fax number in the required field, and send it.

Simplicity is only one reason why you should consider online faxing. Take a look at the table below to discover its other advantages:. Our app has developed a nifty feature for sending faxes. We provide an exceptional faxing service at an affordable price. By accessing our app from your web browser , you will be able to:. If you need to send a classified legal document, we got your back! Our Fax feature integrates with the Legal Documents feature. You can create, e-sign, and fax a document safely to the receiver in record time!

Faxing with DoNotPay is no more difficult than texting! You only need to do the following:. There's no end to what our app can help you do. From drafting legal documents and asking for bill extensions and reducing property taxes to connecting with an inmate in a federal prison and contesting parking citations , DoNotPay can handle it all and cut through the red tape. Need to pass a government test?