Fax for free!

Headnote

Looking a gift horse in the mouth, we pick the best free web-based fax services

Nobody's cheaper than this writer (just ask my wife). When I hear the word "free," not only do I listen, I take notes. Lately, many companies are giving away so much free web-based faxing, it's worth a look. The following are the best of many free services I've tested. No guarantee they will remain free (or even in business) forever. But for the time being, they seem to be doing fine - stretching the limits of the normal "pay for play" telecom businessmodel, and scratching out a living from the newly-turned soil of the `Net economy.

FREE FAX SENDING

Yes, there are actually websites that pay to transmit your fax. Faxes can originate from anywhere in the world, via any browser, so long as the fax is sent to a U.S. destination. Most of these services are advertiser-sponsored and not surprisingly, some are more obtrusive than others. Entrepreneurs sell sponsorships on a per-fax basis to advertisers and corporations, and hope you will use the service to send plenty of faxes.

Fax4Free.com (Marina Del Rey, CA - I877-Faxq.Free, www.faxq.free.com) asks you for demographic information that includes your phone, email, income level, etc. Once you register, you can fax for free. The service is `doggy-piggy-bunny' easy to use: compose a text-based message from your browser or upload any Word document. A built-in viewer lets you preview your fax before it is sent - smart feature. My test fax arrived in a surprisingly-fast ten seconds. There seems to be no limit on the number of faxes you can send; and a personal address book is automatically created and stored online. Even fax broadcasting is do-able. Faxq Free has a strict anti-junk-faxing policy and member-conduct rules that faxers agree to follow.

Though text or documents are sent from browser to web server...