Trustfax

Even in these digital days, there are still some times when you really need to send or receive a fax. But with more and more people giving up their "landlines" and even fewer actually buying fax machines anymore, that's getting harder to do lately.

Though over 95 percent of my communication is done by email, cell phone, or text message, every once in a while a client will request something from me that needs my actual signature. This usually occurs with writer's contracts or manufacturer's Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) for behind-closed-doors previews of products that are in the pipeline for the holiday shopping season. (Technology companies are notoriously paranoid about leaks. Just ask HP.)

When someone absolutely positively won't accept an emailed "electronic" signature from me, I turn to a trusty digital fax service I use called "TrustFax." A colleague turned me on to TrustFax a couple of years ago, and I've been a subscriber ever since.

With TrustFax, all your faxes are sent over the Internet so there's no need for an extra line or special software. All you really need is access to a desktop or laptop computer that has an Internet connection. Just sign up for one of four different plans – I picked the "Power User" plan which costs about $30 a year and lets you send and receive 150 fax pages – and Trust Fax will set you up with your own toll free fax number. (Mine's now on all my business cards.)

All my incoming and outgoing faxes are now managed in my TrustFax mailbox which is accessed by logging onto the TrustFax site. TrustFax will send me an email when a fax arrives with a PDF of the actual fax attached so I don't even need to go on the site to pick it up.

I'm also able to send faxes directly from my email account to fax machines, to other email addresses, or to both. My TrustFax mailbox serves as a fax archive that can store up to 15MB worth of documents. (Other plans offer you more storage.)

If you don't want to be bothered with printing out faxes to sign and send back, a feature will allow you to add a digitized version of your actual handwritten signature to documents.

So if fax machines have become a thing of the past for you but you still need to send and receive the occasional fax, don't go down to your corner drug store and pay a dollar a page while you stand around and wait. Send faxes directly from your computer with the help of TrustFax. For more info, log on to: www.trustfax.com.