I was asked to help a friend that does not have POTS (plain old telephone service) in their home anymore. They only have a cell phone.
As I first started to research this topic, I found one hit on a product that could be plugged into the cell phone, but when I searched for it again, I couldn’t find it. As I looked for the solution some of the requirements below were what I was looking for.
Assumptions
- Solution must be very user friendly.
- Receiving organization will not accept the scanned document in an email.
- User has a cell phone.
- User has a smart phone with a camera.
- User has a scanner.
- User does not have POTS.
- User has home internet service.
- Other Information
- User had a six page document that I was going to fax at FedEx.
- User has a HP Officejet 5746 (print, fax, scan, copy, web) but only knows how to use the copy part. When I had a land line, I knew how to use the fax. I do have internet for the TV and my Laptop.
Questions
Answers to these questions help determine an appropriate path. I asked the user about the quantity and current costs. because the most reasonable way to fax with no landline is to use your scanner and a fax service. Determining the current cost to the user to fax at FedEx
- How much are you spending faxing now?
- TBD
- How many pages per month?
- TBD
- And what is the highest number of faxes pages do you send in a day?
- TBD
- How many times per month?
- No more than once or twice a year.
- Before I received all of the answers, the user decided that it really wasn’t worth the effort to build a solution.
Options
Options for Scanning
Using the cell phone camera, photograph the pages and use applications such as Microsoft Office to compile a PDF. (Not user friendly.)
Scan the document on the office scanner, save to an accessible location. (User Friendly)
Options for Faxing
There are many faxing services.
- FedEX
- This is the option the user uses. User takes the physical files to FedEX and FedEX faxes the document.
- Also provides fax receipt services.
- eFax
- This service, while reliable I am sure, costs way more than the user would need.
- Fax.Plus
- During a period where I had to do a LOT of faxing, I signed up for the free FAX.PLUS account. After the free allotment ran out, I signed up for the monthly service.
- The service is HIPPA compliant.
- I could pay as I needed it.
- Even though I paid as I needed it, I did sign up for the Basic Plan during the period where I needed to fax a lot.
Articles
Below are a few articles to get started.
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