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FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet? (ver. 0.1)

``` Date: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 13:40:54 -0700 From: Kevin Savetz Subject: FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet? (ver. 0.1)

Summary: Answers the Frequently Asked Question "How can I send a fax from the Internet?" Archive-name: internet-services/fax-faq Last-Modified: 1994/4/13 Version: 0.1 FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet? version 0.1 - 13 April 1994 Send comments & updates to Kevin Savetz . This document is copyright 1994 by Kevin M. Savetz. All rights reserved. More legal stuff is near the end of this file. This document is brand new and in transition. If you notice that an Internet fax service is missing, or information herein needs updating, please send e-mail to "savetz@rahul.net". * Table of Contents Can I send a fax from the Internet? Free "remote printing" InterFax FAXiNET Unigate Legal Stuff Where to Find this Document * Can I send a fax from the Internet? Indeed. There are several services for sending a fax via Internet mail - some are free while others are pay services. At least one service even lets you receive a fax via Internet mail. The four mail-to-fax services that I know about are discussed below. All the services require that you can send and receive electronic mail to the Internet. * Free "remote printing" One fax-from-the-Internet service is the brainchild of Carl Malamud (the creator of Internet Talk Radio) and Marshall Rose. They're doing research on how to integrate special-purpose devices, like facsimile printers, into the fabric of the Internet. The experiment works simply enough - send electronic mail to a special address, and soon after (if your recipient's fax machine is in a covered area), out comes a freshly-minted fax. This service itself is free - rather, it costs no more than sending a standard e-mail message. Malamud says the service is "cost-effective and distance insensitive" but not "free" because it costs money to send electronic mail. The creators are investigating ways of recouping a nominal fee for sending faxes to help reimburse institutions for the cost of sending faxes (for instance, advertisements on fax cover sheets). "The point of this experiment is not 'here is a way we can freeload on altruistic people,' but 'here is a way we can all pitch in and work together to provide telephone service," Malamud says. You can't send a fax just anywhere with this service. A variety of companies, institutions and citizens linked to the Internet have joined the experiment by linking a computer and fax modem to the 'net. When an organization joins the remote-fax service, it specifies what areas they are willing to send faxes to. In most cases, an organization will allow faxes to be sent to any machine that is a local call from its location. When you send an e-mail fax message, you (naturally) must include the phone number of the recipient's fax machine. A computer looks at the phone number and decides if any participating fax machines cover the area to which you want to send a fax. If so, your message is routed to the appropriate machine for faxation. Otherwise, you will receive electronic mail informing you the fax couldn't be delivered. This is a new experiment, so only a smattering of participants have enlisted their fax machines in the quest to send outgoing messages from total strangers to other total strangers. Fax sites are being added to the network on a regular basis. For a current list of faxable areas, send e-mail to "tpc-coverage@town.hall.org" (subject and message body unimportant). To send a fax over the Internet, compose an e-mail message. The body of the message should contain the contents of your fax message. The To: line is the most important part of your fax-mail, because it must contain the phone number of the recipient's fax machine as well as the recipient's name. The To: line should look something like this: To: remote-printer.Arlo_Cats/Room_123@12025551212.iddd.tpc.int To the left of the @ symbol, you must include the identity of the recipient. The words "remote-printer" tell the fax server the type of access. (In this case, faxing or remote printing.) Because some mailers have difficulty dealing with addresses that contain spaces, you should be very careful as to what characters you use to identify the recipient. It safest to use upper and lower case letters, digits, the _ and the / character. When the fax cover sheet is generated, the _ will turn into a space and the / will become a line break. So, the above address would generate a cover sheet like: Please deliver this facsimile to: Arlo Cats Room 123 The mess of numbers to the right of the above example identifies the telephone number of the remote fax machine. Exchanges must be specified by country code and phone number. This means you must specify the country code and then the phone number of your intended recipient. If you're sending to a machine in the U.S., this just means you need to send a 1, the area code and the phone number. Next, add the Internet domain ".iddd.tpc.int". You can send a fax to multiple fax machines, or even a combination of faxes and traditional e-mail recipients. After the deed is done, you will receive electronic mail telling you if your fax was successfully sent or not. For a copy of the Frequently Asked Questions list on using this service, send mail to "tpc-faq@town.hall.org" (subject and message body unimportant) and you will automatically receive the FAQ via e-mail. The FAQ also covers advanced topics like using MIME to send fancy formatted text or graphics and how to operate your own fax server for the good of the world. Note that that fax FAQ is different this fax FAQ. There is also a mailing list for discussion of the fax service and its implementation. To join, send a request to "tpc-rp-request@aarnet.edu.au". * InterFax InterFax allows you to send faxes via e-mail within the US or internationally. InterFax costs money to use (billed to your credit card) but, unlike the remote printing experiment above, InterFax lets you send faxes anywhere, not just select locations. As of this writing, InterFax costs $5 per month, which includes the first five fax pages. Additional pages cost 50 cents each. There is a one-time sign-up charge of $25. For further information, send e-mail to faxmaster@pan.com, or contact InterFax at PO Box 162, Skippack, PA 19474 USA. (215) 584-0300; FAX: (215)584-1038. * FAXiNET Another fax-by-mail service is FAXiNET, which lets you send any text (ASCII) or PostScript documents to fax machines worldwide. FAXiNET can send faxes to more than 50 countries, and plans to add more. The company also says it can receive faxes for you, which will be delivered to you via electronic mail. I haven't used their service, but if it works, the ability to receive faxes in e-mail is a unique one. Accounts for individuals cost 75 cents per page, plus a one-time $20 activation fee. Additional services, including adding your custom logo and signature to your faxes, are available at extra cost. Corporate accounts are also available. More information is available from AnyWare Associates, FAXiNET, 32 Woodland Road, Boston, MA 02130. (617) 522-8102. E-mail: sales@awa.com * Unigate - for faxing to Russia Unigate is another pay-for-use service that allows you to send faxes to and from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Unigate is a commercial service that also handles "snail mail. " Most of us probably don't need to fax Russia, but if you should need to, Unigate is probably much less expensive than however you're doing it now: fax service from USA to Russia (or back) is $1.59 per page. For more information, e-mail "yuri@atmos.washington.edu". *Legal Stuff This document is copyright 1994 by Kevin M. Savetz. All rights reserved. Permission for non-commercial distribution is hereby granted, provided that this file is distributed intact, including this copyright notice and the version information above. Permission for commercial distribution may be obtained from the editor. SHARE THIS INFORMATION FREELY AND IN GOOD FAITH. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE MODIFIED VERSIONS OF THIS DOCUMENT. This document is new and in transition. If you notice that something important missing, or information herein needs updating, please contact the editor. The editor and contributors have developed this FAQ as a service to the Internet community. We hope you find it useful. This FAQ is purely a volunteer effort. Although every effort has been made to insure that answers are as accurate as possible, no guarantee is implied or intended. While the editor tries to keep this document current, remember that the Internet and its services are constantly changing, so don't be surprised if you happen across statements which are obsolete. If you do, please send corrections to the editor. Corrections, questions, and comments should be sent to Kevin Savetz at "savetz@rahul.net" (Internet) or "savetz" (America Online.) Please indicate what version of this document to which you are referring. * Where to Find this Document This document is brand new, give it a couple of weeks to propagate to these places before complaining that you can't find it as advertised. This file WILL BE BUT ISN'T YET posted twice monthly (on the 5th and 19th of each month) to the Usenet newsgroups alt.internet.services, alt.online-service, alt.bbs.internet, alt.answers and news.answers. You WILL BE ABLE TO BUT PROBABLY CAN'T YET receive it via anonymous FTP: rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/internet-booklist You WILL BE ABLE TO BUT PROBABLY CAN'T YET receive it via electronic mail: To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu Subject: Body: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/internet-booklist You can (NOW) receive each new edition of this document automatically via electronic mail, if you are so inclined: send e-mail to "savetz@rahul.net" and ask nicely to be added to the distribution list. ###end of document### ```

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