Even as the dream of a paperless office remains exactly that—a dream—there are communications technologies that show no signs of ever getting out of fashion. One such thing is fax. However, marrying that technology with the internet has made sending faxes much easier, not to mention cheaper.

The advantages of e-faxing or internet faxing are numerous. For one, there is no need of a special telephone line dedicated to it; no hardware and maintenance costs, including ink, paper and fax machine needed; no special hardware or software required; use an email account to receive and send faxes; and it makes use of a technology that we already use for communicating otherwise—the internet.

On traditional telephone lines, faxing doesn’t co­me cheap; for an online service too, it is difficult to find a reliable free service. Ho­wever, for comp­anies and even in­dividuals who need a regular fax service, there is a range of affordable pa­ckages avail­able fro­m dozens of providers. What follows is a brief list that barely skims the choices.

Superfax.in

Superfax is an internet-based fax service that allows you to send and receive faxes within India and outside using your email ID.

You get a permanent fax number to receive faxes, which are then available as PDFs in your email inbox or your Superfax account mailbox.

In fact, you could just send an email to @superfax.in and your fax will automatically be forwarded to the number.

You also get SMS alerts. All this comes at plans starting at Rs 3,000, costing less than Rs 3 per page. Want to try it out first? No problem—Superfax gives you a three-day demo.

PopFax.com

PopFax is also an email-integrated faxing tool, where you get a permanent fax number for sending and receiving faxes from all over the world at competitive rates. There are options to attach a cov­er page; an online inbox; multiple fax numbers, and more. PopFax has a variety of packages with a choice of opt­ions, depending on what your requirement is. Ordinarily, it is possible to fax most parts of the world at under Rs 3 per page. If you need to send high-volume faxes, PopFax can set up a separate customised contract.

eFax.com

This online fax service gives you a generous 30-day demo to check out their features, including 150 outgoing and incoming faxes. Otherwise, a reasonable Rs 450 per month subscription gets you 150 out­going and un­lim­ited in­com­ing fax­es. The pa­ckage in­cludes a local fax number and email integration. There is a simple three-step activation process. This is a great choice for anyone seeking a low-cost temporary fax service.

SpeedFax.in

SpeedFax has a three-day free trial, and if satisfied, you could get a six-month pack for Rs 2,000 or a year’s worth for Rs 3,500, with 350 and 800 outgoing faxes free respectively. If you run out of your sending credit, you may pay as you go or buy an additional 200-page pack for Rs 750.

Looking for a free one-time solution? Try SendFreeFax.net. As the name indicates, this site purports to send faxes all over the world for free. A very attractive proposition, but the statement that you only get what you pay for comes to mind. For one, the site is tacky; for another, there is no option to see a confirmation or the status of your sent message. Use it at your own discretion.

Payal Dhar is a freelance technology writer