Review Of Efax Internet Faxing Solution

Company Details
eFax is controlled by J2 Global Communications who also own Fax.com, Send2Fax, DataOnCall, jConnect, RapidFAX and SmartFax amongst others. eFax is presently the largest provider in the internet faxing world with more than 11,000,000 members. It is available in 42 countries around the globe with toll-free and local numbers in more than 3,000 area codes and they handle BILLIONS of faxes every year.

eFax offers a good pack of features via their web portal and excellent application integration via their desktop application called eFax Messenger.

Their standard package 'eFax Plus' lets you to receive 130 faxes and send 30 faxes every month. You are permitted up to 5 email addresses associated with each fax number for sending and receiving and an unlimited amount of fax numbers (e.g., one in each country / city you do business in) can be linked to an individual account. There are also free, pro and corporate packages available.

On the downside, overage is rather costly and customer support is not at all good in some places. Some people also have reported intermittent slow send times.

Overall eFax is a great product backed by a company that has been in the internet faxing industry for many years.

Features
Both the client program and the web portal are easy to navigate and use. The client software sets up a 'fax printer' which permits sending of faxes from any application that has printing functionality. There is also an option to 'Scan and Fax' if you have a scanner attached to your PC.

Faxes are sent in monochrome and there are two grades: standard and fine. Fax receipts can be sent to any of the email addresses registered with the account. cover pages can be included and this can be altered and customized in the preferences. Up to 5 documents can also be attached to each fax. Inbound faxes can be viewed online, via the eFax Messenger software or via email.

Faxes with the .EFX extension can only be read via eFax Messenger. Most faxes arrive in either PDF or TIFF format. The quality is very good. Inbound faxes can also be password protected.

Fax activity can be tracked online and faxes can be resent from the sent faxes log. Multiple fax numbers and email addresses can be linked with each account which makes management of multiple numbers simple.

Pricing
Plans: eFax Pro, eFax Plus, eFax Free
Cost per Month:
- eFax Pro: $19.95/mth
- eFax Plus: $16.95/mth
- eFax Free: free
Faxes Stored For:
- eFax Pro: 2 years
- eFax Plus: 1 year
- eFax Free: 30 days
Pages Included in Plan:
- eFax Pro: 200/month
- eFax Plus: 130 / mth (30 outbound)
- eFax Free: 20 / mth (none outbound)
Cost to Send Faxes:
- eFax Pro and Plus: $0.10 / page
- eFax Free: cannot send
Fax File Formats:
- eFax Pro and Plus: PDF, TIFF, EFX
- eFax Free: EFX
Overage Cost for Receiving Faxes: eFax Pro and Plus: $0.10 / page
Overage Cost for Sending Faxes: eFax Pro and Plus: $0.15 / page
Hidden Costs: If you choose a toll-free fax number then the cost to receive faxes is $0.20 per page.
Corporate Plans: Yes

Ease Of Use
You can be configured in less than five minutes via the internet portal and almost as quick if you download and install the desktop software: eFax Messenger.

Both are very easy to install and use. Creating a unique cover page is slightly trickier and required a good hunt through the online documentation but there are loads of pre-prepared cover pages already available to use as templates. Fax traffic tracking is simply managed via the online logs and faxes can even be resent from the sent log.

Customer Support
Some people have reported bad customer service from eFax. However, our experience of them has been excellent. The live chat was useful and the telephone support was good. In both cases the support staff answered all our questions. During the telephone conversation we requested some information be sent to us and it was emailed within the hour.

The online documentation and FAQ sections are informative and reasonably expansive. It would be nice to see some tutorials or webinars but that is more a 'nice to have' rather than a major omission.

Even the cancellation process - via a toll-free call - was pleasant and the operator offered us an additional 2 months free service if we stayed with them.

To Sum Up
eFax is an excellent service. The coverage is the best there is with more cities covered than any other product available. The interface is straight-forward and easy to use from the beginning. The option to have multiple fax numbers and emails on a single account is also great. But eFax has the most expensive packages we have reviewed and provides the fewest included pages.

It is a shame that the largest player in the internet faxing arena could not provide more attractive pricing for their users. That being said if you want to use the premium service that has the greatest coverage and largest customer base then eFax is for you.