Fonality’s Paperless Fax
Overview
Fonality’s paperless fax service takes faxing (and its headaches) out of the dark ages and into the
modern web world. Fonality customers can send & receive faxes directly from their email inbox
and mobile devices. Each paperless fax line gives individual users their own toll free or DID
number so they can receive faxes from any “old-school” fax machine in the world. Sending faxes is
as easy as emailing an attachment.
Paperless Fax delivers reliable faxing without a fax machine, paper, and phone lines. Users
receive faxes in the form of email messages, with all of its convenient features -- viewing, printing,
archiving, forwarding to another address or fax number, and importing into other applications.
Paperless Fax offers the most reliable service without ever having to worry about losing an
important fax message, compromising confidentiality, busy phone numbers or malfunctioning
hardware. Faxes can be retrieved wherever and whenever email can be accessed – including
mobile devices!
How it Works
1. You order a paperless fax line for a user (“John”)
2. We give John a phone number & associate it with his email address
3. When people send faxes to John’s new fax number, he receives an email with the fax
attached as a PDF
4. When John wishes to fax to someone’s fax machine, he composes a new email,
addresses it to the fax number, attaches virtually any file, and clicks send.
Features & Benefits
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Individual, unique local or toll-free fax numbers
Ability to receive multiple faxes simultaneously — the fax number is never busy
Fax documents can be deleted, printed, forwarded or stored electronically
Faxes may be conveniently retrieved anywhere and anytime users have access to email
Eliminates document handling errors such as lost pages, improperly collated pages,
mistaken document pickups, and improper delivery through interoffice mail
Private - unintended recipients cannot view message content
Eliminates equipment such as fax machines, fax servers, fax boards, and fax software
Comprehensive usage reports capture details of all fax activity, providing valuable
information for cost allocation and expense analysis
Maintain a complete archive, including a copy of every fax, without file cabinets
Pricing
Pricing is designed to remain very simple. Paperless Fax is charged monthly per “line” plus a
p/page fee. If you have a published fax number already that you wish to continue using with this
service, a one-time fee is applied. We will immediately set you up with a temporary number to
use while the phone number is transferred from your existing carrier (usually 6 weeks).
(International table of rates for outbound faxing is available separately)
Pricing model benefits
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Fax Lines are affordable so individuals & small groups can have their own numbers
Toll Free lines are provided at no extra charge
Pay only for what you use (no bundled use-it-or-loose-it page fees)
Keep your existing phone number(s)
Single consolidated bill each month with itemized usage
No need to pay for phone lines from the telephone company that sit idle
No startup fees
No minimum use fees
No hidden costs
No high priced “over the limit” fees
No extra fees for mobile devices
Example use
You are a business owner and you have an existing fax machine that the whole office shares. It
has a published number through which you do about 500 pages per month for everyone. You are
tired of all the headaches and decide to switch to Paperless Fax. In addition to your general fax
number, you want your sensitive legal documents to go your own private number (roughly 100
pages per month). Your sales manager wants the inbound faxes for his team to go to a “sales”
fax line (roughly 300 pages per month).
Here is what you order…
(3) Paperless Fax Lines
Number Reassignment
Here is what you pay…
$35 upfront (to reassign your existing number)
$30 monthly for the (3) fax lines
$35 monthly for usage (500 pages @ 7 cents each)
End Result…
You keep your published number
The Sales team shares a fax line
 Inbound/outbound faxes go to/from a shared email
address
Your sensitive documents stay private in your email
Send/Receive Instructions
Almost any device capable checking email and opening a PDF can receive a fax. Almost any
email program can send faxes…
Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, etc.
On-line email services like Gmail, Yahoo, etc.
…and you can send from many different devices…
PC, Mac, Netbooks, iPad, etc.
Blackberry, Android, iPhone, etc.
…and you can send your document to any fax machine in the world!
How to
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Send a Fax:
Compose a new email
Address email as <faxnumber>@fax.fonality.com
Attach file(s)
Send email
After sending, you will receive a confirmation email when we receive your fax request, and we will
send a second email when your fax is delivered to its destination.
Examples of sending a fax in the US (always use “1 + area code”):
[email protected]
[email protected]
An International Fax to the UK with the fax number 12-345-6789 (always use country codes):
[email protected]
Attaching your Fax Document
In your new email, you will need to insert or attach the document by browsing within your
computer/device and selecting a file. You may attach up to a maximum of 5 files of almost any
page length to each faxed email. Many people keep a cover page template & attach it first in the
email as well.
The following file types are supported:
TIF/TIFF
(Tagged Image File Format)
TXT
(Plain Text)
HTML
(Hypertext Markup Language)
RTF
(Rich Text Format)
DOC, DOCX
(Microsoft Word Windows v.97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007)
XLS, XLSX
(Microsoft Excel Windows v.97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007)
PPT, PPTX
(Microsoft PowerPoint Windows v.97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007)
PDF
(Adobe Portable Document Format)
JPG, VSD
(Visio and JPEG)
GIF
(Graphics Interchange Format)
How to Receive a Fax:
Your Paperless Fax comes with either a direct dial number or toll free number. When people send
a fax to this number, the Fonality service will receive the fax (no busy lines to worry about) and
convert the fax document to a PDF and email it to you. The sending fax machine will receive
confirmation when the fax is completely sent to us, and you will have the fax in your inbox within
moments. Once received, you are free to share, save or print the file as you wish.
FAQs
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What format is the email when it arrives?
User choose tiff or PDF for the format of received faxes
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Once I email the file, how will I know if it worked?
Confirmation emails are sent to confirm the far end “got it”
Q:
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Fax machines fail all the time. How do you handle that?
For outbound faxing, our service confirms receipt of the email, handles all the retries, and
sends a confirmation email when the far end fax received the complete fax. If errors occur
that cannot be handled through retries, an email is sent to notify the user of the problem.
For inbound faxing, our service uses commercial grade equipment to receive the fax,
which eliminates many errors typically caused by fax machines. Additionally, busy signals
are eliminated so most faxes sent by others are received on the first try, which helps to
avoid all the slow and problematic retry attempts.
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How reliable is this service?
Most fax failures are caused by the machine and human error. By eliminating a fax
machine & telephone line from the equation, the service is inherently more reliable than
typical “old school” faxing. Additionally, the service is run from redundant data centers to
ensure high availability.
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Will I get charged for failed or partial faxes?
No. Failed attempts and partial faxes are tracked and are not billed
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How does this work with my mobile device?
Any device that can email and handle attachments will work… no special client needed
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What are the email and operating system requirements?
This works with virtually any email client & OS (Win\Mac\Lin, iPhone\Droid\BB, etc.)
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How do I administer this?
An admin page will be provided for managing preferences, email addresses, and for
checking detailed log files.
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Do I need any special version or edition of Fonality phone system?
No. This service works with any version
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Does this integrate with HUD?
No. This is an email-based solution
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How do I know when the fax is received on the other end?
A confirmation email will be sent when the receiving fax machine confirms it’s complete
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Is there an option to receive faxes on a traditional fax machine?
No.
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Can multiple people share a single fax line?
Yes. Outbound faxes must be sent from the email associated with the fax line but
inbound faxes can be forwarded in any manner that your email system allows
Q:
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Why does it take 6 weeks to move my existing fax number?
Your current carrier “owns” that number. A request to move the number to us must be
submitted to them. Most carriers take several weeks. If we are moving voice numbers to
Fonality, we will process those numbers first. If we are not moving voice numbers, it may
only take 3-4 weeks to move your fax number
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Do I have to wait until the number is moved to begin using paperless fax?
No. We will assign a temporary number for you to use immediately. You may even ask
your carrier to forward your existing number to the temporary number we assign. When
your carrier moves your existing number to us, we will remove the temporary number and
use your existing number automatically
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Is this service secure?
Yes. Outbound faxing can only be done using the email address associated with the fax
line. For additional security, a pin number can be required with each outbound fax.
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How can I monitor usage?
Monthly bills will show itemized usage per fax line. Multiple fax lines will be provided on
one consolidated bill. If you use our UNBOUND service for your phone system, your fax
usage will arrive on your existing monthly bill. If you wish to monitor your usage
throughout the month, you will be able to run usage reports from your fax admin page.