FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet?
Archive-name: internet-services/fax-faq
Last-Modified: 1994/9/2
Version: 0.6
FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet?
version 0.6 - Sept 2 1994
Send comments & updates to Kevin Savetz <savetz@rahul.net>.
This document is copyright 1994 by Kevin M. Savetz. All rights
reserved. More legal stuff is near the end of this file. If you notice
that an Internet fax service is missing from this list, or information
herein needs updating, please send e-mail to "savetz@rahul.net".
To learn about my new book, YOUR INTERNET CONSULTANT - THE FAQS OF
LIFE ONLINE, send e-mail to savetz@rahul.net with a SUBJECT LINE of
"YIC".
*** Table of Contents
Can I send a fax from the Internet?
Free services
TPC.INT Remote Printing
Rabbit.rgm Sacramento Fax Service
University of Minnesota Fax Service
Swedish University Network
Commercial Services
InterFax
FAXiNET
Unigate
FaxLinq <New!>
Fax Services that are no more
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 e-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 SERVICES
*** TPC.INT 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. It 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. 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. The service is free.
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 as a remote-fax server, it specifies what
areas to which they are willing to send faxes. 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.
To send a fax by e-mail, send a message
To: remote-printer.<info>@phonenumber.iddd.tpc.int
Where <info> contains information for the cover page. In <info>, "/"
is turned into a line break and "_" is turned into a space. For
example, the address:
To: remote-printer.Arlo_Cats/Room_123@12025551212.iddd.tpc.int
Would send a fax to +1-202-555-1212 with the cover page:
Please deliver this facsimile to:
Arlo Cats
Room 123
Note: There's another way to address faxes which seems to work more
reliable sometimes. Note that the phone number is backwards and the
numbers are separated by periods.
To: remote-printer.Arlo_Cats/Room_123@2.1.2.1.5.5.5.2.0.2.1.tpc.int
The following addresses can be used to obtain more information:
tpc-coverage@town.hall.org - Current fax coverage (automated reply)
tpc-faq@town.hall.org - Frequently Asked Questions (automated reply)
tpc-admin@town.hall.org - Administrative questions (human)
tpc-rp-request@aarnet.edu.au - Discussion list maintainer (human)
tpc-rp@aarnet.edu.au - Mailing list contributions (mailing list)
There's a WorldWideWeb page which provides information about the
TPC.INT fax service. If your Web browser can display forms, you can
even fill out a form and send a fax interactively. Use your favorite
Web browser to connect to:
http://linux1.balliol.ox.ac.uk/fax/faxsend.html
*** Rabbit.rgm Sacramento Fax Service
This service is a feature of a Sacramento, California-based bulletin
board system. You can use it to send faxes to areas that are a local
call from Sacramento, including the California State Legislature. This
service is run as a hobby and is connected to the Internet by UUCP, so
it can take from 12 to 24 hours for your fax to be delivered or for
the help files to reach you. It does not support multiple addressing:
only one fax number per message. It also does not send a cover page,
so be sure to start your message with a note directing it to someone's
attention. It will truncate faxes longer than two pages (that's 132
lines).
To use this fax service, send e-mail
To: faxline@rabbit.rgm.com
Subject: local (7 digit) phone number, without area code
Body: <text of fax>
For complete usage information, send e-mail
To: request@rabbit.rgm.com
Subject: 052
For a list of some legislators' fax numbers in the Sacramento area,
send e-mail:
To: request@rabbit.rgm.com
Subject: 050
*** The University of Minnesota Fax Service
The University of Minnesota operates a fax gateway which allows
students and staff to send faxes anywhere. Even if you don't go to
UMinn, you may use the service to send faxes to folks at the
University and exchanges local to the campus.
The structure for e-mailing a fax is:
To: /pn=John.Doe/dd.fax=234-5678/@fax.tc.umn.edu
Put your recipient's name, with a period between the first and last
names, after pn= and put the seven digit fax number after the
characters dd.fax=. This name will be printed in the "To:" field on
the fax cover page. The area code for the University of Minnesota is
612, so you don't need to supply an area code.
For more information, send e-mail to ccs@maroon.tc.umn.edu.
*** Swedish University Network
{Thanks to Fredrik Ekman for the info!}
The Swedish University Computer Network (sunet) has a national fax
service that can be used by anyone at no cost. Users in Sweden can use
it to send faxes all over the world but users outside Sweden can only
use it for telephone numbers within Sweden.
To send a fax to Arlo Cats at +46-87654321 (that's international
notation for Sweden, phone number 08/765 43 21) send e-mail to:
Arlo_Cats@F087654321.fax.sunet.se
Note that you will always have to preface the phone number with the
letter "F" for "fax".
Special characters in the body of your message are converted to
Swedish characters:
ASCII Becomes
} a with circle accent
{ a with diereses (two dots)
| o with diereses
] A with circle accent
[ A with diereses
\ O with diereses
` e with right accent
For more information, e-mail "faxmaster@fax.sunet.se".
COMMERCIAL (PAY-FOR-USE) SERVICES
*** InterFax
InterFax allows you to send faxes via e-mail within the US or
internationally. InterFax is a fee-based service (billed to your
credit card) but, unlike the services listed 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 can also receive faxes for you, which will be delivered to you
via electronic mail.
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
Unigate is another pay-for-use service that allows you to send faxes
to Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It also allows
you to receive faxes as electronic mail. Unigate also handles e-mail-
to-postal mail conversion. Here's their price structure:
For fax service USA to Russia: $1.59 / page
fax service from Russia to Canada: 1.79 / page
fax service from Russia to Europe: 2.59 / page
For postal-mail service USA-Russia: $1.00 / page
snail-mail service from Russia to Canada: 1.50 / page
snail-mail service from Russia to Europe: 1.79 / page
For more information, e-mail "yuri@atmos.washington.edu".
*** FaxLinq
This service doesn't quite fit into the e-mail-to-fax arena, but
it's close enough to mention here. With FaxLinq, you may receive
facsimile messages as e-mail. Your correspondents send a fax to the
service's machine, which is converted to a TIFF file and sent to you
in a MIME-compliant e-mail message. (Your must be able to handle
MIME e-mail and view TIFF files - you can't receive faxes as ASCII
text.) FaxLinq is a one-way ticket: it doesn't handle e-mail-to-fax
transmissions.
There is an annual subscription fee of $39, which includes 10 pages
of facsimile transmission. Additional pages received cost $1 per
page. FaxLinq uses "deposit" accounts: you must pay in advance for
any faxes you expect to receive. Should a fax be received for you
when your account balance is not sufficient to cover the number of
pages received, you will be notified by e-mail.
For more information, e-mail info@antigone.com or write: Antigone
Press, 1310 Clayton Street, Suite 15, San Francisco CA 94114.
*** Fax Services That Are No More
Don't tell me about these. They have ceased to be.
- Digital Chicken is - or was - a service that let users send faxes to
Canadian government and citizens. Use TPC.INT instead.
- fax@cssnet.sanford.nc.us - no longer available due to hard drive
crash.
- Soviet FaxGate and PaperGate (gatemaster@elvis.sovusa.com...host
unknown)
***Legal Stuff
This document is copyright 1994 by Kevin M. Savetz. All rights
reserved.
Permission for the following types of distribution is hereby granted,
provided that this file is distributed intact, including the above
copyright notice:
- non-commercial distribution
- posting to Internet archives, BBSs and online services
- distribution by teachers, librarians and Internet trainers
- inclusion on software/FAQ/Internet-oriented CD-ROMs
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 is 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 file is 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 can receive each new edition of this document automatically via
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To: savetz@rahul.net
Subject: subscribe fax-faq
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You can also receive it once via electronic mail (without subscribing
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To: savetz@rahul.net
Subject: send fax-faq
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You can receive it via anonymous FTP:
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/fax-faq
ftp.eff.org:/pub/Net_info/Technical/net-fax.faq
You can get it using Gopher:
gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Net_info/Technical, net-fax.faq
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