Kooldino
10-10-2008, 04:24 PM
Why, you ask? Well, for starters, it's 2008. In 1983, fax machines were a necessary evil (and actually very convenient) for their time. But here we are, 25 years later, still using them, and I can't understand why. Scanners should have completely replaced faxes eons ago, but still have not. Here's why they should have:
1-Dial-up modems. Unless you live in a hermit's basement, there's no reason you should be using a modem in today's age. Since having a fax machine means having an integrated modem, you're inherently committing a sin against technology.
A scanner, on the other hand, can import pictures into your PC which you can send across the internet in any method you like (email, ftp, etc).
2-A dedicated phone line. People pay around $20 a month for a dedicated phone line just for a fax machine. on top of that, there are long distance charges for sending a fax long distance. With a scanner, you can send it anywhere in the world for "free", assuming you have an Internet connection.
3-Wait your turn. Want to fax a document to someone who's popular in the fax world? No sweat. As soon as everyone else who is hammering their fax line gets their documents through, maybe you'll get your chance. With the scanner/email setup, it's practically guaranteed to get through when you send it, regardless of how many other people are simultaneously sending documents to that same place.
4-Issues. You are far more likely to encounter issues with a fax machine than you are with a scanner and email. For starters, you can run out of toner, run out of paper, get nonstop busy signals (see #3), have general modem connection issues, phone line quality issues, etc. There's just a lot more things that are much more likely to go wrong. Then when things do go wrong, it requires both the sender and the receiver to be present and "babysit" the fax machine to make sure things go right.
On top of that, fax machines tend to be shared by groups of people (whereas email addresses don't), so if you're not there when a fax comes through for you, someone else may misplace or discard it.
5-Image quality. Scanners - 32-bit true color, very high resolution. Fax machines - monochrome, low resolution.
6-Not economically or environmentally friendly. Simply put, fax machines consume far more resources than a scanner and email does. At worst, scanned documents consume a small amount of bandwidth and disk space, along with a little electricity. While a fax machine consumes electricity, paper, toner, a phone line, and worst of all, money out of pocket. It's something that will continue to cost more and more money to use the longer you use it. With a scanner and email, you buy it once and you're set.
On top of that, shouldn't we be moving AWAY from papers? Personally, i'd rather store thousands of documents on a computer disk than have a huge filing cabinet full of documents that were faxed to me. And i'd MUCH rather search through a computer for a document (using a nice search function) rather than searching for a needle in a haystack by hand.
With all of that said, I urge you, please...stop using fax machines. They're good for nothing. Get yourself a scanner and catch up to 1999.
At minimum, some company should produce a machine that works like a fax, except you enter an email address instead. This machine would be connected to the Internet and have a built-in scanner. It would scan your document and automatically email it to the email address in question. It would be a decent, simple solution for those who wanted a standalone machine to send documents in today's age.
1-Dial-up modems. Unless you live in a hermit's basement, there's no reason you should be using a modem in today's age. Since having a fax machine means having an integrated modem, you're inherently committing a sin against technology.
A scanner, on the other hand, can import pictures into your PC which you can send across the internet in any method you like (email, ftp, etc).
2-A dedicated phone line. People pay around $20 a month for a dedicated phone line just for a fax machine. on top of that, there are long distance charges for sending a fax long distance. With a scanner, you can send it anywhere in the world for "free", assuming you have an Internet connection.
3-Wait your turn. Want to fax a document to someone who's popular in the fax world? No sweat. As soon as everyone else who is hammering their fax line gets their documents through, maybe you'll get your chance. With the scanner/email setup, it's practically guaranteed to get through when you send it, regardless of how many other people are simultaneously sending documents to that same place.
4-Issues. You are far more likely to encounter issues with a fax machine than you are with a scanner and email. For starters, you can run out of toner, run out of paper, get nonstop busy signals (see #3), have general modem connection issues, phone line quality issues, etc. There's just a lot more things that are much more likely to go wrong. Then when things do go wrong, it requires both the sender and the receiver to be present and "babysit" the fax machine to make sure things go right.
On top of that, fax machines tend to be shared by groups of people (whereas email addresses don't), so if you're not there when a fax comes through for you, someone else may misplace or discard it.
5-Image quality. Scanners - 32-bit true color, very high resolution. Fax machines - monochrome, low resolution.
6-Not economically or environmentally friendly. Simply put, fax machines consume far more resources than a scanner and email does. At worst, scanned documents consume a small amount of bandwidth and disk space, along with a little electricity. While a fax machine consumes electricity, paper, toner, a phone line, and worst of all, money out of pocket. It's something that will continue to cost more and more money to use the longer you use it. With a scanner and email, you buy it once and you're set.
On top of that, shouldn't we be moving AWAY from papers? Personally, i'd rather store thousands of documents on a computer disk than have a huge filing cabinet full of documents that were faxed to me. And i'd MUCH rather search through a computer for a document (using a nice search function) rather than searching for a needle in a haystack by hand.
With all of that said, I urge you, please...stop using fax machines. They're good for nothing. Get yourself a scanner and catch up to 1999.
At minimum, some company should produce a machine that works like a fax, except you enter an email address instead. This machine would be connected to the Internet and have a built-in scanner. It would scan your document and automatically email it to the email address in question. It would be a decent, simple solution for those who wanted a standalone machine to send documents in today's age.