How reliable is your fax service?
Many business owners do not understand the differences among fax options. When you use a quality fax solution, most of your faxes arrive intact, even large documents.
However, determining whether your fax service is reliable may prove to be a challenge. The decision can be made easier by learning about the most common features of reliable fax services. Continue reading to find out whether you need to upgrade your online faxing.
Understanding Fax Transmission Issues
Fax transmission issues can be a significant headache, especially when you need to send critical documents quickly. These problems can arise from various sources, including the fax machine, phone line, or even the destination fax number. When a fax machine fails to connect or transmit, it often results in a frustrating “no answer” error message. Understanding the common causes of these errors is the first step in troubleshooting and resolving them, ensuring your important documents reach their destination without delay.
What Causes Fax Transmission Errors?
Several factors can lead to fax transmission errors, disrupting your workflow and causing delays. Common causes include:
Poor phone line quality or noise on the line
Incorrect fax number or destination fax number
Fax machine settings or configuration issues
Insufficient fax credits or account balance
Server or network issues
Incompatible fax equipment or software
Busy signal or line in use
By identifying these potential issues, you can take proactive steps to address them and improve the reliability of your fax transmissions.
Common Causes of Fax Transmission Errors
Understanding the specific reasons behind fax transmission errors can help you troubleshoot more effectively. Here are some common causes:
Poor Phone Line Quality or Noise on the Line: A noisy or unstable phone line can interfere with the fax signal, leading to transmission errors.
Incorrect Fax Number or Destination Fax Number: Double-checking the fax number before sending can prevent misdirected faxes.
Fax Machine Settings or Configuration Issues: Ensure your fax machine is correctly configured and set to the appropriate dialing mode.
Insufficient Fax Credits or Account Balance: Running out of fax credits can halt your transmissions. Always keep an eye on your account balance.
Server or Network Issues: Network disruptions or server problems can cause fax transmission failures.
Incompatible Fax Equipment or Software: Using outdated or incompatible fax machines and software can lead to errors.
Busy Signal or Line in Use: If the receiving fax machine is busy, your fax won’t go through. Try again later or use a speed dial feature to automate retries.
By addressing these common issues, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of fax transmission errors.
Signs of a Poor Quality Fax Machine Service
Internet fax typically covers a wide range from fax over IP (FoIP) to cloud fax services. When you find statistics such as a 5% to 8% failure rate for online faxes, that rate will not be the same across all services. In fact, some systems will fail more frequently because of poor quality and inconsistent telecoms. Quality fax services will have much lower failure rates, especially when the proper settings are selected.
Once you’re using a cloud fax service, you’ll quickly become aware of its quality and any inherent deficiencies. Typically, inferior services face at least some of the following limitations:
Issues sending documents with more than 25 pages
Fax failure rates of 10% or more
Cuts out services like ECM to lower their costs
Low-quality telecom
Inferior quality for faxes sent and received
Mid-transmission cut-offs
How Providers Get Away With Pitiful Fax Transmission Services
While such poor quality may seem unconscionable, many companies will choose to pay less or nothing for faxing documents. In return, they get a service that cuts corners on its network and error checking methods. The result of these cost-cutting measures is a low price that also comes with a low-quality fax service.
Basic online fax services can be started by individuals using simple fax servers in their homes. However, as noted, such services do not provide quality faxing, security, or error prevention. For occasional faxing of single pages by individuals, such services may not cause problems. But, for many businesses, fax reliability is critical.
You cannot rely on just any fax service if, for example, you must send medical records to comply with HIPAA regulations. You need one that will encrypt data, provide extra layers of security, and create audit trails. Many low-cost online fax services cannot offer these features due to their reduced quality. When it comes to business faxing, however, you cannot afford the costs incurred on your company by low quality or fax failures.
In the medical industry, for instance, manual processes, such as faxing, can require up to 30 minutes per transaction, costing $6 more compared to electronic options. If a fax fails, workers will need to repeat the transaction, increasing total costs in wasted employee time.
Troubleshooting Fax Connection Issues
When fax connection issues arise, it’s essential to have a systematic approach to troubleshooting. Here are some practical steps to resolve fax line quality issues and ensure successful fax transmission.
Resolving Fax Line Quality Issues
Check the Phone Line Connection: Ensure the phone line is securely connected and not loose.
Verify the Receiving Fax Machine: Make sure the receiving fax machine is turned on and has enough paper.
Restart the Fax Machine: Sometimes, a simple restart can resolve many issues. Turn off the fax machine, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on.
Check Fax Machine Settings: Ensure the fax machine is set to the correct fax number and dialing mode.
Test the Receiving Fax Machine: Call the receiving fax machine to confirm it is working correctly and can receive faxes.
Check for Error Messages: Look at the fax machine’s LCD screen or control panel for any error messages or codes.
Consult the User Manual: Refer to the user manual for troubleshooting tips or contact the manufacturer’s customer support for further assistance.
Reset to Default Settings: If all else fails, try resetting the fax machine to its default settings.
By following these steps, you can troubleshoot and resolve fax line quality issues, ensuring your fax transmissions are successful and your important documents reach their destination without delay.
Traits of Top-Quality Cloud Fax Services
When searching for a quality cloud fax service for your business, you need low failure rates. A top-tier service such as Documo has a high percentage of successful transmissions, with a failure rate of well below 3%.
Additionally, these types of services will have ECM enabled. ECM stands for error correction mode. This setting checks packets of fax data. Any group of data not received gets sent again. Even though some users may wish to turn off this setting to speed up faxes and low-quality services may not even offer it, it should remain enabled to ensure high fax success rates. If you have ECM as a feature of your service, it will ensure that your data will carry through without errors.
A good fax service will have multiple carriers to support both inbound and outbound transmissions. For instance, Documo uses up to a dozen carriers and uses an algorithm to select the best for every fax sent or received.
Another characteristic of a good fax service is high-grade security. In the medical industry, up to 75% of communication happens through faxes. The industry’s inability to securely send electronic health records in accordance with HIPAA regulations is a major factor contributing to the continued use of faxed documents.
Such businesses can reduce the use of those bulky analog fax machines while at the same time benefit from going paperless by using a reliable electronic fax service that encrypts documents at rest and in transit. Low-cost online fax services may not offer such guarantees of information security. If your business requires document security, choose a reliable online fax service like Documo.
Try Out the Most Reliable Fax Service Today
Stop losing your faxes because of an unreliable cloud fax service.
Documo harnesses its proprietary technology and combines it with top-tier service providers to provide you with a highly reliable fax service with the lowest possible failure rates.
That’s why Documo is consistently ranked as one of the best and most trusted cloud fax providers for businesses. In fact, both business.com and influential entrepreneur Neil Patel picked Documo as “the best online fax service for multiple users.”
Start today with a 14-day free trial to see for yourself why businesses that rely on fax choose and trust DOcumo.