FaxZero Features
Free and inexpensive services, depending on your needs: There are pros and cons to both services, but for infrequent faxing, FaxZero is a quick, cost-effective solution.Copy and paste your text or attach up to 3 separate files: With the number of file types supported, you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to send your fax.
Money back for failed transmissions: You don’t risk losing money with the premium service if you encounter a wrong fax number, a disconnected machine, or a busy line.
An easy, convenient Fax Your Congressman and Fax Your Senator feature: All of the U.S. congressmen and senators are listed by state and district. When you click their name, you are returned to the FaxZero homepage form with the recipient’s name and fax number already filled in for you.
FaxZero Pricing
<3 Pages
Free
4 to 25 Pages (Within U.S. & Canada)
$1.99
International Faxes (Up to 15 Pages)
Faxes to most countries cost $3.63
The Good On FaxZero
Simple, Intuitive Interface: The form to submit your fax is undoubtedly easier than a traditional fax machine. No confusing options or button-pushing sequence required. Just enter the basic information, attach your document (or copy and paste the text in the provided box) and click send.
Free Faxing: If you’re sending 3 or fewer pages within the U.S. or Canada, your fax is free. Yes, there’s a small “catch.” Read The Bad on the next page.
Premium Service: For $1.99 fee, you can send a fax up to 25 pages. Premium service also ensures your fax is pushed toward the front of the line for faster transmission.
International Service: Sending a computer fax to most international countries costs $3.63.
Reimbursement: If your premium or international fax fails to transmit for any reason, you get your money back. For a failed premium fax within the U.S. or Canada, you get 100% of your fee back. A failed international fax gets you 90% back, or $3.27 on a $3.63 fee, so make sure you get the right fax number.
Wide Variety of Accepted Files: While you have the option of writing or pasting in a text box, you can also attach up to three separate files in the following formats: .DOC/.DOCX (Word), .TXT, RTF, PDF, JPG, PNG, GIF, HTML, PPT (PowerPoint), TIFF, and XLS/XLSX (Excel Spreadsheets).
Status Page: Once you send your fax and confirm through e-mail, you’ll receive a link to check on the progress of your fax. This keeps you updated and serves as a receipt of a successful (or not) transmission. You’ll also receive an e-mail with that tells you if the fax went through, but that e-mail is often lost in spam filters.
Good Quality: The faxes received are crisp and legible. If you are going to scan a document to attach it on the fax form, make sure you do so with “Black and White” selected on your scanner, not “Grayscale” or “Color.” This provides a better quality for the receiver.
Tries 5 Times with Confirmation: FaxZero’s automated process repeats the attempt to send a fax 5 times before it gives up. You’ll receive an e-mail notification to let you know that the fax went through successfully or that it failed after 5 attempts.
BBB A+ Rating: FaxZero has an account with the Better Business Bureau and holds an A+ rating, the highest accorded by BBB. There are only a handful of complaints, all of which have been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
The Bad On FaxZero
“The Catch” on Free Faxing: With FaxZero’s free service, you are forced to include a cover sheet. This is the first page transmitted and contains your information as well as the recipient’s information. The downside is the cover sheet includes a branded logo for FaxZero. If you concerned about looking professional, this is not ideal. Although FaxZero has a good privacy policy, the recipient may also worry that their information is being sold.
More importantly, some fax recipients require you to use their cover sheet. It may have a barcode or office-use information that helps get your fax to the correct person. Using the FaxZero free service would prevent this cover sheet from showing up first, which may get your important fax lost in the shuffle.
Confirmation Required to Send: Make sure you pay attention, because your fax is not sent when you hit “Send Free Fax Now.” You have to check your e-mail and click on the link inside to confirm your request to send the fax. This two-step process can be tedious if you have to send a lot of faxes.
Spam Filters: It seems a lot of e-mail servers route FaxZero e-mails to spam. If you’re waiting for the confirmation link or for the receipt of delivery, you may have to keep refreshing your spam folder.
Cannot Receive Faxes: This is a fax-sending service only. You cannot receive faxes using FaxZero. Make sure your recipient knows that they cannot fax anything back to you.
No Mobile App: You can use your mobile device’s browser, but there is no app to make the process easier and more streamlined on smartphones or tablets.
MB Limit on Files: Your fax must be under 20 MB (19.7 MB if you include a cover sheet or are using the free service). This means some high resolution PDFs and images may be too large to send.
Intermittent Lag: Using this service at peak hours may lead to lag of up to 15 minutes. Using the premium paid service for $1.99 is supposed to push your fax toward the front of the line, a good option if you’re in a rush.
5 Per Day Limit: You cannot send more than 5 faxes in 24 hours using the free service.
Our Verdict On FaxZero
FaxZero is a convenient option to have for emergency or infrequent, personal fax situations. It sure beats having to get to a Kinko’s if you do not own a fax machine.
However, if you need to receive faxes, this is not the service for you. Again, there is no way to receive faxes using FaxZero. You may have to note this on your cover sheet so the recipient does not try to fax a document back to you.
If you own a business and need to fax more than once or twice per month, you may be better off with VoIP bundle services that include Internet-based phone lines, extensions and a fax number. For the price of sending several premium faxes per month using FaxZero, there are better deals out there on electronic faxing. The free service is an option for businesses that fax fewer than 5 times per day, but you do have to contend with the unprofessionalism of the FaxZero logo.
