Updated 01/08

[Note: See Update at End of Article]

We're always a bit reluctant to tout "free" anything on the Internet, because there's always a catch. And while this one may not be an exception, we think RVers with a need to receive faxes as they wander around the country should have a look at "eFax".

eFax (http://www.efax.com) is a free service which provides you with your own unique fax number (area code and number) to which your correspondents may send you faxes. As with most of these services, you need to sign up by and receive a personal ID and a PIN number (password). When someone sends you a fax at your assigned telephone number, eFax sends you an email with the fax appended as an attached file. The file is in a graphic format, so the file size is usually fairly big. We're finding that faxes up to about four pages in length can be downloaded (as an attachment to the eFax email notification) in about one minute.

Once you receive the eFax email, your next step is to "open" the attachment. We use Mac files, so eFax sends us the attachments in "TIF" format. Any program which can "read" TIFF files, such as PhotoShop or free software such as Graphic Converter, can open this type of file. For Windows, a different "reader" is required, but it too can be downloaded from the eFax site.

Keep in mind we're only talking about receiving faxes -- not sending them. Almost all laptops have the capability of "sending" faxes, though usually that implies long distance charges. And while laptops can "receive" faxes, it can only do so when connected to whatever telephone number you may be plugged into at the time -- usually not at all a convenient option.

Once you're set up with an eFax account, you'll not have to provide a different phone number every time someone wants to send you a fax. Moreover, the fax can be sent from anywhere in the world, at any time of day or night, and you'll be notified of it the next time you log on to get your email. This strikes us as a potentially useful service for RVers whose nomadic lifestyle make "giving out a fax number" next to impossible -- unless you're using eFax.

Why is this service being provided for free? We can only speculate. The information it required in order for us to sign up was almost nothing, though we realize that just providing one's email address can invite unwanted junk mail. We think the key may be the projected "upgrade" to the eFax service, which will almost certainly be a fee based upgrade. We would speculate that the upgrade would, for instance, automatically "translate" incoming faxes to either plain text or a word processing format of your choice. That would make the process quite a bit more convenient -- though when measured against zero cost, the present offering seems to have value as a standby "fax receive" option.

We'd like to make it clear we do not endorse this product. But we have used it recently, and it has performed well for us. We simply wanted to share this interesting service with our readers in the event others may find a use for it.

UPDATE: There are competing services available since this article was published. One that may deserve a careful look is FaxPipe. See http://faxpipe.com/