Use your fax to the max - how to make your faxes stand out - Tutorial

Home Office Computing, July, 1994 by Sarah Stambler, Abigail McLean

Unclog your fax line. Using a fax service bureau for big jobs is one way to keep your fax line clear. But realize that the more people you reach via fax, the more people there are who may want to communicate with you in the same way.

If you have a single phone line or a dedicated fax line that's forever in use, get a fax mailbox, offered by many regional and national telephone companies, including AT&T and Ameritech. Delrina, a fax software publisher, offers an international service called Fax MailBox ([800] 670-8777). A toll-free number accepts your faxes 24 hours a day and allows you to retrieve faxes anytime, anywhere, for a flat monthly rate plus per-page charges. Phone access to this mailbox is guaranteed since the system's incoming phone line capacity is far greater than that of most small offices.

US West's Never-Busy Fax ([800] 987-4329) is a similar service offered in five major cities, including Seattle and Minneapolis. A call-forwarding service transfers calls made to a busy fax line to a holding area or fax mailbox. That mailbox calls the busy line until it gets through and eventually delivers the waylaid fax.

Don't despair if you still haven't seen the solution to your particular fax problem. The fax industry keeps growing and getting better all the time. If the service or product you need is not available yet, it is probably just around the corner.