I’m pleased to say I am still capable of sending faxes from home… but not proud of it. I thought Fax is done. with encrypt-able pdf’s and e-mail. We could get rid of fax once and for all but yet, I’m still being asked to fax stuff.
There are free fax websites, you upload a file and they fax it to the number of your discretion but the fax I sent today contained PII and thus I was not comfortable sending it third party. I had to do two things to get it working.
Buying a modem
I dug around looking for a telephony modem but I thought those days are gone (dial-up specifically) and either I trashed all of them or sent them to e-recycle. I searched on Amazon and viola! plenty of usb V.92 modems available. Guess I should get one just in case the future requires me to fax again.
Configuring Windows
For Windows 11, Windows Fax and Scan is not installed by default. Go to System, Optional features, Add an optional feature to search for Windows Fax and Scan.
The modem requires a driver, if you pick the right modem the drivers should be built-in for plug n’ play compatibility. The next step is getting Windows Fax and Scan to work. I’ve been using the Scan feature a lot and so I’m kinda familiar with the interface. Long story short I created a dialing rule
*99 (505)*99 is ooma’s outgoing fax optimization toggle. and area code 505 so I don’t have to specify it in the fax draft.
Then I penned a cover page that stated how many pages, whom it’s going to, and whom it was sent from. Attached a .tif file of the documents I wanted to send them (Windows Fax and Scan only can process tiff files, don’t ask me why the limitation). Clicked Fax and it just happened to work for me.
So Why are we still faxing in 2019? I should mention I am faxing to NM’s Department of Workforce Solutions. Typically the customers that are using these services probably don’t have internet access, nor a computer. Perhaps Fax is still the common denominator for sending sensitive information and luckily, I’m fortunate enough that I am still able to do it at home.