Yes, in fact, conventional fax machines are dying and will soon stop working. Now we live in a digital world: emails, mobile phones, instant messaging, GPRS systems are everywhere and they enter everyone’s life. Ask yourself: When was the last time you sent your mail through the postman? And when was the last time you clicked that reply or forward button to send an email? Technology changes, so does our quality of life.

Fax services are quite similar to email. When the first email services were introduced, not many people were hooked and still think that posts sent through their office assistant are more secure and reliable. But as soon as people find the convenience of emails … the heat spreads and affects every person’s life.

Internet faxing, or sometimes known as online faxing, or efax or fax to email or virtual fax, is a technology that allows you to send and receive faxes in email forms. Modern Internet services have made faxing easier and faster in a cheaper way compared to conventional fax transmissions. “We are eliminating the need for a fax machine,” says Janice Kapner, director of marketing and corporate communications for eFax. eFax is one of the pioneers in the Internet fax business offering a free fax-to-email service to more than one million subscribers.

By subscribing to eFax services, you will get a real fax number where you can receive faxes, which are then forwarded to the email address of your choice. You can also send faxes to a regular fax machine through the service. Click here for more reading on eFax service reviews.

Internet faxing has caught the attention of businesses large and small. More than 14 billion pages were sent over IP-based networks in 2002 and the number continues to rise, yielding more than 20 billion pages sent at the time of writing.

Why is Internet fax service growing so fast? Answer: the cost. Sending faxes over the Internet required a lower cost compared to the conventional fax machine, which required the user to purchase a fax machine, fax machine toners, additional fax lines … the list goes on. With Internet faxing, you don’t have to invest in equipment; you don’t need to pay for a dedicated fax line; You don’t have to allocate an additional budget to maintain your fax machine.

Often times, Internet fax services only require a flat fee to use. As for eFax, subscription fees range from $ 0 to $ 19.95 / month; you can receive faxes of up to 200 pages for free; then you can send faxes at a low price of $ 0.10 / page; get a local or toll free number; you get additional services like voicemail to email services.

Also, Internet faxing does not give you a “busy” tone. You can always receive faxes as they will simply be placed in your email inbox. Faxes can be received even if your PC is offline or the phone line is in use; it is always on and you will never miss a fax with Internet fax. “The ‘always on’ aspect of a web-based fax service means that multiple faxes can be received simultaneously at the same number,” says Leslie Morgan Nakajima, director of corporate communications for Onebox.com.

Convenience is another plus of Internet faxing. With Internet faxing, your faxes are automatically converted to digital files. This in turn helps you manage your files easily. Like other files on your computer, you can now copy, forward and organize them on your PC hard drive, simply and cleanly. With most Internet fax services, your faxes are converted into digital files that can be copied, forwarded, and archived. There is no learning curve for the service, one can simply subscribe and start using it to improve their daily work.

On the other hand, there are some limitations to Internet faxing: you need online access and a scanner to fax paper documents. That’s why the other Dataquest numbers show that traditional faxing will stick around for years to come. However, the economics and ease of handling of Internet faxing will allow an increasing number of skilled home office workers to dispense with a fax machine.