Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/fade into you/being there/How To & FAQ's/internet-services-fax

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-01 | 10KB

Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 15:18:29 -0700
From: Kevin Savetz <[e-mail]>
Subject: FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet? (ver. 0.1)

Archive-name: internet-services/fax-faq
Last-Modified: 1994/5/6
Version: 0.2

FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet?
version 0.2 - 6 May 1994
Send comments & updates to Kevin Savetz <[e-mail]>.
This document is copyright 1994 by Kevin M. Savetz. All rights reserved.
More legal stuff is near the end of this file. This document is brand new
and in transition. If you notice that an Internet fax service is missing,
or information herein needs updating, please send e-mail to
"[e-mail]".

*** Table of Contents
Can I send a fax from the Internet?
   TPC.INT Remote Printing        <updated>
   Digital Chicken                <new>
   InterFax
   FAXiNET
   Unigate
   RadioMail                      <new>
Legal Stuff
Where to Find this Document       <updated>

*** Can I send a fax from the Internet?
Indeed. There are several services for sending a fax via Internet mail -
some are free while others are pay services. At least one service even
lets you receive a fax via Internet mail. The mail-to-fax services that I
know about are discussed below. All the services require that you can
send and receive electronic mail to the Internet.

*** TPC.INT Remote Printing
One fax-from-the-Internet service is the brainchild of Carl Malamud (the
creator of Internet Talk Radio) and Marshall Rose. They're doing research
on how to integrate special-purpose devices, like facsimile printers,
into the fabric of the Internet. It works simply enough - send electronic
mail to a special address, and soon after (if your recipient's fax
machine is in a covered area), out comes a freshly-minted fax. You can
send a fax to multiple fax machines, or even a combination of faxes and
traditional e-mail recipients. After the deed is done, you will receive
electronic mail telling you if your fax was successfully sent or not. The
service is free.

You can't send a fax just anywhere with this service. A variety of
companies, institutions and citizens linked to the Internet have joined
the experiment by linking a computer and fax modem to the 'net. When an
organization joins as a remote-fax server, it specifies what areas to
which they are willing to send faxes. When you send an e-mail fax
message, you (naturally) must include the phone number of the recipient's
fax machine. A computer looks at the phone number and decides if any
participating fax machines cover the area to which you want to send a
fax. If so, your message is routed to the appropriate machine for
faxation. Otherwise, you will receive electronic mail informing you the
fax couldn't be delivered.

To send a fax by e-mail, send a message
     To: remote-printer.<info>@phonenumber.iddd.tpc.int

Where <info> contains information for the cover page.  In <info>, "/" is
turned into line breaks and "_" is turned into spaces.  For example, the
address:
     To: remote-printer.Arlo_Cats/[e-mail]

Would send a fax to [phone] with the cover page:
     Please deliver this facsimile to:
     Arlo Cats
     Room 123

Note: There's another way to address faxes which seems to work more
reliable sometimes. Note that the phone number is backwards and the
numbers are separated by periods.
     To: remote-printer.Arlo_Cats/Room_123@2.1.2.1.5.5.5.2.0.2.1.tpc.int

The following addresses can be used to obtain more information:
   [e-mail]      - current fax coverage (automated reply)
   [e-mail]     - Frequently Asked Questions (automated reply)
   [e-mail]        - discussion list maintainer (human)

*** Digital Chicken
Digital Chicken is the strange name for "an experiment in government
communications and international remote printing and faxing". Using this
service, you can use e-mail to send faxes to a variety of Canadian
federal and provincial government and non-governmental agencies (e.g.,
the Prime Minister, Toronto Star, Toronto Blue Jays, Ontario Human Rights
Commission). You may also use it to send a fax to anywhere in the
Canadian 416 and 905 area codes. Although this service will only fax to
Canada, users anywhere may send faxes. The service is free.

Faxing to Canadian agencies and organizations: In time, interested
organizations will be shown how to access their e-mail directly, and in
turn respond to your letters by e-mail. At the moment, however, any
replies will be via fax or regular mail, so you must include your name,
postal mailing address, and/or fax number if you want a reply from the
agency.

You may fax any of the 300+ Canadian organizations that are on Digital
Chicken's "mailing list". You need that list to get the "nickname" of the
organization you wish to send a fax to. That list is too long to
reproduce here - you can get a copy my sending e-mail to
"[e-mail]".

Once you have the nickname of the organization you wish to contact, send
e-mail
     To: <nickname>@chicken.planet.org
     Subject: <The subject of your fax>
     Body: <The text of your fax>

Faxing to anywhere in the 416 or 905 area codes: All you need to know is
the target fax number. Send your e-mail:
     To: [e-mail]
     Subject: FAX TO <fax number>
     Body: <The text of your fax>

For more information, e-mail: "[e-mail]".

*** InterFax
InterFax allows you to send faxes via e-mail within the US or
internationally. InterFax is a fee-based service (billed to your credit
card) but, unlike the services listed above, InterFax lets you send faxes
anywhere, not just select locations. As of this writing, InterFax costs
$5 per month, which includes the first five fax pages. Additional pages
cost 50 cents each. There is a one-time sign-up charge of $25. For
further information, send e-mail to [e-mail], or contact
InterFax at PO Box 162, Skippack, PA 19474 USA. [phone]. FAX:
[phone].

*** FAXiNET
Another fax-by-mail service is FAXiNET, which lets you send any text
(ASCII) or PostScript documents to fax machines worldwide. FAXiNET can
send faxes to more than 50 countries and plans to add more. The company
can also receive faxes for you, which will be delivered to you via
electronic mail.

Accounts for individuals cost 75 cents per page, plus a one-time $20
activation fee. Additional services, including adding your custom logo
and signature to your faxes, are available at extra cost. Corporate
accounts are also available. More information is available from AnyWare
Associates, FAXiNET, 32 Woodland Road, Boston, MA 02130. [phone].
E-mail: [e-mail]

*** Unigate
Unigate is another pay-for-use service that allows you to send faxes to
Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It also allows you to
receive faxes as electronic mail. Unigate is a commercial service that
also handles "snail mail." Most of us probably don't need to fax Russia,
but if you should need to, Unigate is probably much less expensive than
however you're doing it now: fax service from USA to Russia (or back) is
$1.59 per page:
For fax service USA to Russia: $1.59 / page
    fax service from Russia to Canada: 1.79 / page
    fax service from Russia to Europe: 2.59 / page
For postal-mail service USA-Russia: $1.00 / page
    snail-mail service from Russia to Canada: 1.50 / page
    snail-mail service from Russia to Europe: 1.79 / page

For more information, e-mail "[e-mail]".

*** RadioMail
This e-mail-to-fax service lets you send faxes to just about any country
you can name. Prices vary accordingly - it's much less expensive to send
a fax to a "well-connected" country (like Canada and Sweden) than less-
connected places like Laos and Solomon Island. For instructions, send e-
mail to "[e-mail]".

All fax messages are charged on a per-page basis. The cover-sheet is sent
free of charge. All messages are subject to a one-page minimum charge.
Domestic faxes are billed at the rate of 99 cents per page. The rate for
international faxes depends on the destination country: $0.99, $1.99,
$3.99 or $4.99 per page.

***Legal Stuff
This document is copyright 1994 by Kevin M. Savetz. All rights reserved.
Permission for non-commercial distribution is hereby granted, provided
that this file is distributed intact, including this copyright notice and
the version information above. Permission for commercial distribution may
be obtained from the editor. SHARE THIS INFORMATION FREELY AND IN GOOD
FAITH. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE MODIFIED VERSIONS OF THIS DOCUMENT.

This document is new and in transition. If you notice that something
important is missing, or information herein needs updating, please
contact the editor.

The editor and contributors have developed this FAQ as a service to the
Internet community. We hope you find it useful. This FAQ is purely a
volunteer effort. Although every effort has been made to insure that
answers are as accurate as possible, no guarantee is implied or intended.
While the editor tries to keep this document current, remember that the
Internet and its services are constantly changing, so don't be surprised
if you happen across statements which are obsolete. If you do, please
send corrections to the editor. Corrections, questions, and comments
should be sent to Kevin Savetz at "[e-mail]" (Internet) or
"savetz" (America Online.) Please indicate what version of this document
to which you are referring.

*** Where to Find this Document
This file is posted twice monthly (on the 5th and 19th of each month) to
the Usenet newsgroups alt.internet.services, alt.online-service,
alt.bbs.internet, alt.answers and news.answers.

You can also receive it via electronic mail:
To: [e-mail]
Subject: send fax-faq
Body: <ignored>

You can receive each new edition of this document automatically via
electronic mail, if you are so inclined: send e-mail:
To: [e-mail]
Subject: subscribe fax-faq
Body: <ignored>

You WILL BE ABLE TO BUT PROBABLY CAN'T YET receive it via anonymous FTP:
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/fax-faq
ftp.eff.org:/pub/Net_info/Technical/net-fax.faq

You can get it using Gopher:
gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Net_info/Technical, net-fax.faq

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