You can find a range of fax machines that are available in the market today, but the basic work of all fax machines remains the same - that is to send and receive documents, using plain paper. The output looks very similar to a printout.

Today, the fax machine has advanced features, such as answering machine, telephone, built in voice mail and can also distinguish between voice calls and fax mails. Another important feature seen in today’s fax machine is the ability to work as a scanner too.

In present times, most fax machines come with an inbuilt scanner thereby making it a machine with multipurpose capability.

The most important things to look for in a fax machine while buying one is the number of pages it can hold in the tray and its speed. Check whether it has features like delayed delivery or not and also find out the cost and availability of its accessories.

The best way to choose a fax machine is to determine what your requirements are in terms of capacity and quality. Then you can compare models from various companies and look into the different features provided by them in terms of usage before arriving at a decision.

Do you ever wonder how a fax machine, such an indispensable unit in one’s business these days came into practice?, Well the answer is, Mr. Alexander Bain of Scottish origin.  He created a back-and-forth line-by-line scanning mechanism making use of his knowledge of electric clock pendulums. His model was designed to receive signals from a telegraph wire and then convert them into images on paper. Fredrick Blakwell, another inventor from London, patented a similar machine in the year 1851 and called it a “copying telegraph”. Blakewell had introduced several improvements in Bain’s original model and further developed his device.

“Pan Telegraph”, the first fax machine to be sold, was marketed by Giovanni Caselli in 1861 and surprisingly this took place before even workable telephones were created. The models available in the market today have acquired their design after a long series of refinements and developments.

The first coloured version appeared in the year 1924. The first colour facsimile was transmitted and reconstructed by H.E Ives of American Telephone and Telegraph. The “Hellschreiber”, an early technique in fax transmission was invented in 1929 by Rudolf Hell. But the fact remains to be seen that fax machines had never attained such popular usage until the mid 1980s. The implementation of a standard protocol in the year 1983 for transmitting faxes at rates of 9,600 bps (bits per second) is the significant factor behind this colossal transformation that accounts for the fact that most modern offices use a fax machine.

A fax machine is usually used to send/receive documents. Before you actually buy a fax machine, determine your need first. For example, work out as to many faxes would you receive/send in a day, and whether most of your fax messages would be incoming or outgoing. For incoming faxes only, you could have a cheaper end fax machine but if you need to send plenty of outgoing faxes, then you will probably be better off with a high end fax machine.

There are various additional features that you should check while selecting a fax machine.  Some of them are below:-

Paper handling capacity- Check whether your machine can handle automatic faxes once the destination is entered. This will help in sending multiple faxes because you won’t have to wait until the last one has gone through before sending another.

Delayed transmission- Try and look for a machine wherein you have an option of delayed transmission. Call rates vary during day and night time, so you can save a lot of money by taking advantage of this feature and sending faxes when the call rates are at their lowest.

Memory- Fax machines today can store faxes in their internal memory. This can be very useful when you need to send the same fax to many recipients or store the same when you run out of paper.

In Built Handset- A conventional telephone that is built in a fax machine helps in using the fax machine as a main telephone, and distinguishes voice calls from fax ones.

Answering Machine- Check to see whether your fax machine has an in built answering machine.

Computer compatibility- Check to see whether the fax machine is compatible with your computer system and operating software so that you can print outgoing and incoming faxes directly from the computer

We are sure that you will be able to buy the ideal fax machine of your choice by keeping the above pointers in mind.

A fax machine is an important piece of equipment for your office and it helps in scanning, receiving and sending documents and sharing the same at different locations almost an instantaneous task, thereby facilitating your business in a big way.

So while choosing the right fax machine you should determine how many faxes would you send/receive in a day along with what kind of print quality you desire as a film cartridge based fax machine would provide you with mediocre quality, while an ink jet fax machine provides you with better quality but at a higher price and a laser fax machine providing you with superior print quality but being the most expensive one.

Some key points while selecting the right fax machines are:
•    The price of the fax machine in comparison to its completion
•    Power consumption of the machine as, normally it would always be turned on
•    Cost incurred per page by dividing the cost of cartridges by the number of prints it can make
•    Add- on functions such as delayed transmission, copy enlargement & shrinking, reduction and option of choosing various copy sizes
•    Availability and cost of cartridges, ink and paper
•    After sales support & Warranty attached.

You should also check if the fax machine includes a phone and an answering machine and can distinguish between fax and voice calls as you normally don’t need a dedicated phone line for a fax machine until you are sending a lot of faxes.

Try and incorporate as many points mentioned above in your decision for the right fax machine and we are sure you would be able to get the perfect one for all your business needs.

A fax machine can prove to be an important accessory for your office. Today’s modern business strives for paperless offices, wouldn’t it be great to have digitalised documents with their fast retrieval at your fingertips.

Today, fax machines are used for digitising office documents e.g. files, invoices, financial accounts etc, photographs, slides, drawings, text, and even 3D objects, creating digital images on your computer that you can adjust, and e-mail to business associates or post on your website.

The advantages of fax machines so include space saving by way of digitising your office files in CD’S OR DVD’S, The convenience of sharing all your office documents through email or a multimedia slide with business associates and partners, random access to your personal files irrespective of your location and cost effective data entry for your office to name a few.

So buying a fax machine is a wise decision for your business and using it to its full capacity can even prove cost effective.

We do suggest while choosing a fax machine you compare various models, normally each new fax machine carries a warranty along with it but it is preferable to check what the warranty covers as it is a delicate machine.

We are professionals in office equipment supplies and offer fax machines from various manufacturers so that you get the best fax machine that fits all your needs.

Fax machines have been an integral part of the office for decades now; their core ability to transmit and reproduce photographs, drawings, maps, and written or printed words to high standard has helped facilitate sharing of documents in a fast and convenient manner. This ability to recreate documents has made the fax machine popular as an aid in transmitting data.

A fax machine holds a definite advantage over postal mail as sharing of documents becomes an instantaneous task. When buying a fax machine, we recommend that you analyse the pros and cons of a particular fax machine from different manufacturers.

With different models available in the market, you should consider various points such as the number of faxes you’ll use in a day, the speed of faxes, maintenance and after sales support along with the cost of accessories.

Buying a good fax machine requires investment of a reasonable amount of time in researching and evaluating the various contenders.

We have a whole range of fax machines available with us with manufacturers ranging from HP, EPSON, CANON, LEXMARK and many others, so that you can have a firsthand experience and are able to take advantage of our expertise in making your decision a right one.