Using computer as a fax

[lupinus]

I got a new (to me) all in one printer copier faxer and so far so good on printing and copying.

Now the question is faxing. Is there a way to set up for faxing with just the hook up with my computer? Or would I need to run a phone line to the printer/faxer? If I do my land line comes through my cable company so also works with my cable internet, will this matter? Or would I need a traditional land line if I intend to use it as a fax?

[MillCreek]

I have had the MFPs for years and just love them.  I suspect that in order to get the fax machine functionality to work, you may have to connect to a traditional copper analog phone line. I had occasion to research this earlier this year, and it really depends on your specific MFP and the type of phone signal delivered by your broadband.

My DSL is through Verizon, and they came through and installed the FIOS fiber optic system last year. I was giving it a lot of thought, but discovered that the fiber optic phone signal does not work with most fax machines and answering machine systems.  Verizon cannot tell you if their system will work with your devices.  They tell you to buy the FIOS, plug everything in and see if they work.  If the machines do not work, they suggest you buy new machines and see if they work.  Since part of the FIOS installation involves removal of the copper line from the street to your house, you are hosed with no way to go back to a copper analog phone system.  I was told that Verizon does the installation in such a way that you cannot put in a new copper line and revert back to analog phone service.  I learned this by visiting some of the FIOS forums, where loss of fax capability is a common complaint.  I had always thought that a phone signal was a phone signal was a phone signal, regardless of how it was delivered.  I am apparently wrong on that.

My ex-wife got Comcast cable broadband/phone last year, and she can no longer use her MFP as a fax.  Comcast has told her she is on her own with this problem.

[Gewehr98]

Vonage through Charter high-speed internet makes sending and receiving faxes very difficult, too.   

[myrockfight]

I don't know how much you fax, but faxzero (http://faxzero.com/) lets you fax two documents a day for free, IIRC. I haven't used it yet, but one of my friends recommended it to me after I related a story about how I had to fax something out and pay an outrageous fee to do it at a local store.

[Hawkmoon]

I got a new (to me) all in one printer copier faxer and so far so good on printing and copying.

Now the question is faxing. Is there a way to set up for faxing with just the hook up with my computer? Or would I need to run a phone line to the printer/faxer? If I do my land line comes through my cable company so also works with my cable internet, will this matter? Or would I need a traditional land line if I intend to use it as a fax?

If your new "all-in-one" machine is only a printer/copier/fax machine, you cannot get around plugging a land line into it to send faxes. There are some all-in-one machines that also include a scanner function, which can be configured to scan into the computer and then you "print" the document to a fax emulation. I can fax anything I create on my computer directly from the computer, but pieces of paper still have to be fed into a traditional fax machine around here.