When it comes to office communications, I always look for the best. In fact, I jump from one provider to another, until I get satisfied. I look at different factors and weigh my choices well. For my faxing needs, reliability, functionality and affordability are my priorities. The best Internet fax service provider for me is one that can provide me with all those three.

Here are ten Internet fax service providers. Some of them I actually tried using, while some I just stumbled upon. I ranked the providers according to their abilities to provide function at affordable costs.

    10. Faxaway

    Faxaway is very limiting. It only has Seattle numbers, so senders outside that area would be charged for long distance fax transmissions. It might work well for people living in Seattle who do not need to send and receive a lot of faxes. Since it is prepaid, it is very ideal for those who need to send a few faxes in a month. However, for businesses that need affordable and highly functional Internet fax service, this is not the way to go.

    9. uReach

    uReach provides basic faxing. You can send and receive faxes for a standard monthly fee of $5.99 a month. This is not bad for a small business. However, it lacks features. For one, it only offers toll free numbers.

    8. iSendit

    As its name suggests, iSendit specializes in sending faxes. It enables broadcast faxing to up to 1,000 recipients. It charges 8 cents per minute, making it ideal for marketing use. However, iSendit’s service ends there, and does not have an “I receive it” end. If you need affordable blast faxing, you can get iSendit. As for me, I need both sending and receiving, so I passed up on this one.

    7. Fax2Mail

    Fax2Mail has basic sending and receiving features, and could actually work for me, if not for its highly expensive pricing plans. Its standard $7.95 monthly price only includes 30 fax pages to receive, and zero fax pages for sending. There are definitely providers that offer even more, for a much lower price.

    6. ClickFax

    ClickFax provides Internet fax services to multiple users. It makes use of Internet fax software which users can integrate with their existing email account. This is a very helpful feature that makes it very ideal for an office. I tried using this service and found its service to be better than others that I have tried before. It has features that enhance faxing and makes it easier for me to transmit fax documents. It has a wide range of services that could suit the needs of home offices, small businesses and even large corporations. The downers I found with ClickFax are the high overage rates and lack of simpler features fit for a small business like mine.

    5. MyFax

    As I tried on different fax services, I found that I found simple features more appealing. MyFax is one of those providers which provide simple features. What I also like about it is that it has three different pricing plans. I chose the “Best Value Plan” and was able to send a maximum of 200 inbound and 100 outbound fax pages each month. However, as my business required more faxes to be sent and received, I was soon going over the maximum fax pages. With 10 cents per additional page, this is not the way to go if you tend to send a lot more faxes than what they provide.

    4. RapidFax

    For those who have simple faxing needs, they can try RapidFax. I tried it myself, and found its $9.95 a month plan useful to my business then. With 300 inbound and outbound faxes a month and basic sending and receiving capabilities, it fit my business needs. However, as you grow, you would find yourself sending or receiving more faxes, so you would start to pay for extra pages. When I saw that my bill was getting more expensive each month, I figured that it was time to shift to a provider that could give me more value for my money.

    3. Efax

    Efax offers online fax services to different locations worldwide. It has a standard monthly plan of $12.95 a month and includes 130 inbound fax pages only. That is the drawback with Efax. Although it has all the features you might need for your Internet fax, its monthly plan limits you with very few pages. Relatively, the price is quite stiff for small businesses and home offices.

    2. Send2Fax

    Send2Fax is designed for small businesses, so it has basic fax features that enhance online faxing. It has different ways of sending and receiving faxes, giving more convenience and flexibility. Its plans, named Home Office and Small Business, are specifically designed for the needs and activities of different individuals and offices. You can also be sure that your faxes are sent safely and with maximum security through its HIPAA-compliant security. However, without a free trial period and an expensive set-up fee, I decided to skip this provider.

    1. RingCentral

    Among all the Internet fax service providers that I heard about and tried, I saw RingCentral as the best among all of them. It has all the features that a small business would need, and so much more! It has intelligent fax functions such as Microsoft Outlook integration and free fax software that allows editing and creating special fax pages. It has three plans, each equipped with all the features of RingCentral. For additional faxes, RingCentral charges 5.9 cents a page. RingCentral fits small businesses perfectly. I can count on RingCentral to be fully equipped at a very affordable price.