The
fax machine is becoming a common home appliance. For people
doing work at home, the ability to fax to the office or
to other businesses is very valuable. Also, many companies
now offer printed products such as charts, tables, newsletters
and maps by fax. Many computer modems include fax capability,
but without the addition of a scanner, they are not satisfactory
substitutes for the stand alone fax machine.
The
following are some of the available features and their
applications.
Features
Speed Dial Memory: Much like a telephone with speed
dial, a fax machine with this feature allows you to
store your most frequently faxed numbers, for one touch
faxing.
Document
Feeder: Unless you have the time to stand over the machine
and insert each page of your document manually, a document
feeder is a must. This is simply a tray which accepts
a variable number of pages and feeds them through the
machine automatically.
Page
Cutter: Available on all but the least expensive machines,
a page cutter automatically cuts each page from the
continuous-feed roll of paper, as they are finished
printing. You should get this feature unless you like
to read your material in scroll format.
Plain
Paper: Better fax machines use plain paper, much like
a copy machine or laser printer, in lieu of continuous
rolls of treated paper. This is a convenience, and is
important if the fax will serve as a permanent hardcopy
record.
Multi-Function:
Some manufacturers are combining phone, copier, printer,
and fax functions into a single unit. Although this
saves space and is certainly a harbinger of trends to
come, these combinations are generally so compromised
that performance of each of the component parts is only
marginally acceptable.
Auto
Fax/Tel Switching: Nearly a standard feature, auto fax/tel
switching decides if an incoming call is a voice call
or a fax call, and routes it to the appropriate device.
Resolution:
Normal, Fine, Extra Fine, and Gray Scale are increasingly
detailed resolutions to which a fax can be set for sending
a document or graphic. The higher the resolution setting,
the better the quality and the longer the transmission
time.
Auto
Redial: Will automatically redial the number called
several times in an attempt to connect the fax. This
is very useful if you frequently call an active office
fax line where a busy signal is common.
Broadcast:
Allows a single fax to be sent to a list of preselected
phone numbers. You will need memory for this function.
See Memory feature below.
Memory:
Some fax machines allow pages to be scanned into memory
for subsequent transmission. The memory capacity is
usually stated as a number of maximum pages. These ratings
are usually very optimistic. For real world use, cut
these page/memory ratings in half. Additional memory
can frequently be purchased as an option
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