 |
RapidFax Review: Internet Fax |
| Sign up for RapidFax | |
Rating: |
 |
| Fairly good plan though speedy faxes come at the expense of quality, some annoyances | |
|
In many ways, RapidFax is not too different from other offerings we reviewed. The pricing is pretty standard, as are the included pages. While it does live up to its name, our experience was marred by little annoyances that prevent us from giving this a strong recommendation.
Setup We had no problems with the sign-up process, though we were disappointed not to get a phone number at our exact area code; we were assigned a number for a nearby city. A toll-free number is optional, and comes at no charge. User Interface RapidFax has an online interface as well as available scripts that enable you to fax from Microsoft Office programs on your PC. The web interface is clunky, though not as bad as GoDaddy's. You can send faxes and view your incoming faxes, although we don't like that RapidFax charges you for faxes left on the system after 30 days. Fortunately, you can set it up to auto-delete old faxes to avoid this rather ridiculous charge. RapidFax has a serious flaw that will affect those who send email faxes to multiple numbers, something called "fax broadcasting." Since our test involved sending the same fax to the same fax number through multiple providers, RapidFax had a tendency to pick up the numbers from the recipient list as if they were meant for RapidFax, ignoring the provider completely. The result was a lot of duplication, and spent fax pages. We mentioned in the introduction that RapidFax is aptly named. It truly is one of the fastest performers in our document-send test (1 minute 12 seconds) and the fastest in our receive test (1 minutes 15 seconds). If speed is a concern for you, go with RapidFax. The faxes did seem particularly dark, however, and our black-and-white graphic came through rather muddy. You can decide on a higher resolution, however. This will no doubt come at the expense of speed. Pricing RapidFax gives you 300 pages per month that you can use for inbound or outbound faxes. We like when providers give you that choice. The monthly rate is $9.95 and there's no yearly discount. Additional pages are 8 cents. Like most Internet fax services, RapidFax assumes one page takes a minute to transmit; a graphically complex page may take longer to send and can therefore count as two or more pages. Conclusion Ultimately, it's a mixed bag. For all its annoyances, it's not a bad plan. If you can deal with the shortcomings we've listed, you'll probably be a happy customer. You have 30 days to evaluate the service to see if it will work for you. |
|
| Annual Plan Price: | $9.95/mo |
| Free Trial: | 30-day free trial |
| Pages Included: | 300 combined receive and send per month |
| Additional Pages: | 8¢ per page |
| Send/Receive Times: | 1m 15s receive; 1m 12s send |
| Toll Free Number: | Free |
NextAdvisor Blog Headlines
Tiny Prints vs. Paper Culture: Comparing Photo Card Providers
Tiny Prints and Paper Culture both earned high marks in our recent tests of custom photo card providers, but what kinds of projects does each do best? Tiny Prints Maybe the best-known custom photo card site, Tiny Prints has a huge inventory of cards, announcements, and invitations. With everything from simple flat photo cards to [...]
Kick Off Summer With A Watermelon Celebration
Along with hot dogs, ice cream, and snow cones, watermelon is one of the iconic foods of summer. As the weather warms up and people take to their back yards, why not plan a party to celebrate this wonderful (and beautiful!) fruit? Whether you plan a garden party, a dinner party, a watermelon eating contest, [...]
Can I Set Up A Blog With Hostmonster?
Q: Would Hostmonster be a good choice for a simple blog to draw people for posts regarding soccer in Minnesota? A: Yes! Hostmonster is one of our favorite web hosting companies, and they make installing the popular WordPress blogging platform really easy. Check out this video tutorial to find out how to install WordPress on [...]
Is Online Dating Available In My Area?
Q: Do online dating sites cover specific locations? Will I be able to find matches in my area? A: Most online dating sites cover the entire United States, and many operate internationally as well. When you fill out your dating profile, you will indicate roughly where you live (without giving out information that is too [...]
