I’ve been looking for some options for a project where I will need a fax number. A wha? Yes, a fax number, as some of those 80’s antiques will be coming and going from time to time.

The best option is a fax->email solution. The other option, a dedicated telephone number and fax machine, would work out too expensive for occasional use. Plus most of the outgoing faxes will be from electronic documents, so sending via email saves trees.

The requirements are simple: a cheap way of sending and receiving faxes and a local (preferably 01 area) number.

This is just a price comparison only. The services offer varying levels of bells, whistles and bongos, but I’m not fierce interested. All I need to do is send and receive the odd fax.

The options I have found so far are:
eFax: (www.efax.com)
The best option is eFaxPlus which costs €11 set-up and €11 per month after that. Sending faxes locally costs €0.09 per page. A good feature is that you have a choice of getting a Dublin (01), Cork (021), Dundalk (042), Limerick (061) or Waterford (051) number. Handy if your market is local.

yac: (www.yac.ie)
Yac is slightly cheaper at €9 per month. Unlike eFax, you will have to put up with an 01 number only. But sure who cares about the culchies wha?

PopFax: (www.popfax.com)
Popfax on paper looks cheap at €3.99 per month, but this price is based yearly in advance. The shortest interval you can pay for is quarterly, working out at €6.33 a month. As the above are monthly we will go for this price to compare. You will get an 01 5XXX number for your dosh.

jConnect: (www.j2.com)
I used jConnect myself many moons ago. The service then was quite advanced and I am sure they have improved further since then. Like eFax they have local numbers in Cork, Dublin, Dundalk, Limerick and Waterford.
j2 is expensive though, €12.95 per month.

iflow: (www.iflow.ie)
iFlow are an Irish company. Their fax to email service provides you with a local number at €9.99 per month.
National 0818 or 1890 numbers are available for slightly more. Sending of faxes on the personal account is €0.12 per page.

Blueface: (www.blueface.ie)
Irish VOIP provider Blueface offer a fax->email service. You can get an 01 number for €5 per month if you already have an account with them. Sending of faxes is charged at the standard call rate. Works out about €0.10 per page.

As I already have a Blueface account, the fax add on option with them works out the cheapest, so I’ve signed up for that.