Fax was once thought to be "on its way out", something that would disappear with the advent of email technology. However as with many premature predictions, fax has survived and prospered as its unique capabilities continue to remain in demand. Faxes are often considered more legally acceptable than email and more importantly, a fax is transmitted in real-time. The great benefit of modern fax technology is that it is available in so many forms that virtually every home can afford the benefits of a fax machine and large offices can gain even more benefits from the substantive features of the most modern business fax machines.

The first decision that needs to be made when selecting a new fax machine is the type of paper medium required. There are two, basic options - thermal or plain paper. Thermal fax machines are neater, simpler and less expensive than their plain paper counterparts but thermal paper has a finite life and is not suitable for storing or filing received faxes for long periods. Thermal paper is supplied on a continuous roll so if you receive long faxes you will need a fax machine with an automatic paper cutter. Plain paper faxes rely on laser technology so for larger volumes or for faxes that need to be retained, plain-paper technology is the only option. Plain paper faxes will also often double as a laser printer and some also act as a sheet-feed scanner.

Once you have selected the required medium, the next consideration will be speed.  Standard Group 3 fax machines generally operate at speeds of up to 14.4K(14,400bitsper second) but like their modem counterparts, the faxes will often connect at much slower speeds. ISDN Group 4 faxes will, on the other hand, connect at 64K every time. Within the normal Group 3 fax range, speed has a minor affect on  price. Ideally you want to purchase the fastest device that provides all the functionality you require within your budget. Remember, however, that fax communications occur at the slowest speed attainable by the two fax machines and the networks carrying the data.

Some of the important features of all fax machines include speed dial capabilities (to store frequently dialed numbers), status display, auto re-dial (in the event of a busy tone or a transmission error). Small Office Home Office (SOHO) solutions often include standard telephone support and answering machine facilities so that the fax machine becomes a telecommunications centre for the modern home or small office. Most fax machines also support some sort of log showing faxes sent, status and duration. More complex fax machines feature more complex logging facilities.

Larger fax machines feature higher throughput speeds and memory facilities. The memory facility allows the user to feed documents into the fax machine where they are scanned and stored into memory before being transmitted. This allows the sender to run documents quickly through the fax machine before continuing on with their normal duties. The fax machine will take care of ensuring that all pages are correctly transmitted to the recipient, often at an off- peak calling time when savings will be enjoyed, and will print a confirmation page.

At Emirates Telecom Lab we ensure that Fax machines meet international standards  and are compatible with the Etisalat networks