FAQ - Xifax

FAQ's

Xifax Internet Fax Tutorial

Benefits of Internet Fax

Conventional fax methods only employ traditional PBX lines. With Xifax Internet Fax, traffic is routed from a secure Internet connection to Xifax's Virtual Private Network (VPN) before terminating at a customer's fax machine. This is much more time- and cost-efficient, as well as convenient. Users can send and receive documents directly from a laptop or the desktop without having to manually print out and fax the document from the machine's physical location. With Xifax Internet Fax, customers no longer need to purchase and maintain hardware, software, PBX ports, phone lines, and supplies for conventional fax machines or fax servers. Xifax offers users the convenience of sending faxes as easily as they send email.

Security

The Xifax network is protected through firewalls on packet and application levels. Documents within the Xifax network are protected with a symmetric cipher for privacy and confidentiality. Transmissions over the public Internet to our remote location is protected using VPN technology based on IPSEC, the recognized standard for VPN technology. Upload/download of documents are protected using TLS for email or SSL when using HTTP. As a result, the complete transmission is much more secured than PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) security.

Xifax provides both firewall and virus protection. The Xifax network is protected through firewalls on packet and application levels. Ingoing and outgoing traffic is vigilantly monitored by an intrusion detection system. Xifax restricts access to critical systems (NOC). Customer documents within the Xifax network are encrypted with a symmetric cipher (3DES) for privacy and confidentiality. Upload/download of documents is protected using TLS for email or SSL when using HTTP. Transmissions over the public Internet to our remote location are protected using VPN technology (IPSEC).

Pricing

Ordering Process

Send and Receive File Formats

Yes, there are different ways to broadcast faxes. Faxes can be sent to an email list using your Outlook address book, or by using mail merge to send customized faxes to multiple recipients. To fax using your address book, you can add fax addresses to the "Recipients List" and your email address book just like a regular email. Be sure to separate fax recipients with a semicolon.

Email to Fax

The cover page is meant for a memo style message. A user can place as much information in the body of the email as needed, however, it may run to the following page. NOTE: The cover page will count as page one and all attachments will start with page two. If the information on the cover page exceeds the space limit, the message continues on to the second page. This is actually a continuation of the cover page and will not have a page number printed. Any attachments will begin the page count with page 2.

Xifax supports most document formats including MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Plain Text, RTF, TIFF (Groups 3 and 4), Adobe Postscript (Apple Laser Writer Plus), HTML, ASCII Files, PCL5, VSD, BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, PCX, DCX, and compressed documents/attachments (Win Zip). In order to fax your document, it must be converted to any of the listed documents above.

Successful deliveries are sent immediately after Xifax receives the transmission confirmation from the receiving fax machine. The standard retry schedule allows for a fax to be attempted six times with 5-minute intervals, meaning a user could wait up to 35 minutes to receive a non-delivery confirmation. Also, note that international transmissions and documents with many pages or graphics take longer to process than an average-sized business fax.

The standard retry schedule allows for a fax to be attempted six times with 5-minute intervals for busy signals. This means that a user could wait up to 35 minutes to receive a non-delivery confirmation. International calls and documents with many pages or graphics do take longer to process than an average-sized business fax. Should you require immediate information about the status of a fax, you may contact support at support@xifax.com.

Spam Fax Filter

If a spam fax is sent to your Xifax fax number, the fax is routed through Xifax's Internet Fax service that includes the new patent-pending Junk Fax Filter. This filter is designed to immediately detect the spam fax using technology that was developed by analyzing over three million junk faxes. When this spam fax is sent to your email address, it now includes a subject line: "Junk Fax:". This will enable the fax to be filtered by either your mail server email spam software or a desktop email client filter or rule.

If you receive a fax that has not been labeled as spam but is really a spam fax (false negative), forward the fax and all its attachments to reportspam@xifax.com. Please add the words "False Negative" to the subject line of your email. Although our electronic detection system can usually discern junk faxes from solicited faxes quite accurately, there is no substitution for human inspection. Since the faxes are not inspected by humans, the possibility of a junk-fax slipping past exists.

If your mail server or email client has an email spam feature with a subject line filter, we recommend you route all possible junk faxes to the Email Spam Folder or alternatively set up a Junk Fax Folder by filtering the subject key word: "Junk Fax:" for email addresses @xifax.net. Creating a Junk Fax Folder is beneficial to ensure that no legitimate faxes are being mislabeled as junk faxes.