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Despite email, Facebook and WhatsApp, fax machines are far from being a thing of the past and users need to know how a fax works
How a fax works
The word “fax” or “facsimile” is short for “telefax”. Two fax machines can be used to send documents over the telephone line.
- After you have entered the recipient’s number in the fax machine and pressed “Send”, your machine and the recipient’s machine communicate with each other.
- The first thing they do is agree on the technical aspects of the transmission and determine, for example, which paper format is to be used.
- Your document is then fed in and scanned piece by piece with a light beam. A sensor (a so-called photodiode cell) detects the document and converts it into electrical signals.
- These are then encoded and transmitted to the receiver via the telephone line.
- Here the signals are processed back and printed. You can find out more about different printing techniques in the practical tip on how printers work.
Advantages and disadvantages of faxes
Although there are now alternatives such as e-mail, faxing has some advantages that cannot be denied:
- Faxes are considered more secure than emails as they are sent directly from one device to another without being buffered. This reduces the risk of hacker attacks or data leaks.
- Fax machines provide a physical copy of the document sent, which can serve as evidence. They are also easy to use and do not require an internet connection, which can be advantageous in regions with poor internet coverage.
- The future of faxing lies in digitization. Internet fax services make it possible to send faxes online, which are then forwarded to a fax machine. Modern multifunction printers combine faxing with scanning, copying and printing, which facilitates integration into digital workflows.
