How exactly do fax to email services work, and how easy is it to send or receive faxes by email? Can I try the online fax to email services without paying?

1. Email to fax services – sending and receiving faxes by email
If you need to send or to receive faxes by email, you can use one of the
many fast and easy services which now exist.
Using one of these email to fax services, you can do use the email
program on your computer (or smartphone) to do both of these:
• receive faxes from a fax number you set up or specify, and then
forward them to you as email attachments.
• send faxes without the use of a fax machine, my simply sending
the message you want to fax to a special email address.
How exactly do you send a fax using email? Having joined an online
fax to email service (try a 30 day free trial here) you would:
• Create a new email
• For the "To:" address use the recipient's fax number, plus an extra
code
• Attach the document you want to fax to the email
• Send it!
OK, how exactly do you receive a fax using email?
• The sender sends a fax to your fax number (which the service
provides for you)
• The fax is sent on to your email as an attachment to a message
• You open your email and view the attachment – simple!
Using an email to fax service in this way means that you don't need to
have a fax machine, or, if you do have a fax number already, you can
have the faxes sent to your email inbox.
Many businesses and individuals are choosing a fax to email service like
this because it removes the need to have a fax machine and its associated
costs. Also, the faxes can go to several email addresses at the same time,
in the same way several people can receive the same email message.

2. You need to be a member of a fax to email service, to send and receive
emails this way, but anyone who wants to send you a fax does not need to
be a member themselves – they just send off their fax to your number in
the usual way.
Recently this has become a common way of giving contacts or customers
the ability to send faxes to you, without the need for you to own a fax
machine or a dedicated phone line.
Other points: many people who are used to fax machines need to know
for sure that the fax sent by email actually went though, and for this
reason the best fax to email services will let you confirm sent faxes via
your login to their system, and by an email receipt you will get which
confirms transmission of the fax. Another benefit of such a system is that
faxes received and sent will be stored for a full year.
Recently, with the rapid take-up of wireless devices, many people want to
be able to receive faxes wherever they happen to be, using their
smartphone, iPhone, or Blackberry. Many of the top faxing by email
services now offer the ability to actually do this.
What about your actual fax number? When you sign up with an email via
fax service, you will get a local fax number, or a toll free fax number to
use.
To read more about sending and receiving your faxes by email, and to try
it for 30 days for free, see my special fax to email page.