Sending Faxes

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 419.

Answer the following questions before reading the text.

Unit 11 FAXES

1. Have you ever sent a fax?

2. Do you think it's easy to send a fax?

3. Are fax transmissions popular in business? Why?

The facsimile transmitter has become one of the most commonly used business communication devices. It costs the same to send a fax as to make a telephone call, yet the fax means that you can send exact copies of documents from one location to another - to anywhere in the world. A fax machine is an electronic instrument composed of a scanner, a modem, and a printer. It transmits data in the form of pulses via a telephone line to a recipient, usually another fax machine, which then transforms these pulses into images, and prints them on paper.

Fax has no technical advantage over sending information over the Internet, using technologies such as email, scanner, and graphics file formats (however, it is extremely simple to use: put the documents to be faxed in a hopper, dial a phone number, and press a button). Fax continues to be used over the telephone network at locations without computer and Internet facilities; and sometimes a fax of a document with a person's handwritten signature is a requirement for legal reasons. Computer fax over the Internet allows fax communication without an actual fax machine at either or both ends.

There are certain protocols to follow for sending a fax and the most important is the fax cover sheet. The fax cover sheet is like an envelope. It has a place for the name of the person to whom the fax is being sent. That is important since fax machines are generally shared by several people, perhaps a department or office. The sender's name, organisation and fax number (as in a letter) should also be included on the cover sheet.

A template of a fax cover sheet should be stored on the word processor for easy reproduction. In some instances, the cover sheet is the only sheet that needs to be sent. In other cases, it needs to record the number of pages that are attached. The message on the cover sheet could then help the reader to understand the rest of the documents that are included. This message space on the cover sheet it is acceptable to use informal language. Like memos, the more concise a message, the more carefully you have to think about it, and try to put yourself in the reader's shoes.