Nextiva vFax features

There are plenty of reasons why people should and are in fact switching to internet faxing. Conventional faxing is slowly but surely dying, as other smarter and greener communication technologies keep on emerging.

There are various terms used to describe faxing via the internet: internet faxing, online faxing, digital faxing, virtual faxing and others. But they all refer to the same technology that allows sending and receiving faxes using the internet instead of the traditional phone lines.

What are the advantages of internet faxing over conventional faxing?

There are several benefits to sending faxes via internet instead of the regular telephony. Most people and companies make the transition mostly for financial reasons. We all know how costly traditional faxing can be. From paying for the telephony service, to purchasing a fax machine, spending money on paper, ink, toners and so on. With online faxing, all these expenses are eliminated, because you don’t require a fax machine to get and send faxes, nor do you need paper, ink, etc. You can send faxes just using your computer, as long as it is connected to the internet and you are signed up for an online fax service.

Another good reason to choose internet faxing is that it is easier to use. It is actually as easy as sending an e-mail, while with conventional faxing, you have to know how to use the machine, and sometimes it malfunctions and you can really get frustrated. You don’t have to know how to add paper and the internet-based fax service doesn’t require any maintenance on your part.

Traditional faxing can also take up a lot of space in your office, first of all because of all the fax machines, which are usually bulky, and also because you may have to store the faxes, which means a lot of paper and folders, that also have to be kept somewhere. And while we are on the subject of paper, conventional faxing is not exactly environmentally-friendly, because a lot of trees have to be sacrificed for producing all that paper.

And last but not least, online faxing is more convenient and flexible. You can send a fax from anywhere in the world as long as you have a device that is connected to the internet. A lot of companies also have mobile apps for their online fax services, so you can even send faxes from your smartphone.

See our top picks in online fax services and learn what to look for in an online fax service.

Nextiva vFax  overview

Nextiva is a very reputable brand when it comes to communication services. The company was founded 12 years ago and while it is primarily known for its VoIP services, it also offers online fax services. Nextiva is an American company and it is headquartered in Arizona.

Nextiva’s internet fax service is called vFax and it offers three types of subscriptions to its customers: Single Plan, Small Business, Business Pro.

vFax pricing

Aside from the 30-day free trial offered by Nextiva, there are 3 paid packages available. They can be billed monthly or annually, depending on which option you opt for when you sign up.

The three plans are Single Plan, Small Business and Business Pro.

Single Plan is the cheapest plan offered by Nextiva. If you opt for annual billing, it will cost you $4.95/month and if you opt for monthly billing, you will be charged $8.95/month. This plan includes 500 fax pages/month.

Small Business is a bit more expensive. With annual billing, you have to pay $12.95/month and with monthly billing, you have to pay $17.95/month. The plan includes 1000 pages/month.

Business Pro is vFax’s priciest plan. It includes 3000 pages/month and it is billed at $29.95/month with annual billing and $34.95/month with monthly billing.

If you want to be able to use your conventional fax machine with Nextiva vFax’s service, you can do so but you have to purchase their Fax Bridge, which will cost you an additional $150 (it is a one-time fee).

What are the features included with Nextiva vFax?

Nextiva vFax is not the most complex online fax service, but it is affordable, user-friendly and it includes all the basic, necessary features needed in an internet fax service.

Here are the most notable features you’ll get with vFax:

• All the major/common file formats are accepted, from docx, to PDF, txt, rtf, TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PNG and more (20 formats supported)
• All the common browsers can be used: Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.
• You benefit from 100% in-house customer support; live chat is available with vFax
• You can get toll-free numbers or regular numbers for the entire US and Canada, too. Unfortunately though, no international numbers are available, which is a shame, because some competitors offer this benefit as well
• vFax allows number porting
• Your faxes are stored in the cloud for up to 6 months
• vFax sends notifications via e-mail for up to 6 people and SMS alerts
• vFax is a secure internet fax service. It uses two-level protection, password protection and 128-bit SSL encryption
• The web interface is really straightforward and you can also get faxes on your mobile devices
• With vFax you benefit from 99.999% uptime
• You can schedule faxes so that you don’t have to keep your device turned on continuously. Also, when a fax is received, it will be received by the server and saved on your dedicated remote storage, so you don’t have to download it right away

There is a free 30-day trial that allows you to test the service before subscribing to one of the paid plans