By: Cristina | Last updated February 14, 2019 
Traditional faxing has almost gone extinct. E-mail has taken the lead and online fax services are now a thriving industry.
The advantages of using online faxing services
There are a lot of advantages online faxing has over traditional one. Here are the most significant ones:
- It is cheaper. Internet faxing doesn’t require you to own any specialized hardware, everything is done online. It also eliminates the cost of paper, toner, ink, etc.
- It is better for the environment. No more paper means less trees being cut
- It offers more flexibility, as you can send your faxes literally from anywhere, as long as you have access to an Internet connection
- You can also send faxes from your smartphone, as a lot of online faxing services offer mobile apps as well
- It helps you save up space in your office, home, etc. Fax machines can be pretty bulky, but with online faxing, space will no longer be a concern
Read more about the benefits of online faxing.
What is Nextiva?
Nextiva is mostly known as a VoIP (voice over the internet protocol) company. It offers telephony and communication services and it was founded in 2006. In addition to VoIP services, it also offers online faxing services.
Nextiva is based in Arizona and it currently boasts on over 150.000 businesses using its services.
Nextiva’s online faxing service is offered via vFax, their own brand.
Pricing
Nextiva’s vFax service comes with 3 available plans: single user, small business, business pro. For each of these plans you can choose to be billed monthly or annually.
Monthly
Single User: $8.95/month
Includes up to 500 pages/month
Small Business: $17.95/month/billed monthly
Includes up to 1,000 pages/month
Business Pro: $34.95/month
Includes up to 3,000 pages/month
Annually
Single User: $4.95/month/billed annually
Includes up to 500 pages/month
Small business: $12.95/month
Includes up to 1,000 pages/month
Business Pro: $29.95/month
Includes up to 3,000 pages/month
What are the features of Nextiva vFax?
One useful thing about vFax is the fact that you can use the service with your old, standard fax machine. In order to do so, you have to use their Nextiva Fax Bridge, a device that will cost you $150 (it is a one-time fee).
The fax bridge can be used for both receiving and sending faxes. All you have to do is connect your Internet cable and your fax machine to the fax bridge.
As you can see from the pricing plans, there are limits in how many fax pages you can send per month, depending on the plan you sign up for. The cheapest plan allows you up to 500 pages and the most expensive plan allows up to 3,000 pages per month. If you exceed that number, you’ll have to pay 3 cents/page, which in our opinion, is a very decent charge.
With vFAx, you can add an unlimited number of users to your fax number. Nextiva also allows you to port your number and add another fax number, for an additional $4.95/month.
System requirements
Nextiva’s vFax only requires a reliable internet connection on your part. Their web portal can be accessed via all the major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.), as long as they have Adobe Flash enabled.
Almost 20 file formats are compatible, including PDF, Microsoft Word, TXT, RTF and more.
The bad news is that there is no mobile app available, so you can’t use the service with your smartphone.
When it comes to available numbers, vFax has numbers for the entire US and for Canada, but unfortunately, international numbers are not available.
Nextiva offers a free 30-day trial, so you can test the service before subscribing to a paid plan.
This online faxing service includes fax notifications to your e-mail for up to 6 people. You can get notified per fax or for the whole account.
In terms of security, vFax uses 128-bit SSL encryption.
Nextiva stores all your faxes for 6 months.
