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PROS:
CONS:
Among a plethora of online faxing services, MetroFax stands out for its great fax solutions which tell that they really know what users need. Your subscription can be very cheap if you exchange just a few faxes in a month, though there are large and corporate plans, too.
MetroFax focuses on offering great products to all kinds of businesses, from small offices to large corporations, ensuring everyone gets a good experience with the service. Features are also plentiful, including most of what a fax user should ask for, plus thorough reports on their fax traffic.
The free 30-day trial is a part of every MetroFax plan. The provider’s website will even welcome visitors with a button to quick activate this opportunity; they do ask for your credit card number, but if in the end you agree and finally choose to pay for this service, you will not be prompted with contracts. The good news is that MetroFax doesn’t take transmission times into account – it only counts pages no matter how long these take to be sent. If sending fails for any reason, the provider will retry sending it without extra billing per attempt, so you will only pay for the pages that are successfully sent and delivered.
The user interface might look a bit outdated but it is fairly simple to use. Perhaps they just don’t want to confuse their long term users with updates and interface changes. However, you will be able to use five email addresses to send and receive faxes through a single number.
The account is managed via a Web based console that lets you search, review and print all your inbound and outbound faxes. It also offers you vital account control such as adding and removing email addresses, number management, and check the service usage. The same interface can be used for sending, receiving and storing fax messages.
NUMBER OPTIONS
Just like most other online fax providers, MetroFax will let you port an existing number to the subscription. One of the great advantages of this provider is that there are no additional charges for toll-free or geographical numbers. You can place a geographical number to any local in 50 US states and Washington DC. Unfortunately, local international numbers and vanity numbers are not available.
PORTABILITY AND INTEGRATIONS
Besides Web-based faxing suite, users can download the MetroFax Messenger desktop application which lets you save, edit and view faxes on most desktop computers. The mobile app is available for iPad, iPhone and Android smartphones and tablets. This app can send and receive faxes and turn the device’s camera images into fax mail outs.
Files supported to upload and convert into fax messages are PDF, TXT, DOC, DOCX, RTF and several other text file types, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, HTML pages, and image files including JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others.
MetroFax can be linked with cloud storage services, though you will get unlimited free storage already included in the service. Another thing that's worth mentioning is security integration with OneLogin service which increases security and automatizes procedures for organizations that fax a lot.
SECURITY AND ARCHIVES
The privacy and confidence of your faxed documentation is a high priority of this provider. All the fax traffic in MetroFax is encrypted via SSL/TSL. To enjoy this level of security for inbound faxes, make sure your email server supports this type of encryption, otherwise the pages will be reverted to original SMTP mail format. The aforementioned OneLogin integration enables directory integration, multi-factor authentication, centralized account activity reporting, mobile authentication and more. Note that it is a third-party service which may incur additional expenses.
All sent and received faxes will be stored for 12 months after sending or receiving. There is no storage limit except that time limit.
BOTTOM LINE
The main reason why someone should choose MetroFax among others is its incredibly simple and friendly pricing. Its plans are good for all kinds of businesses and all faxing needs of organizations. It is one of the easiest faxing services, with plenty of features, though there are limited integration possibilities. We like the fact there is no additional surcharge for toll-free numbers, nor limits to the amounts of pages which are automatically stored on MetroFax servers.
Another strength of this provider is a remarkably simple and straightforward pricing. There are no hidden costs at all, plans are easily understandable and prices to send and receive pages in overage are quite reasonable. All plans for small businesses offer the same service level, the only difference is the number of included pages, where both sent and received faxes count and weigh equally without transfer time dependency.
There are no long distance charges within US and Canada. If you need international faxing, there are discount rates for faxing from and to 170 countries worldwide.
Overage costs are the same across all plans: 3 cents per inbound or outbound fax page.
The Corporate plan exists for large companies that send and receive thousands of faxes every month. You can request a custom quote. The more you fax with this plan, the lower the cost per page. Corporate users can send and receive multiple faxes simultaneously.
Phone: 888.321.3121, 425.373.3311
Email: [email protected]
Social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metrofax/
MetroFax boasts a US-based live support team which works 5am through 6pm Pacific Time. Inquiries in writing can be sent through a fill-in form on the website. Online resources are not extensive, there are few demos and tutorials, FAQs, and a blog which is outdated. There is no community portal, but the provider stays active on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ and you can use these social network profiles to contact them.
Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.
By: Matt | Last updated June 1, 2017 
