TPC Fax is a free service that lets you send text faxes by email. It doesn’t have a huge international coverage, but it works for most big cities.
To send a fax, you need to drop a mail to:
remote-printer.recipient_name@fax_number.iddd.tpc.int. For details about the syntax, go to this page
Adrian Hristov, who sent me this tip, has an interesting idea: what if you forward all your mails from Gmail to a fax number using this service? You could also use a filter to forward only some of the mails.
Related Links by Google
Gmail Smart Labels
Experimental Gmail Features
Gmail Is Down
Gmail Added Message Translation
Posted by Alex Chitu at 11/15/2006 12:51:00 PM
Labels: Gmail
42 comments:
Anonymous said…
great idea!
November 15, 2006 10:37 PM Anonymous said…
the most stupid idea i have ever heard...
in Milan (Italy) we have a service provider called Fastweb who does the opposite, lets you receive faxes on a emailbox, this saves paper!!!!
:-)
November 16, 2006 1:33 AM Anonymous said…
Takes genius to write a confusing message like this. What does "fax_number" above mean? Do you put country code? Do you put hyphens as is commonly done in the US for phone numbers? Where exactly do you put the underscore? As I said, a work of staggering genius.
November 16, 2006 5:45 AM Ionut Alex. Chitu said…
You don't have to be genius to read the information from the webpage of the service, don't you think? I linked to all the relevant information.
November 16, 2006 5:53 AM Ionut Alex. Chitu said…
And even if you think it's stupid to use this service to receive mail messages on your fax machine, you can use it as an excellent send-fax-by-mail service. Which has the rare quality of being free.
November 16, 2006 5:56 AM Sankar Anand said…
ionut
why gmail doesnt allow me to add this email address as contacT ?
remote-printer.recipient_name@fax_number.iddd.tpc.int
i thought i can add this address to g contacts and use it to send whenver i want
November 16, 2006 6:23 AM Ionut Alex. Chitu said…
You have to replace recipient_name and fax_number with their real value first of all. So fax_number should be a number, for example.
Then you can add it as a contact in Gmail.
November 16, 2006 6:31 AM Jeff VanDrimmelen said…
I love that first commment... 'the most stupid idea I have ever heard.' I personally think it is a great idea. Now you can recieve faxes through e-mail and send them through e-mail as well. There are some people who don't accept e-mails. Now all you need to do is fax them using this protocol! Great find! Thanks!!
November 16, 2006 7:17 AM jedgar said…
sending electronic messages saves just as much as Fastweb would....
November 16, 2006 9:08 AM Anonymous said…
So stupid the first message "the most stupid idea I have ever heard" ! ! Better not talking. This service is great - if it really works... Know that many many "non stupid" companies use this process
November 20, 2006 7:26 AM Krish said…
Just what I was looking for.
My dad has a motel I'm doing a web site for. He doesn't have time to check the motel email every day. But these days you have to allow people to contact you via the Net.
So we'll just put the contact form on the web site, and the auto-email will be going to the fax.
The fax generates tones so he knows when a fax is coming in. He doesn't always hang out in front of the computer, but he can hear the fax ring.
This is a great service. Anyone who thinks this was stupid has no imagination of the needs or possibilities.
March 19, 2007 1:21 PM Skinny Jeff said…
I think this is a fantastic idea. Just the other day I was trying to find out a way to send a fax from Australia to the USA using my PC (which uses broadband to connect to the internet).
The only disappointing feature of this service is that, although it covers some cities in Australia, it does not cover all the main capital cities (which are only 7), but I trust that the rest will eventually be added. This would allow Australians to send faxes within the country.
March 19, 2007 10:36 PM Anonymous said…
GREAT IDEA! IF IT's FREE!
April 1, 2007 6:59 PM Karsten said…
I just had a look on the TCP.INT website. There is a description on how to fax images (TIFF/PS files) using Eudora Pro by mapping the correct MIME type.
http://www.tpc.int/clients/index.html#MacOS
Is there a way to do this in Gmail as well?
April 3, 2007 4:02 PM Ionut Alex. Chitu said…
@karsten:
In Gmail, you can set up a filter that forwards only emails that meet some criteria.
To test that an email has .doc attachments, type in "Has the words":
has:attachments filename:doc
April 3, 2007 10:31 PM zielot said…
Seems like the service is no longer active or no longer the same ...
February 12, 2008 8:43 AM Mr. D said…
I think is a great idea but I can't try it. It needs for coverage (areacode 805).
February 28, 2008 9:07 PM BigBen said…
Worked Fine but very pointless so many free fax threw email services out there.
May 1, 2008 5:37 PM Caff said…
My boyfriend has no computer - but he DOES have a fax machine. I have no fax machine - but I DO have a computer. He lives over 30 miles away, so if I need to send him some information that is too long to text or to read over the phone for him to write down, instead of having to post it to him and him not get it for a day or two, I can use this service. Very handy indeed, I reckon!
July 20, 2008 8:37 AM Amy said…
I would like this services even google charge me 5 cents or 10 cents per mail. If Gmail can has a "Fax to" service, that will be wonderful.
September 22, 2008 1:55 PM Chappell said…
Ok, what do I do to receive faxes in my Gmail account, some one please email me the directions. Already know how to send faxes thru TCP.int, but I want to be able to get them in my gmail account, thanx much
October 9, 2008 2:48 AM etegration said…
i hope Gmail has this too! Gmail Labs go go go!
December 13, 2008 7:58 AM Anonymous said…
Businesses without an email are prehistoric mastadons. And those businesses with a fax not covered by TPC have business issues already!
February 26, 2009 10:20 AM Robert said…
For now http://www.metrohispeed.com/ has the best deal: $12.95 / 1,000 faxes per month (2nd month free).
April 11, 2009 8:08 AM Saundra said…
Yesterday my Fax machine refused to work...is it because it uses older Analog technology and I now have digital telephone service from my cable company? Whatever...I tried to upload a .doc to MyFax and send it to a fax number [which my membership page says I CAN do] but after several tries, it just wouldn't work #*!! I pay $10 /mo for this MyFax acct. that emails faxes to me, but isn't reliable for sending.... Google has the programming talent necessary so, -- PLEASE COME UP WITH A WAY I CAN SEND A word document to a FAX machine !!!
April 27, 2009 5:16 PM Jay said…
i am very not tech savvy. someone walk me through this. I am trying to send a fax and this is what i put in the address bar. remote-[printer.recipient_barry@fax_1234567890.iddd.tpc.int.]
the gmail does not recognize this as a legitimate address. what am i doing wrong?
also why would i not do this if it works.
April 30, 2009 11:31 AM Jay Edgar said…
Jay, substitute EVERYTHING in color, as follows:
[email protected]
You left off the 'remote-' and didn't remove the 'fax_'
Cheers.
July 3, 2009 4:16 AM Anonymous said…
Can it fax pdf or MS Word document?
July 4, 2009 6:58 AM Anonymous said…
Does it only work on Gmail? how about on other emails, such as hotmail, yahoo mail, etc. ??
July 4, 2009 6:59 AM Anonymous said…
is this service from google or from other service providers?
July 4, 2009 7:00 AM Anonymous said…
For comment #2: it's not a stupid idea, saves paper, convenient when you are on the go.
For comment #3: you don't have to be a genius to figure this out. Read for a change and everything you need to know in order to fax it there.
I don't think you can add an attachment though...maybe later but it's still a free service
August 5, 2009 7:23 PM Tawfik said…
Thank you very much for such service.
September 12, 2009 3:51 AM frankO said…
Can you use attachments in gmail such as a pdf file so that it is printed on the fax machine.
February 15, 2010 2:28 AM Anonymous said…
WHAT ABOUT YOUR INFORMATION! All the fax information I need to send is private and has personal information on it. I don't want my information going through a third party that I can't trust. If you are sending a picture or something, great. But otherwise I'm nervous.
March 10, 2010 6:39 PM Anonymous said…
This is a great idea. There are still businesses that only take FAX. Banks for one, they get so much email that stuff gets lost, so they require, especially for real estate, stuff to be sent via fax.
March 23, 2010 10:45 PM Fax Online said…
Faxing using internet is really a good idea. It works fast and saves us from that noisy fax machine.
May 28, 2010 11:49 PM SciFiJim said…
Does this still work for anyone? I tried it with no luck. I don't know if it is something I am doing wrong or if it doesn't work anymore.
June 15, 2010 5:57 PM Texas.Ex said…
Tried. Failed.
September 20, 2010 7:09 AM Gibster said…
It's dead and gone!!
October 13, 2010 1:38 PM Google Fax said…
You might try using http://www.gmailfax.com to send from Gmail instead.
February 10, 2011 3:51 AM Bankruptcy Tulsa said…
Well, I tried to upload a .doc to MyFax and send it to a fax number [which my membership page says I CAN do] but after several tries, it just wouldn't work #*!! I pay $10 /mo for this MyFax act, thanx for the share.
February 20, 2011 2:55 AM google fax said…
Bankruptcy... you might try RingCentral instead. Their software is better.
March 19, 2011 6:19 PM