If you need to send a fax, many faxing services will allow you to send a test fax first, just so you can make sure that everything is working properly. A test fax lets you easily verify your connection and the recipient’s fax number, giving peace of mind that your fax will reach the right destination.
Don’t leave things to chance – read below to learn how to easily send a test fax.
What Is A Test Fax, And Why Are They So Useful?
Let’s be honest – nobody is using faxes to chat to their friends. When we send faxes, it’s usually for business or because we’re sending important documents to important places. Like dealing with healthcare, insurance, financial or legal matters – industries that all rely heavily on faxing as a preferred method of secure transmission. Changing healthcare provider or filing your taxes isn’t exactly fun, but the thought of your fax ending up in the wrong place makes it even more stressful!
If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to make sure that things are functioning correctly before you fire off your sensitive information to who-knows-where. It’s also good to be able to confirm that you’ve got the recipient’s fax number right – that way you know the right person will get it, and nobody can deny that you’ve sent your fax!
This is where a fax test comes in handy – it’s a free fax that you can send to any fax number before you send your real fax. A test fax contains information about the sender and informs the recipient that it’s a test transmission – allowing them to reply to confirm the test. Even if they don’t reply, a test fax will always provide a fax confirmation page to the sender – so if your test fax fails you will know straight away.
Sending a test fax is also a nice way for first-time fax users to learn about how to send and receive faxes, and helps to dispel any uncertainty if they’ve never sent a fax before.
Any good online fax solution should offer a test service to customers. On top of everything else, it lets customers try before they buy – you can see the quality and speed of the fax transmission and decide to use that service or not.
How Can You Send A Free Test Fax?
Every reputable fax service should offer you a blank page test fax once you set up your account.
Lets take the most popular fax app on the Android and Apple stores as an example – the Fax App by Municorn. Here’s how to test the most popular online mobile fax service:
- Download the app here, which you can do on your mobile phone or computer. The app is free to download.
- Once downloaded, before you subscribe to the service, you can use your free account to send a demo fax to a test fax number of your choice. Simply enter the number and hit send!
- Wait a moment or two – you should receive a notification once the test fax has delivered or failed to send.
It’s that easy – once your test is complete you’ll be ready to confidently send those important documents over.
Which Online Services Offer A Free Fax Test?
Let’s recap and take a look at other popular online fax services, and see the fax tests that they offer.
- Municorn’s Fax App – Allows you to send a free test fax before you subscribe, and provides you with a standard white test fax page, which prevents users from sending anything important to the wrong number by accident for their first fax. Provides confirmation once the fax has sent.
- Fax.Plus – Offers new users the ability to send a test fax for free, but does not provide a fax test page. This means users would have to create their own test document – so just be careful not to include any sensitive data on your test!
- eFax – eFax allows new customers to enjoy a free trial period to send faxes, which you can use to send a test fax if you need to – eFax has a range of good templates for this. However, you need to provide your payment details and create an account which will automatically subscribe after – so this process takes longer, and you’ll have to remember to cancel the free trial if you do not want to keep the service.
- iFax – iFax is very similar to eFax – you have to sign up for a subscription service, at which point you are given a free trial period during which you can send a test fax. So again – remember to cancel!
- DropBox Fax – DropBox Fax offers a free trial of 5 pages, which you can use to send test faxes. No payment details required!
- Documo – Documo gives customers 14 days of free faxing, a great deal that allows you to send test faxes! However, you need to provide a company name and company email address to access this, since Documo is targeted towards corporations.
How To Send A Test Fax With A Fax Machine
If you’re old-school and have a fax machine you want to test – here are a few ways you can do it!
HP Fax Test Service
HP’s test service is the gold standard of fax machine testing, giving you an end-to-end confirmation that your fax machine works at sending and receiving faxes. You don’t even need an HP fax machine to use this service, and it’s totally free.
To get started, create any document to fax – it can just be a blank page. The important thing is that you add your own fax number to the fax header! Your full fax number must be in the fax header for the service to work. Many fax machines will automatically put this in the fax header – but check your fax settings to make sure by looking at system preferences > fax header options.
Then, simply send the test fax to 1-888-HPFaxme (1-888-473-2963 in the US). If you have caller ID blocking switched on the test won’t work, so dial *82 first to temporarily suspend for the test. Wait up to ten minutes and HP will answer – you should receive a fax back from HP to confirm the test. You now know that your fax line works both ways for fax communication!
Faxbeep
Faxbeep is an online service that lets you verify that your fax machine can send faxes. Technically, you can use this test for online faxing too. Simply go to their website, and choose the test number that corresponds to your country. Send a test fax to that number – within minutes, your fax should appear on the website’s home page!
Be careful with this service – all incoming faxes are publicly visible on the Faxbeep website, so make sure not to include any personal or sensitive information!
Are There Other Ways To Test A Fax Number?
There is one other way to test a fax number – call it! Using a mobile phone or landline, you can simply dial up the full fax number and call. If the number is active, then you’ll hear the classic fax tone noise – that noise is the line expecting to make contact with another fax machine. If you instead hear a busy or dead line signal, then you know the fax number isn’t working correctly.
This approach will only work if you are testing a fax machine hooked up to a phone line – online fax numbers cannot be verified this way.
What If A Test Fax Fails?
If your test fails, it can be for a number of reasons. Here are some common actions you can take:
- Double check the fax test number – you may have dialed it incorrectly! If you haven’t, contact the owner of that number and ask them if they are having any problems with their service.
- Check the status of your service – your phone line may be down, or your online service might be experiencing issues.
- Try again – if the number and your service are working fine, it’s worth trying one more time.
- Contact support – Municorn’s Fax App includes live in-app support, meaning you can instantly start talking to the somebody from the business, who will be happy to answer your questions. Other fax services should have a support email address, allowing you to get technical support within a few business days.
Bottom Line
Taking a minute to send a test fax might seem unnecessary, but it’s a small effort that can save you from bigger hassles later. When it comes to important paperwork, knowing your fax will actually reach the right person is a real relief. A quick test run means fewer surprises and more confidence, so you can get on with your day without second-guessing if things went through. To get started with testing and sending faxes of your own, download FAX App and get started with the free test service!
