Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Use 'print to fax' or Send2Fax to avoid printing fees System
I attend two or three conferences a year as part of my job, and I've always been annoyed at the "business center" in most hotels, which is typically a collection of outdated Windows machines and a laser printer or two. The real annoyance, though, is the cost of the centers. It's usually $1 per page or more for printouts, which is entirely outrageous. I'm not a cheap person, but the practice of gouging people to such a degree is really irksome to me.

What I've discovered, though, is that while most hotels charge outrageous fees to print documents, they allow their guests to receive faxes for free. All one needs to do, therefore, is connect one's Mac to the telephone line, print the document, and select PDF -> Fax PDF... from the print dialog's pop-up menu. As an alternative, one could obtain an account with send2fax, and send the document as an attachment to, for example, 1234567890@fax.send2fax.com (this would be to fax it to (123)456-7890). Send2fax also has a nice web interface, and as a bonus, it gives you your own personal fax number to which faxes can be sent; once received, they are converted to e-mail attachments and sent to your inbox.

There are, of course, costs either way -- the cost of an "outside" call in the first case, and $0.15 per page for send2fax sending. But given that many hotels have free wireless access, the latter option should in the worst case cost a small fraction of what the business center would charge.

Finally, an advantage for night-owls like me: printing via fax can be done 24/7, whereas the business center is often open only during normal business hours.
    •    
  • Currently 2.50 / 5
  You rated: 3 / 5 (2 votes cast)
 
[9,789 views]  

Use 'print to fax' or Send2Fax to avoid printing fees | 4 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Use 'print to fax' or Send2Fax to avoid printing fees' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Use 'print to fax' or Send2Fax to avoid printing fees
Authored by: Puzo on Sep 09, '05 12:25:14PM

Another serivice worth consideration is eFax (www.efax.com)



[ Reply to This | # ]
Use 'print to fax' or Send2Fax to avoid printing fees
Authored by: matsur on Sep 11, '05 10:16:15AM

Nope, all they do is use your email addy to spam/sell to other spammers. They stopped providing legit services years ago IME.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Use 'print to fax' or Send2Fax to avoid printing fees
Authored by: adrianm on Sep 09, '05 01:26:39PM

Or save trees and not print at all.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Use 'print to fax' or Send2Fax to avoid printing fees
Authored by: mrturtle on Sep 09, '05 06:26:10PM

Or keep your computer on longer because you don't have a hard copy and burn more gas or coal to power it.

Thanks for the tip...I'll have to check it out.



[ Reply to This | # ]