OK. So I switched my phone provider from BT to Virgin and, as a result, I do not have an extension upstairs. I needed to send a fax urgently from my PC so I started looking around for something which would let me do it.
Initially I tried using a DECT transmitter to get a signal upstairs, and although it worked fine for sending the fax it would simply not ring the phones on any incoming call. So I had to do away with it, even though it was really a great piece of kit… on paper, anyway.
The fact I hadn’t got a fax system was eating me up, so I thought that there simply must be something for Skype . Surprisingly little, as it happens – at least if you are thinking free or cheap.
I found something called PamFax. Looks the business, and I just needed to send another fax so I fired it up. The pay-as-you-go option costs something like € 0.14 per page (allegedly – see below), charged to your Skype account, and that’s not too bad… are you ready for this?
I scanned in my document, and after PamFax refusing to send it because it couldn’t count the number of pages in the PDF file I’d created, I downloaded some freeware which converts PDF to DOC files. So I fired up Word 2007 and tried again.
I was informed that the number I was sending the fax to (an 0870 number) was “either slow or a mobile/business number” so the cost was “adjusted slightly”.
My heart spontaneously began beating again when I realised there was a “cancel” button… but it had stopped shortly after I read ” the new charge will be €33.43 “.
Yep. The price was going to jump from 14 cents up to nearly 34 Euros – 240 times the original price . No excuse for this whatsoever and it is a total rip-off – I can call that 0870 landline number from Skype for a standard rate, and fax using a normal fax system for the same rate on a landline.
PamFax is going to be saying hello to Mr Recycle Bin later tonight. I thought I’d found something decent, but I was sadly mistaken – don’t fall for this and be aware of it if you install PamFax .
Now, if it kills me I’m going to figure out how to use my smartphone as a modem.
EDIT: As it happens, PamFax and Mr Recycle Bin didn’t get on too well (it wouldn’t uninstall cleanly). I had to get rid of most of it by editing the Registry directly. Pile of garbage, it is.
EDIT 02/05/2010: Just for the record, I installed Sky HD in an upstairs room and part of the agreement is that I have to have it connected to a phone line for the first 12 months (I don’t have an issue with that – the only problem was: NO PHONE LINE UPSTAIRS).
Now, it would cost close to £100 to have an extension fitted, so I returned to the idea of the DECT transmitter sold by Maplin . This time, though, instead of connecting the downstairs phone to the base unit, I just used a splitter on the main socket and plugged the phone into one side and the DECT unit to the other. It works perfectly, so I have a phone line I can use for faxes near my PC now.
EDIT 29/12/2011: I noticed someone found this page using “can you use PamFax to send a fax to an 0870 number”. In summary, yes you can – but when I tried it, it tried to bill me €33.43. That’s over £30 (or nearly $50) for a single page in my case (at current exchange rates).
Take my advice, DO NOT USE PAMFAX – IT IS A RIP-OFF. You would not know how much it was billing you unless you sat and watched every fax it sent. And £30 per page is criminal.