GTE Corp. and AT&T WorldNet earlier this month unveiled new IP fax services that will offer users the convenience of sending and receiving faxes from their desktops.
GTE has introduced its GTE DestinationFax service, and AT&T rolled out its WorldNet Enhanced Fax Service. Both let users more easily manage faxing with simple per-page pricing.
While the services are not expensive, they are not expected to offer users huge cost savings over traditional faxing.
GTE is charging 12 cents per page, and AT&T is charging 19 cents per page domestically. Those prices aren't bad, but many large business customers can get rates of 7 to 10 cents per minute from their long-distance providers, said Maury Kauffman, managing partner of Kauffman Group, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based consulting firm.
Users will not be adopting these services based on their costs, but for the ability to send and receive faxes from the road as an add-on feature to their existing Internet access services, Kauffman said.
GTE started a service trial earlier this month, said Greg Lensch, program manager of enhanced IP services at GTE. The trial is expected to extend through June. The service is slated for availability in the third quarter.
AT&T WorldNet also announced its version of an IP fax service, but AT&T is using its existing messaging network to roll out its service. By linking its proprietary messaging network with its IP backbone, AT&T is offering customers a 99.5% network availability guarantee for its service. Users will be able to send broadcast faxes and receive detailed delivery and nondelivery reports.
AT&T's WorldNet Enhanced Fax Service supports up to 250 file formats. With this feature users can print incoming e-mails with attachments even if their PCs do not support the attachments' source application. Users simply send those e-mails to their fax machines where the attachments are printed out, said Kathleen Earley, vice president of AT&T's Network Commerce Services.
WorldNet Enhanced Fax Service is slated for availability by the second quarter and will cost $49.95 per month in addition to a 19-cent-per-page charge and a one-time setup fee of $595.
GTE: (800) 927-3000; AT&T: (800) 242-6005
RELATED LINKS
Services:
Alcom
AT&T
Faxmission
FaxSav
Free Fax Server
Send IP faxes for free; limited service areas, however.
GTE
Software:
IETF Internet fax working group
Working to develop IP fax standards.
Fax-em
FaxStorm
HylaFax
Free fax server for Unix.
ProtoFax fax server
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