| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Do I need a land line and a fax machine? Thread poster: Rachel E
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:11
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Nicole Schnell wrote:
Ahhh, modern times. 
The mother (deceased) of a friend of mine used to believe that a fax machine would roll the paper into a tight cylinder, which would then be pushed down the wire until it reached its destination.
| | | | | Aha! So glad you asked | Sep 3, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
- you would rather print a page, draw a line or an arrow, scan it again, file it in some file folder, send it via email, and to make sure that the file has arrived OK you send a copy to yourself.
Not to beat a dead horse -- too much, anyway -- but at least this way you have some record of what you sent (because you patiently filed it away with your 365 other schemas from that project)!! (As for the printing, I do it anyway, as I am still old-school for some things.)
Foiled again, eh?
| | | | | Modern times are good | Sep 3, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
Why would a translator need a scanner? I see:
- Instead of printing a page, draw a line or an arrow and simply stuff the page into the fax (receipt automatically)
- you would rather print a page, draw a line or an arrow, scan it again, file it in some file folder, send it via email, and to make sure that the file has arrived OK you send a copy to yourself.
Ahhh, modern times.
But given that today the person receiving the fax will very probably forward it to someone on another location or has to share the copy with several people spread over different offices, in the "good old times" the first receiver would have to spend some precious time refaxing the document to other places. When it came back to you after several people involved, you could hardly read the document. This, added to the time required to fax and receive the documents, makes faxes rather impractical.
Scanning a document and adding notes and marks with Adobe Acrobat or other means makes total sense to me, for obvious reasons in an electronic, distributed, global economy.
| | | | Jaroslaw Michalak 
Poland
Local time: 17:11
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER | Not really... | Sep 3, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
Why would a translator need a scanner? I see:
- Instead of printing a page, draw a line or an arrow and simply stuff the page into the fax (receipt automatically)
- you would rather print a page, draw a line or an arrow, scan it again, file it in some file folder, send it via email, and to make sure that the file has arrived OK you send a copy to yourself.
Ahhh, modern times.
Grab a screen image, draw an arrow, attach to email. Faster and kind to trees.
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 08:11
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
I am a bit amused. We are a small, yet adept company and we simply offer ALL options. Fax or electronic. This is not about what is better or worse - we simply ensure flawless and lean communication at all times. The same goes for keeping a land line (while we can make calls via computer anyway, including video, whenever we feel like it): We can be reached even during a power failure in the earthquake-prone Pacific Northwest, after all mobile services have keeled over.
BTW: We do ha... See more I am a bit amused. We are a small, yet adept company and we simply offer ALL options. Fax or electronic. This is not about what is better or worse - we simply ensure flawless and lean communication at all times. The same goes for keeping a land line (while we can make calls via computer anyway, including video, whenever we feel like it): We can be reached even during a power failure in the earthquake-prone Pacific Northwest, after all mobile services have keeled over.
BTW: We do have a high-end flatbed scanner for the Macintosh design station. We just wouldn't waste any time scanning things other than hysterical old photos or the behind of our office cat.
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| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 08:11
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | Tomás - we do have a scanner. | Sep 3, 2012 |
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Scanning a document and adding notes and marks with Adobe Acrobat or other means makes total sense to me, for obvious reasons in an electronic, distributed, global economy.
We just use this scanner for imaging purposes only, not as a replacement for shortcomings in our communication system.
| | | | | The message did not come across | Sep 3, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Scanning a document and adding notes and marks with Adobe Acrobat or other means makes total sense to me, for obvious reasons in an electronic, distributed, global economy.
We just use this scanner for imaging purposes only, not as a replacement for shortcomings in our communication system.
I am not really sure my message came through: faxes are simply far from ideal in a world with permanent rerouting, merging, and sharing of information among different people in separate locations. Faxes have their uses, but are clearly not an option for regular communication, at least in my line of business.
| | | | | I don't think they are vital... | Sep 3, 2012 |
...But they are always useful to have!
For example if my mobile phone breaks down for some reason, my clients can still call me on the land line number. Although I guess you can rely on Skype as a backup too.
I'm glad to have a land line in case I need to call clients based abroad - I get free unlimited international calls included in my Internet plan.
As for faxes, I have never sent or received any, and do not own a fax machine. But I have created a fax n... See more ...But they are always useful to have!
For example if my mobile phone breaks down for some reason, my clients can still call me on the land line number. Although I guess you can rely on Skype as a backup too.
I'm glad to have a land line in case I need to call clients based abroad - I get free unlimited international calls included in my Internet plan.
As for faxes, I have never sent or received any, and do not own a fax machine. But I have created a fax number with my website hosting service, this way if I ever get a fax, I'll receive them by e-mail.
Hope this helps! ▲ Collapse
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| I still have a fax machine | Sep 3, 2012 |
As other posters have mentioned, you certainly don't need a fax machine to start out. You might want to have a land line eventually, depending on how your business develops.
Where I live, most ISPs have bundled packages with phone, internet and TV service for a flat rate.
I currently have two separate phone lines, one for personal use and one for my business. I also have a cell phone.
The private line has phone service through the router, which often stop... See more As other posters have mentioned, you certainly don't need a fax machine to start out. You might want to have a land line eventually, depending on how your business develops.
Where I live, most ISPs have bundled packages with phone, internet and TV service for a flat rate.
I currently have two separate phone lines, one for personal use and one for my business. I also have a cell phone.
The private line has phone service through the router, which often stops working during storms and is generally somewhat unreliable out here in the boondocks.
The business line is a genuine land line that works no matter what (so far!), and also serves for my fax machine as well as a separate, more reliable internet connection (a different ISP than the private line).
My (very old) scanner broke down a while back, and since I don't use it much I never got around to replacing it. I now use my fax machine as a scanner by faxing documents to my fax-to-email service, which I can then print to pdf and email/share etc as needed. This is of course useful for things like signed agreements or situations such as Nicole Schnell describes, but wouldn't work when a good quality scan or OCR is needed.
I also use my fax machine to make copies, and for the odd customer who doesn't use email!
Anecdote: the fax machine was saved from the landfill, I didn't actually spend anything on it, but it does come in handy at times!
As for cell phones... I couldn't imagine using one as my "main" phone, but that's just me. I do spend a lot of time on the phone, and I don't like cell phones because they are harder to hold with your shoulder (while typing, picking up toddlers, cooking, etc) and also for the simple reason that there is no network coverage at our house and probably never will be! I acquired a smartphone last year which connects to my home office network so I can read email from the couch or from upstairs, or wherever else I may travel... but I have recently had reason to regret giving my cell phone number to clients... although I tell them that they can't reach me at home on my cell, they tend to forget and don't realize that days may go by before I go back to civilization and can listen to my answering machine messages! ▲ Collapse
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Lori Cirefice wrote:
Anecdote: the fax machine was saved from the landfill, I didn't actually spend anything on it, but it does come in handy at times!
This must be the work of the RSPCFM = The Royal Society for the Protection and Care of Fax Machines.
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