SRFax is an internet fax to email service based out of Burnaby, British Columbia, and is one of the few independent fax to email providers operating on Canadian soil. The company provides a simple yet very efficient system to send internet faxes and receive internet faxes. There are local fax numbers available for most major Canadian cities (15 total) as well as toll-free numbers (at no extra charge) that cover all of U.S. and Canada. If you are looking for a U.S. number, consider a U.S. / Canada Toll Free number with SRFax as the pricing easily beats most U.S.-based providers.
Available Plans
SRFax offers three tiered plans based on your estimated usage, which provides you with a defined number of inbound and outbound faxed pages per month:
SRFax also offers a Pre-Paid Plan which is charged at a flat rate of $0.25 per page sent or received is billed at a minimum of $32.00USD/month, perfect for those that do not send or receive faxes on a regular basis.
Pages sent and received that exceed the monthly allotment are automatically billed at an incredibly low $0.08 per page when transmitted. As with all other providers, there is an additional fee for faxes sent to long distance numbers outside of North America. SRFax has a detailed long distance fees table available on their website's pricing page.
*Cost Per Page (CPP): Determined by dividing the monthly price by the total number of pages allotted in the plan.
Online Interface
SRFax has a very sharp and organized web interface. Registration for an account and the 14-day trial is extremely quick as it only requires you to fill in one page with your name, username and password, email, address, choice of a toll free number or specific Canadian city area code, and credit card information. Once you have submitted your details, you will be able to log-in to the system immediately using the "User Login" button at the top right of the website. An email will also be sent to the address on file with a copy of your registration and purchase information.
Once you have logged into the website, you are presented with your account summary. This page lists your account status (active or otherwise), account number, SRFax internet fax number, total faxes/pages sent and received for the month, and your current outstanding balance. All account functions are accessible from the menu bar at the top, which has several sub-menus that drop down when you hover your mouse cursor over them. You can always log out of your account with the "Log Out" link at the far right of the menu.
Sending an Online Fax
SRFax, like most other internet fax to email services, allows you to send faxes by attaching it in an email or uploading and sending it from their web interface. Unlike many companies, however, SRFax does manage to give you nearly the same amount of control over faxes sent from your email as it does through the website, which means you don't have to spend time logging into their website to send a fax with special instructions such as specific cover pages, multiple recipients, or comments.
Sending a Fax Online through the Website
The process for sending an internet fax from the SRFax website is very easy. Simply go to the "Send a Fax" page located under the Faxes menu where you are presented with a form to fill in with the recipient’s fax number, and another box where you can specify the file you want to send. You are also given the option to send a cover page that can be populated with the recipient’s name and company, as well as include a subject line and comments. The cover page is customizable by going to "Cover Pages" under the User Profile menu. This section allows you to pre-configure the header on each of the three different cover page templates: Standard, for normal faxes that do not require a logo, Business, which allows for a logo, and Personal, which is an alternative to Business. You should be aware that you will see the following text in small print at the bottom of your cover pages: "Send and Receive Faxes by Email – Anywhere, Anytime – Faxed using www.SRFax.com", which can be removed upon request.
Finally, you also have the options of using Broadcast Fax, which will let you enter up to nine different fax numbers that you want the fax sent to (keep in mind you will be billed for each copy you send to each number), scheduling to postpone sending your fax until a desired time in half-hour increments (you will receive an email confirmation of the transfer status at the scheduled time), and choosing the recipient’s fax numbers from your address book.
Once you are finished and have clicked the "Send Fax" button, a message will appear informing you that the fax has been added to the queue or that there is a problem with the information you have entered. When the fax has been successfully added to the queue, there is no fax preview or confirmation page, the fax is simply sent as is. You are, however, able to check the transmission status from the Fax Outbox page.
Sending a Fax Online as an Email Attachment
In order to send a fax online as an email attachment, you simply attach the file you want to fax (make sure it is one of the supported file formats) and send it to [number]@srfax.com, where [number] is the actual recipient’s fax number (ex: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). You can configure all the same parameters that can be set using the online Send a Fax interface, with the exception of scheduling and the address book, by inserting special tags in the subject line and body. The available tags are as follows:
- Pass=(password) Specifies the account password which is required in order to send if you have set this option in the "Email Preferences" page under the User Profile menu.
- Fax=(numbers) Specifies multiple numbers to send the fax to, each separated by ; symbols. If this tag is used, then the email itself must be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
- CP=(template) Specifies which cover page template you wish to use. Can be set to "B", "S", "C","P" or "N" - Blank, Standard, Company, Personal or None - "C" is default if this tag is not specified.
- To=(name) Specifies the name of the person the fax is being sent to, and will appear on the cover page.
- Co=(company) Specifies the company name that will appear on the cover page.
- Sub=(subject) Specifies the subject of the fax, and will appear on the cover page.
Fax Storage and Status
SRFax does offer a full one-year archiving period, during which all inbound and outbound faxes will automatically be saved to the Fax Inbox and Fax Outbox. You also have a separate Junk Fax box which holds all faxes that you have marked as Junk Faxes (fax spam) in your Fax Inbox. In each of the boxes, faxes are sorted by date transmitted and have a variety of information and options available depending on the box.
The Fax Inbox allows you to view and check the status of all faxes you have received in the past. You are given the options of downloading an individual fax in either PDF or TIFF formats (selectable in the "Email Preferences" page under User Profile), sending the fax as an attachent to an email address you specify, forwarding the fax to another fax number, blocking the fax number (which also moves the fax to your Junk Faxes box and adds the number to your blocked numbers list), or permanently deleting the fax from the archive.
The primary function of the Fax Outbox is to verify that faxes you have sent were actually transmitted properly. In addition to most of the options you are given in the Fax Inbox, you can also click on the Fax Details button which will open a popup window with information such as pages still in queue, size, and call duration.
The Junk Faxes box works in conjunction with the Fax Numbers Blocked page in that whenever a fax is sent to your fax number and it is coming from a number that you have already added to the Fax Numbers Blocked list, it will automatically skip the Fax Inbox and appear here. In the Junk Faxes box you are able to move faxes back into the Fax Inbox, but be aware that you must also remove the number from the Fax Numbers Blocked list in order to receive faxes from that number in the future.
Other Options
The following is a breakdown of the features and settings that can be set in the pages that are under the User Profile menu. Each heading describes a specific page.
Client Contact Details
You can update the contact information you entered during registration at any time using "Client Contact Details". The information you enter here will not change your cover pages, you must do that manually using the "Cover Pages" page under the User Profile menu.
Email Preferences
On the "Email Preferences" page, you can configure several important settings for your account that change the way you receive and send faxes. Here you can select what addresses will receive email notifications with copies of your inbound and outbound faxes, and which addresses are approved to send faxes through this account (you can add up to two extra approved email addresses).
Other options include the ability to automatically block faxes that have both the CallerID and RemoteID blank (usually an indicator of spam), require the user account password when sending faxes via email (using the Pass= tag), choose a default cover page to use, attach a copy of the fax to outgoing email notifications, include a preview image of the first page of the fax in email notification bodies, choose the fax attachment format between PDF or TIFF, and choose to receive SMS notifications (text messages) of fax transmissions on your mobile.
Edit Address Book
SRFax includes a very simple fax number address book that will allow you to add names and numbers that can be selected when you are sending an internet fax from the online web interface. When you use the Send a Fax page, there is also a checkbox that allows you to add the number you sent do the address book.
Change Password
The change password page does exactly that, as simply as possible: allows you to change your account password. Keep in mind this will also affect outbound email to fax messages if you have set your preferences to require the Pass= tag in your subject line.
Support
User Guide / FAQ
There is a short but to the point user guide available which serves as a step-by-step guide to sending and receiving internet faxes as well as solutions to possible questions or problems that you may encounter.
Downloads
The Downloads page offers external links to some useful downloads like TIFF and PDF plugins that allow you to view your faxes inside your browser, a few freeware PDF readers and converters, and plugins that help you automatically print attachments from Microsoft Outlook. Absent, however, is a program to provide the ability to fax straight from the desktop like many other providers have.
Cancel Account
If you happen to no longer need SRFax's service, you simply need to fill out a form and your account will be cancelled for you. If you are still within the 14-day trial, you can use this form to cancel your account before your trial period has expired and you will not be billed for your usage.
Contact Us
SRFax provides support via toll-free phone, fax (obviously), and email through their contact form. Their office hours are between 9:00AM and 5:00PM Pacific Standard Time, but email support is 24/7/365.
SRFax Internet Fax Resources
- Visit SRFax's Website
- Order an SRFax fax to email plan
- Discuss SRFax and ask questions in the Internet Fax Forums
- Compare SRFax's plans on the Fax Plan Comparison Page
