Last updated · Written for someone who has been told a document will be faxed to them.
To receive a fax you need a fax number of your own, not a fax machine. An online fax service holds the number on its carrier network, answers the incoming call for you, converts the pages to a PDF and emails it to you. Nothing prints, nobody has to be in the room, and there is a searchable record of what arrived and when. On usfax.com a dedicated US number is included with every subscription, from $19 a month.
Why does receiving need a number when sending does not?
Because a fax is a telephone call. When you send, you dial the recipient’s number and their equipment answers — nothing of yours has to exist. When somebody faxes you, the call has to land somewhere that answers it, twenty-four hours a day, whether or not a fax is expected. That standing capacity is what a subscription buys, and it is why genuinely free receiving offers are rare. The full explanation is on what is a fax number, and the honest version of the free question is on is there a free fax number.
How to set up receiving, step by step
- Get a fax number of your own. Receiving is the half of faxing that needs a number, because a fax is a phone call and something has to answer it. On usfax.com the Solo plan at $19 a month ($15 billed annually) includes one dedicated US fax number and 300 pages, with a 7-day free trial and no card. The number is live immediately.
- Choose where incoming faxes should land. Point the number at the email address you actually read, and at the web dashboard. Every incoming fax is converted to a PDF and delivered to both, so nothing depends on somebody standing next to a machine.
- Test it before you publish it. Send a single test page to your own number and confirm the PDF arrives and is readable. Do this during the free trial — before the number goes on your letterhead or into an agency record.
- Give the number out the way people expect. Label it “Fax:” and write it in full with the area code, on your letterhead, invoices, forms and any agency or payer registration. Nothing in the digits tells a reader it is a fax line, so the label matters.
- Read and file what arrives. An incoming fax is a PDF in an inbox with a searchable history behind it. File it with the matter or the client it belongs to; the record of what arrived and when is the reason regulated processes still use fax.
Where does an incoming fax actually go?
| Fax machine | Online fax number | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it arrives | Printed paper in a shared room | A PDF in your email and web dashboard |
| Who can read it | Anyone who walks past the tray | Whoever you give an account to |
| If nobody is in the office | It sits there until someone returns | It reaches you wherever you are |
| If paper or toner runs out | The fax is lost or partial | Not applicable |
| Finding it again in six months | A filing cabinet | A searchable history |
| Two senders at once | The second gets a busy signal | Handled by the service |
Sending in the other direction straight from your inbox is covered on email to fax.
Giving the number out
A fax number is meant to be public. It goes on your letterhead, your invoices, your forms and any registration an agency or payer holds for you. Two practical points:
- Label it. Write “Fax: (503) 555-0134”, in full with the area code. A bare number reads as a phone number, and somebody will call it.
- Keep it consistent. Once a number is in an agency record it is painful to change, so test the service and settle on the number before you publish it anywhere.
On choosing between an area code and a toll-free prefix, see how to get a fax number and toll-free fax numbers.
Who is likely to fax you?
Usually the same organisations that asked you to fax them. Agencies that publish an inbound fax channel tend to return documents the same way — the Oregon Health Authority (503-378-3074) and Texas TMHP (512-514-4214) both run provider enrollment partly over fax, and C2C Innovative Solutions, the CMS contractor for Medicare Level-2 appeals, treats fax at 904-539-4081 as one of only two secure electronic routes. If you are in any of those processes, something will come back, and it needs somewhere to land.
The same applies to national agencies. A fax reply travels to the number that placed the original call, so a shared sending line cannot receive it — see faxing Social Security, faxing the Canada Revenue Agency and faxing a North American agency from abroad for how that plays out when the recipient is a government office.
What does it cost to receive faxes?
A dedicated US fax number is part of the plan, not a separate charge. Solo is $19 a month, or $15 billed annually, with one number, 300 pages a month and no overage charges — the right size for a one-person business. Practice at $29 adds a toll-free option, more pages and up to 5 users for a shared fax inbox, with extra seats at $8 per user per month. Both start with a 7-day free trial and no credit card. Everything is on pricing.