Can you fax to a phone number? You can dial it, and the fax will connect, but a fax is received only by a fax machine or a fax service. A voice line is answered by a person or a voicemail, the sending device hears no fax tones, and the send fails with a no-answer or error report. A fax number is a phone number with a fax on the end of it, and the only way to know which kind you have is to ask or to test. This page explains what happens, how to tell the two apart, and what to do when the person you need to reach has only a phone.
What happens when you fax a voice line
The sending machine or online service dials, the call connects, and the sender starts the handshake tones. A person answering hears a screech and hangs up; a voicemail records a few seconds of tones. The sender waits for the answering tones that a fax would return, does not get them, and ends the call with a failed report. Nothing is delivered, and the person at the other end may be annoyed. An online service will retry a failed number a few times before giving up, which means the same person gets the same screech several times. Check the number before sending, not after the report.
How to tell a fax line from a phone line
On a contact page or letterhead the labels say: phone or tel for voice, fax for fax. If there is one number for both, the line has a switch that detects fax tones or a service that routes both, and a fax will work. If you have only a number and no label, call it from a phone: a fax line answers with tones, a voice line with a person. A number that a person answers is not a fax number, whatever the form said. The sender's report is the final word: delivered means a fax device confirmed the pages; failed or no answer means nothing fax-capable was there.
When the recipient only has a phone
A mobile phone cannot receive a fax; no mobile network carries fax calls to handsets. If the person has only a phone, the fax cannot reach them as a fax, and the choices are to email or message the document instead, to send to a fax number at their office or a shop that receives faxes for them, or for them to open an online fax account, which gives them a number the vendor answers and delivers to their phone as a PDF. Plans with a number included start at Fax.Plus's printed $6.99 a month with 200 pages and WestFax's $14.99 with 500. The reverse is also true: a fax can be sent from a phone through an online app, but only to a number a fax answers.
Questions people ask about can you fax to a phone number
Can I fax to a cell phone?
No. Mobile handsets do not receive fax calls. The recipient needs a fax number, which an online fax plan provides and delivers to their phone as a PDF.
Why did my fax to a business number fail?
You probably dialled the voice line. Check the contact page for the number labelled fax and resend.
Can one number be both phone and fax?
Yes, with a switch that detects fax tones or a service that routes both. If the label says phone/fax, a fax will get through.