Fax international sending is the same call with a longer number. From an online service you enter the destination as a plus sign, the country code and the national number without its leading zero, and the vendor dials it from its own lines. The difference is price: some plans include international pages in the allowance for a list of countries, others charge per page by destination. This page covers how to send an international fax, how to write the number, and what the vendors in the Fax Line Index print for it.
How to send an international fax from an online service
Write the number in international form: plus sign, country code, then the national number with its trunk prefix removed, so a London number written domestically as 020 becomes +44 20. Enter it in the send form or in the email-to-fax address in the form the vendor documents. Attach the pages, add a cover sheet naming the recipient and giving a callback number in international form, and send. The report returns as usual. Can you fax internationally from a phone app? Yes; the app accepts the same number format. Sending international fax to a mobile number fails, because mobiles do not receive faxes anywhere; use the office's fax line.
What international fax costs, as the vendors print it
eFax prints 500 pages a month to 51 countries on the offer that starts at $14.99, so an international page to a listed country counts against the allowance like a domestic one. Other vendors treat international destinations as a per-page charge that varies by country and publish the rate table on their sites; the Fax Line Index records each vendor's entry price and domestic overage and links to the vendor's page for the international table. A business that sends abroad regularly should compare on the destination countries it actually uses, because a plan that is cheapest domestically can be dearest to one particular country.
How to fax internationally and get it to arrive
Time zones do not matter to a machine, but an office machine that is off overnight does, so a fax to a machine abroad may retry until their morning; an online recipient answers at any hour. Page sizes differ: much of the world uses A4 and the United States uses Letter, and the receiving device scales, so keep margins generous. Language on the cover sheet should include the recipient's name and a callback in international form. Send international fax pages one document per job so a failure is easy to resend. If the pages carry health or legal information the same vendor and cover-sheet rules apply as at home.
Questions people ask about fax international
Do I dial 011 for an international fax online?
No. Use the plus sign and country code; the vendor's system handles the exit code. 011 is the US prefix for dialling from a phone line.
Can I get an international fax number?
Some vendors offer numbers local to other countries that deliver into the same account; availability and price are on each vendor's page.
Is international faxing included in my plan?
On eFax's printed offer, 500 pages a month to 51 countries are included. On others it is a per-page rate by country; check the vendor's table.