How long does it take to receive a fax has a simpler answer than the sending side, because receiving happens during the sender's call: the pages land on your machine or in your online account as they are transmitted, at about a minute a page. If the sender has a report that says delivered, the fax is already with you. When someone says they sent it an hour ago and nothing has arrived, the fax did not go through, and this page explains where to look and what usually went wrong.
How long does a fax take to be received in the normal case
The sender dials, your machine or your vendor's equipment answers, the two negotiate, and the pages come across one by one at the rate the handshake set. A three-page fax is fully received three or four minutes after the sender started. On a machine the pages print as they arrive. On an online service the vendor assembles the pages into a PDF when the call ends and delivers it to your inbox or app, which adds seconds to a minute for conversion and email delivery. So how long do faxes take to receive is the sender's page count in minutes plus a minute for an online service's delivery, measured from when the sender's call began.
How long does it take to get a fax that the sender says has gone
If the sender's report says delivered and nothing has arrived, check the number the sender used against yours, because the fax was delivered somewhere. On an online service check the spam folder for the notification, then log in to the account, where the fax is stored regardless of email. On a machine check paper, toner and the memory-receive light. If the sender's report says busy, failed or no answer, the fax was never received and the sender must resend; the receiving side can do nothing. A sender who says it went but cannot produce a delivered report is describing an attempt, not a delivery.
How long does it take to recieve a fax on an online service versus a machine
The spelling varies; the answer does not. An online service answers on the first ring every time, receives at the negotiated rate, and delivers a PDF within a minute of the call ending, so the elapsed time is the sender's transmission time plus a minute. A machine receives at the same rate if it is on, has paper and is not on another call, and otherwise the sender gets busy or an error and retries later, which is where the hour-long delays come from. Plans that include a number the vendor answers around the clock start at Fax.Plus's printed $6.99 a month and WestFax's $14.99 with 500 pages, and a number that always answers is most of what a business is buying.
Questions people ask about how long does it take to receive a fax
Can I receive a fax without a machine?
Yes. An online fax plan includes a number the vendor answers, and each fax arrives as a PDF in an app or inbox. Fax.Plus prints one number included at $6.99 a month.
Why did a fax arrive hours after it was sent?
It was not sent hours ago; it was attempted then and delivered later after retries, because your line was busy or your machine did not answer. The sender's log shows the attempts.
Do faxes arrive at night?
On an online service, yes, and they wait in the account. On a machine, only if it is on with paper. A number answered around the clock is the reason offices switch.