Nothing forbids sending a fax, and many organisations still accept it as a transmission route. The useful question is not its legality but its evidential weight, which depends on context and on the applicable law — an acknowledgment is generally a beginning of proof, not absolute proof.

Is fax more secure than email?

Differently, not absolutely. An analogue fax travels in the clear over the phone network, but leaves no copy stored at a provider and is not exposed to mailbox breaches. An email can be encrypted, but it crosses and rests with several intermediaries.

Why do some countries use it more than others?

Because the persistence of fax depends on sector rules and on the installed base, which vary widely between countries. Where an administration opened an equivalent digital channel early, fax receded; where that channel does not exist, it remains the formal route.

Should you still buy a fax machine?

For occasional sending, no: an online service is enough and needs no hardware. A machine is only justified if you also need to receive faxes regularly — and even then you need a line that supports it.

Why fax still exists

A 1980 technology still in service: the reasons are technical and organisational, not sentimental.

Fax survives because it solves a problem email does not: it produces a delivery confirmation issued by the receiving equipment itself, page by page, over a point-to-point channel that depends on neither the internet nor a third-party provider. Where an email can be filtered, silently refused or disputed, a delivered fax leaves a trace both parties can rely on. That property, not habit, is what explains its persistence in healthcare, justice and public administration.

What fax does that email does not

A confirmation from the recipient
A fax acknowledgment is issued by the machine that received the page, not by an intermediate server. An email read receipt depends on the goodwill of the recipient's software — and can be switched off.
No silent filtering
An email can be classified as spam, blocked by an antivirus gateway or rejected without the sender being reliably told. A fax transmission fails loudly: either it goes through, or it tells you.
A point-to-point channel
The document travels from one number to another, without passing through a hosted mailbox or a messaging provider. No copy is left sitting in third-party storage.
An identity tied to the line
The calling number is transmitted with the page. Spoofing an assigned telephone line is far harder than spoofing an email sender address.

Where it still holds

Always the same sectors, and for the same reason: those where proof of delivery matters more than convenience.

Healthcare: Reports, prescriptions and results moving between practitioners and institutions, often between systems that have no other way to talk to each other.
Justice and legal practice: Filing documents, exchanges between firms, court registries and bailiffs, where the traceability of the sending is part of the file itself.
Public administration: Counters and services that accept fax as a formal filing route, sometimes for want of an equivalent digital channel open to the public.
Insurance and banking: Transmission of supporting documents and mandates, where the acknowledgment serves as the beginning of proof.

Why it does not vanish overnight

It is the recipient who decides, not the sender. As long as an organisation accepts nothing but a fax, everyone writing to it has to send one — even without a line or a machine. That is exactly the situation online sending services were born from.

Add to that the inertia of an installed base: written-off equipment, written procedures, forms that carry a fax number. Replacing all of it takes a project, a budget and a decision — three things rarer than a fax machine.

What is actually replacing it

Not email, which does not provide the delivery guarantee being sought, but mechanisms designed for it: secure filing portals specific to each administration, registered electronic delivery, electronic signature. Each provides proof, but each also requires an account, an identification and sometimes a subscription — none of which fax asked for.

The transition is therefore slow and uneven across sectors and countries. In the meantime the practical question is not whether fax is obsolete, but how to send one when you no longer have a line or a machine.

Frequently asked questions

Is fax still legal?: Nothing forbids sending a fax, and many organisations still accept it as a transmission route. The useful question is not its legality but its evidential weight, which depends on context and on the applicable law — an acknowledgment is generally a beginning of proof, not absolute proof.
Is fax more secure than email?: Differently, not absolutely. An analogue fax travels in the clear over the phone network, but leaves no copy stored at a provider and is not exposed to mailbox breaches. An email can be encrypted, but it crosses and rests with several intermediaries.
Why do some countries use it more than others?: Because the persistence of fax depends on sector rules and on the installed base, which vary widely between countries. Where an administration opened an equivalent digital channel early, fax receded; where that channel does not exist, it remains the formal route.
Should you still buy a fax machine?: For occasional sending, no: an online service is enough and needs no hardware. A machine is only justified if you also need to receive faxes regularly — and even then you need a line that supports it.

The most useful pages to carry on with your fax.

What fax does that email does not

A confirmation from the recipient

No silent filtering

A point-to-point channel

An identity tied to the line

Where it still holds

Why it does not vanish overnight

What is actually replacing it

Frequently asked questions

Continue exploring