It may have started with the ability to replicate signatures, but even during the internet age, fax does have one interesting advantage.
It uses a dedicated circuit to communicate rather than using packets.
By that I mean that two fax machines that are connected to send a fax are electronically linked together in a dedicated circuit for the duration of the session, and all the data takes the same path.
This is in stark contrast to an email, which is split up into packets which may take quite different paths to reach the other destination.
At my old government job, we had a fax machine because it “couldn’t be hacked”, so we would only accept certain documents via fax. Is this true? I have no idea. It was even more questionable when we switched the fax line to digital and received all the faxes via a software program on computers. Is THAT “un-hackable” too? No clue.
Faxes are secure after sending. The only way for a third party to get a fax is to physically tap the line at the time of transmission, or to break into the building and steal the paper.
Email sits online, where everyone can get at it unless you prevent it. Faxes sit in a drawer, behind the locks you already have.
Fax machines!
They were invented long before the computer or modem, with the original patent being issued in 1843.
They seem wildly outdated, but the ability to replicate the signature (iirc) led to faxes being accepted as legal documents.
This speaks more to the underlying usefulness in earlier eras, but it’s still wild to make a phone call that leads to a printed document.
It may have started with the ability to replicate signatures, but even during the internet age, fax does have one interesting advantage.
It uses a dedicated circuit to communicate rather than using packets.
By that I mean that two fax machines that are connected to send a fax are electronically linked together in a dedicated circuit for the duration of the session, and all the data takes the same path.
This is in stark contrast to an email, which is split up into packets which may take quite different paths to reach the other destination.
At my old government job, we had a fax machine because it “couldn’t be hacked”, so we would only accept certain documents via fax. Is this true? I have no idea. It was even more questionable when we switched the fax line to digital and received all the faxes via a software program on computers. Is THAT “un-hackable” too? No clue.
Faxes are secure after sending. The only way for a third party to get a fax is to physically tap the line at the time of transmission, or to break into the building and steal the paper.
Email sits online, where everyone can get at it unless you prevent it. Faxes sit in a drawer, behind the locks you already have.