Why was I charged twice for faxing one page?
Why did my Internet fax service charge me for two pages when I only sent one?
The most likely scenario is that the page you faxed was graphics-heavy or otherwise complex and as a result it took especially long to send as the fax technology worked to convert it to sound and reassemble the content for transmission. Find out if your plan bills for faxes on a per-minute basis, or per-page with transmission time limits. Some companies charge for a second page, or a second minute, if a single page takes longer than 60 seconds, or perhaps 90 seconds, to transmit. Images almost always take longer to transmit than text, and they don’t often come out looking that great, either. Besides graphics and photos, the presence of color and high resolution can affect both the speed of transmission and the quality of the image received. The exception is graphics that are simple, black-and-white line art (such as the fax cover sheets found at FreeFaxCoverSheets.net.) That type of image comes out as clearly as text in most cases. If you need to scan a document into your computer before faxing it, try setting your scanner to monochrome (1-bit).
The best way to avoid this issue is to, whenever possible, try not to fax graphics-intense pages. Not only does it dent your pocketbook on your end; it could annoy the recipient, whose fax machine will be tied up for a long time on the receiving end.
Do you have a question about faxing? Send me your fax question.
