Why Canadian Businesses Are Replacing Traditional Fax Machines with eFax
When was the last time anyone was excited to refill the toner in a fax machine? Probably never.
Many Canadian businesses still fax prescriptions, signed forms, purchase orders and confidential records. Healthcare, law, real estate, municipalities and manufacturers all rely on it. The machine that jams at the worst moment is the part we can drop.
eFax lets your team keep the fax number and send or receive documents as PDFs through regular email. No dedicated machine, no analog line, no paper or toner.
What is eFax?
eFax is a cloud service. Someone faxes your number, it arrives as a PDF in an authorized inbox. To send, an employee emails the recipient’s fax number with the document attached. A notification confirms delivery. No buttons, no paper confirmation page, no fax tones in the hallway.
Why replace the machine?
A traditional fax machine usually means a dedicated analog line, paper and toner, repairs, office space, and staff time to retrieve and distribute pages. Incoming documents can sit unattended in a shared tray. Remote staff often have no way to fax without travelling to the office.
With eFax, authorized people manage everything from their email wherever they work.
Traditional fax machine vs. eFax
| Traditional fax machine | ECI eFax service |
|---|---|
| Needs physical equipment and an analog line | Uses email and the internet |
| Prints every page; documents sit in a tray | Delivers PDFs to approved inboxes |
| Tied to one office; unreliable over VoIP | Works remotely; handled in the cloud |
Keep your number. Avoid VoIP problems.
In most cases you can transfer your existing fax number, so partners keep sending to the same place. ECI coordinates the port and tests it.
Traditional machines were built for analog lines. On VoIP, packet loss or delay can drop pages—especially on longer documents. Cloud faxing removes the fax from the phone system entirely.
Security and Canadian data residency
Incoming faxes go to an authorized person or controlled inbox instead of printing in a shared area. eFax Corporate uses TLS in transit and AES 256-bit encryption at rest, plus delivery notifications and audit trails. These tools support privacy work; they do not automatically make an organization compliant.
With ECI, fax data stays in a Canadian data centre. That gives clearer answers for healthcare, legal, municipal and financial organizations about where their information is stored.
What ECI includes
- 200–10,000 combined inbound and outbound pages per month
- Plans are available for different monthly page volumes, including 200, 500, 1,000 and 3,000 pages.
- Up to five authorized users
- Canadian data residency
- Help transferring your existing number
- Setup, testing, and Tier 1 support from ECI
Higher volumes are available. Extra pages are billed if you go over the allowance. Support is available across Canada and USA.
Time to retire the machine?
If you still need to fax, you do not necessarily need the machine. Keep the number, send and receive through email, and keep the data in Canada.
Your fax number can keep doing its job. The machine, the toner, and the pep talks are optional.
Talk with ECI about eFax
Contact Empire Communications Inc. to arrange a demonstration or test with a temporary fax number.
Phone: 519-624-9134
Email: sales@ecitech.ca
