IRS and their faulty fax lines

[Bay ArEA]

I use myfax.com as my fax service right now. It is only $10.00 a month. Since I don't send many faxes, I thought this would be the best for me.
You send it as an email to the fax number@myfax.com. Then it is sent to the person you are faxing as a regular fax. People fax you at your regular fax number and it comes to your email box.
IRS has not had a problem faxing to me since they are just using my fax number.
BUT
the one thing I don't like about it is the delay time. Here is the scenario:
I call IRS and wait for an agent to answer.
Finally get a person on the phone and tell them I will fax POA to them.
They give me the number.
I have email ready and POA attached so I just add the fax number and send.
Then WAIT and WAIT.
I tell the agent on the phone that I use myfax.com and it takes around 3 minutes for a fax to go through. Some wait patiently..others don't..
Make small talk....how's the weather there? etc for around 3 minutes.
You get acknowledgement via email when it is sent successfully. so you can say to them that it has gone through and they can get the fax from the machine.

One week they were updating something and it took 30 minutes for a fax to go through. I had an extremely patient person that day.

So now I am trying to figure out a better method. I HATE to pay the phone company $35 a month to have a dedicated fax line.
Anyone know anything about Magic Jack for $19.95 a month??

Linda, EA

I use accesline.com for an e-fax and I love it, however I have this same problem. I always fax POA's in to the CAF unit in advance when I can then call a few days later for this reason, it can be awkward. Or when calling about several clients I do the others first while the fax goes though.

A big problem I have however is that my e-fax never gets faxes from the IRS automated fax system, every time I end up getting the requested doc in the mail instead. When the IRS rep faxes the doc from their own personal fax I get it fine, but never from their automated fax system. Anyone else have that problem?

Anyway, I use Magic Jack and thought I'd tell you how it works sine you asked. The pros are a cheap phone line that works wherever you plug it in. The cons are the computer has to be on, no three way calls, and their voice-mail system isn't perfect.
I like it so much I use it for my main phone line at my home office. I have my office phone number transferred to Google voice, then I tell Google voice to transfer calls to my magic jack line when I'm working from home instead of to the office. That way since it goes though Google voice's voicemail system which is much better and they don't even know I'm at another location as it's the same phone number.

[WhiteOleander]

I have yet to receive a fax that they say is being sent by the automated system. I always end up having to wait for the mailed info. I think it is lazy agents who don't want to do anymore than absolutely necessary. I ask that they fax it while I wait and they refuse. I think it's too much trouble for them.

[oceanlovin'ea]

I have always gotten the faxes the send to me. They already have our fax number in their system so they just verify the correct fax number and send the fax. I have gotten them within a few hours of requesting copies.
Thanks for the info about Magic Jack.
My phone service is through the cable company, Brighthouse. But I was wondering if I got Magic Jack just for the second number I have which is my fax number. That is all that number is used for.
Would it have to go through my computer if it was only connected to the fax machine?

Linda, EA