FAX service
1.1 What is the FreeFAX service?
FreeFAX is a free service, provided over the Internet by Messagenet S.p.A., which allows registered users to receive faxes in their personal email boxes.
Messagenet gives each user who registers for the service a personal fax number, with an Italian area code of their choice.
The FreeFAX service is provided free of charge, if the user agrees to receive commercial information about products and services from MESSAGENET or third parties.
The FreeFAX service has a reception limit of 3 faxes per month. To receive more than three faxes, the user can purchase the prepaid service FAXin.
1.2 What is the FAXin service?
FAXin is similar to FreeFAX, except that users can receive unlimited numbers of faxes. Also, a user who subscribes to FAXin will not receive advertisements about products and services not sold by MESSAGENET.
The FAXin service includes a support service via email, at the address support-fax@messagenet.it.
1.3 How much does FAXin cost?
The FAXin service has an activation fee of 18.15 € (VAT included), and an annual fee of 60.50 € (VAT included).
1.4 What happens when a user receives more than three faxes in one month?
FreeFAX continues to receive all of the faxes that arrive, even past the limit. However, the first day of each month, the total use of the service for the previous month is recorded. If consumption is over the limit, the user is notified with an email message inviting him to sign up for the FAXin service.
The user has 15 days to sign up for FAXin, and keep the personal number assigned if they want. During these 15 days, the fax reception service continues to function without limits.
If the user does not subscribe to FAXin within 15 days, MESSAGENET reserves the right to cancel the FreeFAX account that has gone over the limit, after notifying the user via email. The number can be reassigned to another user at any time once it has been deactivated.
1.6 I signed up for FreeFAX when the limit of 3faxes was not in effect. Do I have this limit too?
No.
Users who signed up for FreeFAX before 28 January 2003, with a personal telephone number with area codes 02 and 06 do not have limits regarding fax reception. Users will be notified by email of any limits set in the future.
I signed up for FreeFAX when there was no limit, but later I added a number outside of Milan/Rome. What happens in this case?
The Milan or Rome number continues to have no limit, but the additional number is subject to the limits described above. If limits are surpassed, only the number over the limit will be deactivated, not the entire FreeFAx account.
Also, the limits are always considered valid for all numbers activated after 28 January 2003.
1.5 What is the FAXout service?
FAXout allows you to send faxes from your email address or from the web. This makes it possible to send faxes anywhere there is a computer hooked up to the Internet.
1.6 How much does FAXout cost?
The service is prepaid and rechargeable.
The user pays for every fax PAGE actually delivered to the recipient, and this cost is deducted from their available credit. Each page sent in ITALY to landline numbers has a price of 0.1089 € (VAT included) .
1.7 I am registered for the old plan HomeFax. Can I receive unlimited faxes on my personal number?
Yes, since the HomeFax service included the reception of unlimited faxes.
1.8 I am registered for FAXout. Can I receive unlimited faxes on my personal number?
No. The FAXout plan is exclusively for sending faxes, not for any form of reception. To receive faxes, you must sign up for FAXin.
Fax reception
2.1 How can I view the faxes I receive in my mailbox?
Faxes are sent as an attachment to an email message.
In most cases you just have to double click to view the received fax.
On Window systems you must have a software capable of opening TIFF file images in a multipage format.
Imaging for Windows, usually installed by default on the operating system, works well for this purpose. To check if Imaging is installed, you can look for it in the Start menu, following the path:
Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Imaging
Other professional software, shareware and freeware are also useful for this purpose.
We recommend that you make sure the software that you intend to use will support the visualisation of TIFF multipage images.
If it won't, you will only be able to view the first page of your faxes.
MacOSX system users can use Anteprima software.
2.2 What do I need to receive faxes in my mailbox?
- An Internet connection
- An email address
- An email client (a program to read mail) such as Outlook Express, Eudora, Pegasus Mail, etc.
- An image visualiser for the graphic format TIFF, like Imaging di Windows
- Activation of the Messagenet service FreeFAX or FAXin.
2.3 Can I convert a fax into a Word or text format?
No. The incoming fax is an image, and therefore it cannot be converted directly into a text format.
Many types of character recognition software (OCR) are available for sale, and they can be used to analyse the image file and convert it into a text format.
2.4 Can I set a filter on my email client, so that I my faxes are stored separate from my other messages?
Sure, our service was set up with that in mind. We know how your email program works.
The filter must be set on the Subject line, which always contains the phrase "New fax for user [userid]".
2.5 I received a message with an .exe file attachment instead of a TIFF. What do I do?
In this case, the message was sent by an unauthorised person. Don't open it!
Our service never sends executable attachments and is virus free.
2.6 I can't open incoming faxes because MS Outlook says the attachment is unsafe.
The files we send don't contain any viruses. They are safe, and comply with standards for email file attachments.
This problem is caused by a recent upgrade of Microsoft applications in your system. (For instance, some configurations of Outlook.)
To bypass this limitation, you just have to modify your Outlook client settings as follows:
- open Outlook
- choose "Options" from the "Tools" menu
- click "Protection"
- deselect the box "Do not save or open attachments that might contain viruses".
- Click "Apply" to confirm the change and then "OK".
2.7 When I use Microsoft Office Document Imaging, all or part of the fax is shown as a black line.
The error can be caused by the sender's fax machine.
We always send faxes as TIFF images, but some do not open correctly with "Microsoft Office Document Imaging".
If this is the case, we suggest opening the fax with a different application, "Microsoft Imaging". After saving the TIFF image, open it with “Open with -> Imaging”.
2.8 Do received faxes take up a lot of memory?
Each page occupies a space amount of between 10 Kbyte (pages with little text and a logo) and 100 Kbytes (brochures with lots of text and graphics).
If you receive many faxes, or faxes of hundreds of pages, you should check disk space availability often.
2.9 I receive only one-page faxes, what happened?
There are two possibilities:
- You haven't used your image viewer functions to "browse" through all the pages, and so you only see the cover page.
- The software you use as a TIFF image viewer doesn't support multipage view.
2.10 Can I delete fax pages, or modify the image?
The images are in standard TIFFformat. You can modify them with the functions available in your viewing software.
2.11 How can I view my faxes using the Alice webmail service?
[This information also applies to Aruba and Technorail.]If you realised that you're not receiving faxes and you use the Alice webmail service, we suggest following these instructions to solve the problem:
- Connect to your webmail account on http://www.alice.it
- Go into WEBMAIL
- Click on "Options"
- Click on "Junk email list management"
- Click on "Protected users", then "Add"
- In the text field, enter the domain name "messagenet.it", then "OK"
- Save by clicking "Save and close"
2.12 The fax I received is upside down. How can I read it?
This depends on the person who sent the fax and it is very common.
Any image management software has a "rotate" function to turn the image over.
If you don't know how to use this function, just print the fax like it is and turn the paper around.
Incredible as it may seem, you will be able to read it! ;-)
2.13 Some email messages show the sender's phone number in the "From" field but others show a text string. Why?
When the fax is sent from a traditional fax machine, the sender's phone number is intercepted.
But when the fax has been sent with an outsourced telematic fax service, like Unified Messaging services, the string corresponds to the service supplier.
2.14 Can I change my fax delivery mailbox?
Sure. Just enter your UserID and password in the "My Messagenet" area to get to your personal page, and you can modify all registration data, including the fax delivery mailbox.
2.15 Can I change my Personal Telephone Number?
Yes.
2.16 Can I receive faxes in a file format other than TIFF?
No, at the moment TIFF is the standard supported file format.
2.17 I tried to send a fax to my personal number, but I didn't receive anything. What should I do?
First of all, make sure that you dialled the correct number. Then check to see if your mailbox is active and can receive attachments.
Please forgive me if the first part of this sounds too obvious, but many similar problems were fixed in this way.
2.18 I only receive some faxes, and others are not delivered to me.
This issue has been reported by some users who can receive small-sized faxes (for example one-page faxes), but have trouble receiving faxes that are several pages long.
The first thing is do is make sure your mailbox has no size limit. If you have a limit on the attachment size, you will not be able to receive heavy attachments or faxes containing lots of graphics.
2.19 I activated my Personal Telephone Number with a Milan area code. Now that my own city code is active, can I change it?
Yes.
2.20 How much does it cost to call a FreeFAX or FAXin number?
A FreeFAX number is a normal Italian telephone number. People sending a fax to your number will be charged the rates that their operator charges for that area code.
2.21 Can I send faxes in addition to receiving them?
Yes, but you must subscribe to the FAXout service.
Sending faxes
3.1 How can I send a fax?
There are two ways to send a fax: via email (read the next set of questions) or via web (go to the website www.messagenet.it and click on "fax").
This method is OK for occasional use and when you cannot use your email program.
3.2 How can I send a fax via email?
To send a fax via email, you must compose an email message and type the recipient's telephone number followed by the domain "@fax.messagenet.it" as the address.
For instance, if you want to send a fax to the number 0248026819, just write an email message and type this in the "To:" line:
0248026819@fax.messagenet.it
If you want to send the same fax to more than one recipient simultaneously, just type in all of the fax numbers, each followed by @fax.messagenet.it.
[for instance, 021234567@fax.messagenet.it; 027654321@fax.messagenet.it]
The Messagenet fax system will send you a loading notification message after a few minutes. Later on, you will receive a message notifying you of successful or unsuccessful delivery.
3.3 I sent many faxes. How can I know which fax corresponds to the loading and confirmation messages that I receive?
When you send a fax, type a key word in the subject field of the outgoing email message.
The loading and confirmation messages of each fax have the same subject as the fax you sent.
3.4 Does the recipient see the email subject?
No. If you like, you can write the relevant information (from, to, subject, notes, etc.) in the email body or on the first page of the attachment. This information will appear on the first page of the fax.
3.5 What is the enabled sending address and what is it for?
The enabled sending address is an email address specified by the user when they subscribe to FAXout.
A user can send faxes only from this enabled sending address.
3.6 Can I send files attached to the outgoing mail?
You can send the following file formats as attachments to your outgoing mail: Word (.doc e .docx), Excel (.xls) and PDF/Acrobat (.pdf).
The overall size of the email and any attachments should not exceed 25 Mbytes.
You cannot send other types of files (.exe .com .jpg .gif .tiff .bmp .pps .ppt ...).
MAC users, please remember to use Base64 code for the attachments.
3.7 Can I send TIFFimage files?
Yes, but only if they are attachments received with FreeFAX and FAXin, or if they have these characteristics:
- TIFF file format: CCITT G3 or G4;
- page format: A4 (210 × 297 mm);
- mandatory width: 1728 or 2048 pixel;
- resolution: 204 × 98 or 204 × 196 dpi;
- capturing: black and white.
3.8 What is the "loading" email message?"
A few minutes after you send a fax, FAXout sends an email to your enabled sending address. This message notifies you that the FAXout service received the email which will be converted into a fax.
3.9 What do I receive to confirm a successful fax delivery?
Delivery of faxes is confirmed with an email message sent to the user's enabled sending address. The subject of the confirmation message is the same as the subject specified by the user. In any case, either with a subject specified by the user or with a default subject line, the delivery status of the fax always appears in brackets " [ ] " after the subject of the message.
3.10 What do the status codes mean?
Transmission reports show the final status, after several attempts, of the sent fax: "OK" confirms successful fax delivery, "CANCELLED" means final cancellation of the fax transmission and its removal from the send queue.
Here are the most common status codes:
- OK
- Message sent
- CANCELLED NA
- A fax machine did not answer (something else did, such as a vocal device)
- CANCELLED OCC
- Number busy (User ID)
- CANCELLED CRE
- Insufficient credit
- CANCELLED NC
- Number busy (network line) or malfunction
- CANCELLED ABS
- No answer
- CANCELLED INV
- The attached file is invalid or there is a problem with conversion.
3.11 Can I receive confirmation messages by sms?
Not at this time.
3.12 What happens if a fax doesn't arrive at its destination?
The user receives an email notification of the unsuccessful delivery of the fax.
3.13 Why can't I send a fax?
When we can't send your fax (that you sent us via email), we will notify you of the error with an email message.
This can happen for several reasons:
- The message must be sent from the specified enabled sending email address. You can change it from the control panel on the “FAXout” page.
- The message must be sent to an email address formed from the recipient's number (with or without 0039, without spaces and other non-numerical characters) followed by @fax.messagenet.it
- You must have enough credit to send it.
- Attachments can only be in the formats Word (.doc and .docx), Excel (.xls) and PDF (.pdf).
- The message cannot be in HTML file format It can even happen that an apparently empty message in HTML can contain graphic attachments (GIF or JPEG) which prevent us from processing the email correctly. (To be more precise, an HTML message is accepted only if it does not have graphic attachments and if it also contains a text version.)
3.14 Can I change the email address specified for sending faxes?
Sure. Just enter your UserID and Password and access the My Services page, and you can modify all registration data, including the enabled sending address.
3.15 Can I send faxes to mobile numbers?
As of 16 October, 2007 it is no longer possible to send faxes to mobile numbers. If you want to use this feature, you must send a request for a special enablement to the address support@messagenet.it and then follow the instructions that are sent to you.
3.16 How much does sending a fax cost?
Please see our rates.
Other questions
4.1 I have lost my fax number...
Together with the fax number (Personal Telephone number), you are also given a User ID and a Password
If you forget your User ID and Password, please read the next list of questions.
If you go to your personal page and enter your User ID and Password, and you can visualise all registration data, including your personal telephone number.
4.2 I lost my fax number, my User ID and/or Password. How can I recover this information?
You can recover your Fax Number, User ID and Password by going to the specific page and providing your email address or your personal telephone number.
You'll receive an email (a FreeFAX registration message) with your Fax Number, User ID and Password.
If you don't remember the email address you used to subscribe to FreeFAX nor your FreeFAX User ID and Password, please write to support-fax@messagenet.it and provide all of the information necessary to identify you plus a telephone number where you can be reached.
Obviously, the verification procedure will take longer.
4.3 How can I change my contact details?
Together with the fax number (Personal Telephone number), you are also given a User ID and a Password
Go to your personal page and enter your User ID and Password, and then you can modify your registration data.
4.4 I haven't found an answer to my question.
Please send an email to support-fax@messagenet.it clearly describing your problem.
Fax Number Portability
What are the conditions for obtaining the portability of my number for the Messagenet FAXin service?
Number Portability can be completed only if you have the migration code provided by the telephone operator for the dedicated fax line, and if there is only one number on a traditional analog or single ISDN line. In both cases, there cannot be an ADSL line present on the fax line, either contractually or physically.
It is also necessary that the request be made by the subscriber of the line, and all telephone operator invoices for the line to be transferred must be paid up.
Providing exact information is the best guarantee for fast, trouble-free number portability.
When the number is transferred from previous telephone operator to Messagenet, the customer loses all additional services connected with the line.
Which fax service must I activate to have Number Portability with Messagenet?
Number Portability is a free additional option with the service FAXin. To get it, you must activate FAXin, which allows you to receive an unlimited number of faxes at your email address, for the price of 60.50 € (VAT included) euro per year, VAT included (plus an 18.15 € (VAT included) euro activation fee).
How long does Number Portability take for the FAXin service?
Approximately three weeks.
How can I send faxes if I no longer have a fax line after transferring my number?
With FAXout you can send faxes anywhere in the world from your email address or from the web. Therefore, you can send the documents directly from your computer without having to print them first.
If you have a scanner or multifunction printer, it is also possible to send documents that must be filled out manually and/or require a signature: just create the documents in PDF format and then send them from the computer with FAXout.
FaxOut is automatically activated for all registered Messagenet users that buy a recharge. Look at our rates and the instructions. Also, if you have a traditional analog line that you use to make and receive calls, and you kept your fax machine, you can simply hook it up to the line with a socket and keep the machine turned off. Whenever you want to fax a paper document, turn the machine on and send it in the usual way. Just remember to turn the fax machine off when you receive the delivery confirmation message.
Is it possible to transfer my fax number to Messagenet and still keep the ADSL associated with the fax line?
No. If the fax line has an associated ADSL line, it is not possible to activate the Number Portability option (see the Terms and Conditions)
Is it possible to activate the Number Portability option on a “Shared Access” line?
No (see the Terms and Conditions)
After transferring my number, can I continue to receive faxes at the temporary geographical number assigned by Messagenet?
No. As soon as your number is ported, the temporary number issued to you by Messagenet will no longer be usable and FAXin will become active on your old fax number.
Is it possible to transfer the number of an ISDN line to Messagenet?
Yes. Only if it is a single ISDN and there is NOT and ADSL line physically or contractually present on it.
Is is possible to port the number of a decadic PRI line to Messagenet?
No, Number Portability is only possible on tradition single lines or single ISDN lines.
How can Messagenet offer Number Portability?
Number Portability is a service that Messagenet can provide upon request and under specific conditions because it is an operator with a general authorisation to provide telephone service accessible to the public throughout the Italian territory issued by the Telecommunications department of the Ministero delle Attività Produttive.
How can I transfer my fax number to Messagenet?
To activate FAXin and keep your fax number, just follow these simple instructions:
- complete the online procedure by providing your details
- pay the annual fee and the activation fee for FAXin with a credit card or bank transfer
- Send Messagenet the following documents:
- the last invoice of your previous telephone operator for the number you want to transfer with the sentence "tutte le bollette precedenti risultano pagate" (all previous invoices are paid up)
- for a physical person: a copy of the identification document of the person who will be identified as the subscriber of the line;
- authorisation forms filled out and signed
These documents must be sent in one of the following ways:
- via fax to the number 0291390400;
- via e-mail to the address portanumero@messagenet.it as an attachment in TIFF or PDF format.
As soon as you have made the payment, you will get an email from Messagenet containing a temporary number with the same prefix as your old number, and the instructions that explain how to start calling and receiving calls immediately.
When the documents arrive, Messagenet starts the Number Portability procedure, which takes about three weeks to complete. As soon as it is possible, we will send you a message with the actual date of passage from your temporary number to your old number. After this date, the temporary number assigned by Messagenet will no longer be available, and FAXin will become active on your old number.
What are the General Conditions of FAXin with Number Portability?
The annual fee and the activation fee must be paid regardless of whether the service is used or not, and regardless of whether the procedure was successfully completed or not (for reasons that could NOT be controlled by Messagenet).
Upon request, Messagenet will refund the entire price paid for the FAXin service, only if the Number Portability procedure is not successfully completed and the following conditions occurred:
- these requirements were scrupulously observed
- the documentation provided was complete and correct
- the customer did nothing to hinder the Number Portability procedure, such as giving incomplete or incorrect information to the previous telephone operator, which could ask for confirmation or details about the procedure in course, also through automatic phone calls or through the operator.
