Most of the low-cost fax initiatives were till some time ago for those based in the US. That is, faxes originating from the US to anywhere in the world could be sent at a rate much lower than regular rates. But of late faxes originating from anywhere in the world, including India, can be sent at heavily slashed rates.

Take the example of HT-NET Fax from Technology Workshop, US. By using the Internet, the company has designed this fax system, keeping in mind the travelling business person. Not only is it an efficient and concise means of communication, it also maintains the confidentiality of a personal fax machine, claims the spokesperson. And all that you need is a web server to retrieve and send faxes anywhere in the world, from anywhere. Also, there's no need forany extra software or complicated installation instructions.

Let's see how it works.

Begin with signing up via Technology Workshops web site -www.htnet.net. As soon as you do that, you will receive a personal area code fax number, login name and password. This number will be your personal fax number. Says the spokesperson, ``Technology Workshop understands how important toll free fax numbers are to our customers. So the users can also obtain a personal 800 fax number in addition to the assigned 650 area code number. The personal 800 fax number is accessible only within the US and cannot be used for receipt of international faxes.''

Once connected to the Internet, go to http://www.htnet.net and login. Once logged on, everything you need to know about your new faxes is available via TW's web browser interface: time of arrival, date, origination fax number, size, etc. After you have retrieved a fax, you can download the pages to a local computer.

To send a fax, specify the destination information,compose the cover page message and/or attach documents. Click the `send' command and let the fax server do the rest. To guarantee delivery, you can opt for confirmation e-mail.

In case companies need order forms or inquiries forwarded to alternate locations, there's provision for that too. Says the spokesperson, ``For some companies, while the Internet is an optimal tool for exposure and marketing, some inquiries are best handled as faxes. With HT-NET, a company has the opportunity to receive potential client inquiries and order forms from their Web site as a fax transmission. Potential clients can submit an order form on-line and HT-NET will transmit the document to the company, organisation, or alternate location as a fax document.''

Plus, there's no problem if a fax has to be sent to many recipients. ``The HT-NET Fax Service can accommodate these multiple recipients in a timely fashion. Instead of the traditional means of transmission which requires the sender to manually `feed' the fax machinenumerous times. By submitting an e-mail to HT-NET, you can pre-register recipient distribution list.''Now to the crucial question: Who needs this service? According to the spokesperson, it's primarily meant for business travellers. With this service in toe, you no longer have to rely on receiving faxes at a hotel or any other vague place, or even at a client site while you are out on business. HT-NET converts the fax into a GIF file that can be viewed with any browser. There's no chance of missing data, the documents being out of sequence, or even confidentiality being breached.

But the biggest thing in this is that it's a big saver. Consider this. It takes approximately 7 minutes to send a 10-page fax from London to Hong Kong. If the long-distance carrier in the UK charges $1.60 per minute during peak hours for all calls to Hong Kong, the cost of sending this fax is $11.20. If you send an average of 10 pages per day every month, your bill adds up to $333.60 a month in long distance charges. But in the newsystem, sending the same fax would cost $4.48 for 10 pages. By logging into an HT-NET Fax Account through the Internet, the fax would be sent through the fax server in the US. Because HT-NET Fax Service offers only the most competitive long distance rates, the high charges of non-US phone companies are avoided. In this case, says the spokesperson, the charge for transmission to Hong Kong would be reduced from $1.60 per minute to 64 cents a minute. That amounts to a saving of $6.72 for a 10-page fax. Over a month that could end up being $244 worth of savings in long distance charges alone.

Kallback (registered service of International Telecom) is another example by which you can send and receive international faxes at cheaper rates. It provides international telephone service at a discount of 50 per cent or more in comparison to the rates of hotels, and US calling card services. To trigger a Kallback call/fax via Internet mail, just send a message to trigger@kallback.com and put your trigger number in thesubject line. You may also follow the trigger number with a comma, then the number you wish to call, to fully automate the dialing process.

Kallback demonstrates how by following these steps, you can save heavily while sending international faxes. ``First, set your fax machine to answer after three rings or set to manual. Dial the trigger number set to call back to your fax machine line. Then Kallback dials your fax machine. Pick up the fax machine receiver. Enter the number you wish to dial. Dial the destination fax number: country code, area code, and telephone number followed by *. When the receiving fax machine answers, press the start button and hang up the receiver.''

If you want to know how you'll benefit while sending an international fax from India through these route, check out the rate table for various destinations. But do find out the subscription fee before logging on, for many of these services are not free. And even though they may say that the charges are nominal, look out for the hiddencost.