Will the fax machine ever disappear completely?

[johntea]

The NHS does not make extensive use of them now

Hospital email is better encrypted and secure and is the preferred medium of choice now.

Been a few years since I last saw a facsimile machine in use...

The NHS still make use of fax more than you think (despite Hancock claiming otherwise), they just use software based solutions these days rather than physical fax machines

We've been trying in vain to remove all traces of fax for the past several years but what you find in the NHS is at least one department will flat out refuse to let you get rid of their decades old technology 'just in case' for example the Pathology department still have a physical fax machine, an analogue phone line, probably also some tin cans and a piece of string so they can still transmit results even if the entire building is burning around them!

Covid has had many negatives but I'll give it one positive it has given NHS IT systems a sharp kick up the proverbial as departments have suddenly had to adapt to being able to carry out their work from many more places other than their hospital base!

 

[gswindale]

Our fax machine at work went many years ago. Think we only had 1 complaint and that was from a 90+ gentleman who could read but not send emails for some reason.

Email and e-signatures are the way forward.

 

[Cdd89]

British Airways still only accepts mileage claims for certain partner airlines (eg JAL) by fax. Though they will begrudgingly give you an email address if you cause a fuss.

 

[Horizon22]

The railway still uses them. I can actually see how it is the easiest/fastest method to send physical documents that the other recipient also wants physically. If you want to send a document as it is from person A to person B with a fax you just go. Walk to fax machine -> send fax -> fax comes out.

The other way would be to scan - walk to scanner/copier -> scan document to yourself (or recipient) -> email recipient (if not done) -> recipient prints off document. Overall its a longer process, but its probably an edge case.

 

[S&CLER]

I was once told that faxes were especially popular in countries with non-alphabetic writing systems, which means essentially Japan and China and maybe Korea, though I think Korea has a true alphabet used alongside Chinese characters - but I am pretty hazy about this. It sounds plausible, but I've no idea if it is (still) true or not.