Fax, email or registered post: match the channel to the job
Proof, speed, price: what each one brings, with figures.
Three channels, three ways of working. Email lands in seconds, yet nothing tells you it got past the recipient's filters. A fax takes one to two minutes, and the machine printing it signs off on every page as it arrives; with FaxTelecom, a single page is free and a longer document costs €3.99 incl. VAT. Registered delivery, by post or electronic, is the channel the law regulates most closely, at the cost of a few days in transit for the paper version. Before you choose, ask yourself two things: which channel did the other party ask for, and what will I need to show if the sending is ever disputed?
Three channels, seven points of comparison
Each row describes how the channel behaves in day-to-day use, not how it is marketed.
| What we compare | Fax | Registered delivery | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery time | Usually 1 to 2 minutes; longer at peak times. | A few seconds, provided no filter holds the message back. | Several working days on paper; near-instant for the electronic version. |
| Record kept by the sender | A live status and, as an option on FaxTelecom, two PDF receipts: request and transmission. | Technical headers; as for read receipts, the recipient is free to decline them. | Proof of posting and a delivery notice issued by an independent provider. |
| Confirmation at the receiving end | The fax machine acknowledges each page it accepts (the T.30 MCF signal). | No dependable automatic confirmation that the message reached the inbox. | Signature or collection recorded by the postal worker or the platform. |
| Chance of vanishing unnoticed | Low: a busy or unreachable line shows up as a reported failure. | Real: a message filed under junk alerts nobody. | Low: an unclaimed item goes back to the sender, marked accordingly. |
| Price | Single page: free. Longer documents: a flat €3.99 incl. VAT per fax; PDF receipts €2.99 incl. VAT. | No direct cost. | Several euros per item, more with a return receipt. |
| What actually travels | A fixed image of the pages: no links, no macros, no executable attachments. | Text, links and files of every kind, the usual carriers of phishing. | A paper document, or a file lodged on a dedicated platform. |
| Who still asks for it | Pharmacies, medical practices, court registries, insurers and many public offices. | Rarely required for formal steps, widely accepted for routine exchanges. | Contract cancellations, formal notices and any notification whose form is set by law. |
The right reflex for each situation
Email for everyday exchanges
A question, a quote, a file the other party is waiting for and will acknowledge by replying: email does the job. Fast, free and universal, it remains the default for most correspondence.
Fax when the recipient lists a number
A prescription for a pharmacy, a form for a council office, a supporting document an insurer wants: if a fax number appears on their letter or website, that is the channel they process. Within a minute or two you know whether the pages got through.
Registered delivery when a rule requires it
Cancelling a contract that specifies this form, putting a debtor on formal notice, starting a deadline: when the law or the contract names registered delivery, don't improvise. Its qualified electronic version has the same effect as paper, subject to conditions.
Proof and legal weight: a few landmarks
Under French law, a legal act worth more than €1,500 must in principle be proven in writing (Article 1359 of the Civil Code), and a digital document counts as much as paper provided its author can be identified and its integrity is assured (Article 1366). Between traders, any form of evidence is admissible (Article L110-3 of the Commercial Code). A fax transmission report, email headers or a postal delivery notice can therefore all be produced; their weight rests with the court, case by case. Other countries apply their own rules.
Registered delivery stands apart because an independent third party certifies posting and handover. Its electronic form is recognised in France by Article L100 of the postal code (CPCE) and across the EU by the eIDAS Regulation (EU No 910/2014): a qualified electronic registered delivery service enjoys a presumption of data integrity and of accurate sending and receipt times (Article 43). If a dispute is likely, have a lawyer confirm the channel: this comparison explains technical mechanisms, it does not decide your case.
Your questions
- Can a fax stand in for registered post?
- Only when no statute or contract demands registered delivery. When the form is prescribed, as for some cancellations or a formal notice, that form is the one to follow. A fax remains useful for getting a document quickly to someone who asks for it that way, with a transmission receipt to back it up.
- What is electronic registered delivery?
- A document is lodged on a provider's platform, which identifies sender and recipient and timestamps both the deposit and the receipt. In France it is equivalent to paper registered post when it meets Article L100 of the postal code (CPCE); a private individual must first have agreed to receive mail this way. FaxTelecom does not offer this service.
- Why did my email never get an answer?
- Perhaps because it never reached a human: spam filter, an attachment flagged as suspicious, a full mailbox, an automatic sorting rule. Very often the sender is never told. A fax reports a failure when the receiving machine doesn't pick up or breaks off reception.
- How does a FaxTelecom fax compare on price?
- One page is free, with no cap on how often you send. From the second page, count €3.99 incl. VAT per fax, whether the document runs to two pages or fifty. PDF receipts are an optional €2.99 incl. VAT, charged only when the fax goes through. Paper registered post with a return receipt usually costs more; email is free, but the record it leaves is flimsier.
Proof and law
In this section
Where to go next
Hand-picked pages to help you prepare, send or prove your fax.
- One alerts a person, the other hands a document to an office.
- A page's journey, leg by leg, and the spots to watch.
- Faxing personal data while staying on the right side of the GDPR.
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