Can you fax to a cell phone number?

Why a cell phone can’t receive a fax

A fax travels as tones over a phone call. At the other end, a fax machine, or a service that answers like one, turns those tones back into pages. When a fax call reaches a cell phone, nothing on the line can answer as a fax, so the fax fails.

Some apps give you a fax number that forwards incoming faxes to your phone. That number is a fax number, not your cell number: the sender has to use the fax number.

How to tell if a number is a fax number

• Look for the label: on a letter, a form or a website, the fax number is usually marked “Fax” and listed apart from the phone number.
• If you’re not sure, ask the recipient, or check their official page, rather than guessing from the digits.
• If you call the number from a phone, a fax machine answers with high-pitched tones instead of a voice or voicemail.

What FaxTonic checks before you pay

FaxTonic checks the number before you pay. It refuses numbers that can’t receive a fax or that bill the caller extra: mobile numbers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Australia, and premium-rate, shared-cost and personal numbers.

In the United States and Canada, it can’t tell a cell number from a landline. Both use the same area codes, and a landline number can be moved to a wireless carrier, so a US or Canadian cell number passes the check.

If the number doesn’t answer as a fax, the fax fails and the refund goes back to your card automatically: the price minus a fee of $0.30 + 2.9%, or all of it if our fax provider refused the fax when we submitted it. See the refund policy.

If you only have a cell number

Ask the recipient for a fax number, or for another way to send the document, such as email, an upload page or mail. A fax can’t reach a cell phone, whatever service you use.

For numbers outside the United States, see how to send an international fax from the US.

Send a fax with FaxTonic

1. Make sure you have the recipient’s fax number.
2. Open FaxTonic and add your document, as a PDF, JPEG, and PNG file. The cover page is free.
3. Choose the country and type the fax number.
4. Check the total, $1.49 a page to the United States, and pay by card.
5. Follow the fax on its status page until the receiving machine confirms it.