How to fax to Germany from the US

How to read a German fax number

FaxTonic reads all the usual forms. Our examples come from ranges that Germany’s telecom regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, keeps unassigned for films and books.

The hyphen is the German twist. On a direct-dial line (Durchwahl), the regulator’s rules count a fax machine as an extension (Nebenstelle), so phone and fax can share everything up to a final ending. The regulator’s own contact page shows its numbers that way.

So 089 99998-100 and 089 99998-199 are two separate numbers. Type the whole thing, hyphen included: FaxTonic reads it as +49 89 99998199 and dials every digit. A US-style “ext.”, “x” or “#” is different, and FaxTonic refuses it.

Check the label too: Telefon is voice, Telefax is fax. If you only have the office number, ask for the fax ending rather than guess.

A missing digit can slip through

A US fax number always has 10 digits, so a dropped digit stands out. Germany has 5,200 local areas, with area codes two to five digits long, and its rules leave room for up to 13 digits after the 0, shorter switchboard numbers and older short numbers.

So FaxTonic only catches a number that’s far too short or too long. Drop the last digit of 089 99998-199, and 089 99998-19 still passes.

At the review step, compare the +49 number with your source, digit by digit. A wrong number that a machine answers counts as delivered, and a delivered fax isn’t refunded. To match a code to a town, use the regulator’s area code list.

German prefixes to watch for

Austria (+43) and Switzerland (+41) have their own country codes, and FaxTonic doesn’t send to either. The international fax guide lists where we do.

No number yet? Try the Impressum

If the office wrote to you, use the number on its letter or form. Otherwise, check its website. Commercial German sites must keep an Impressum, an easy-to-find notice of who runs the site. Look there for “Telefax” or “Fax”.

It may not be listed. Section 5 of the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz, Germany’s digital services law, requires an address and an email address, but not a fax number. Use the email address to ask.

Two things a fax can’t do in Germany

• Replace a signed original. Under German law, where a statute requires written form (Schriftform), Section 126 of the Civil Code calls for the issuer’s own signature on the document. In 2015, the Federal Labor Court held that a fax doesn’t meet this, since the receiving machine only reproduces a copy of the signature. If that may apply to you, ask the recipient or a German lawyer first.
• Get through on every line. In 2018, an advisory committee at the Bundesnetzagentur said faxing is possible in principle on IP phone networks, but that errors and dropped connections can’t be ruled out, especially on long faxes. If one number keeps failing, the fix may be at the far end: Deutsche Telekom’s 2018 tips for its IP lines list settings a fax owner can check.

How far ahead of you Germany is

The US changes its clocks on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November, Germany on the last Sundays of March and October. In the weeks between, the gap shrinks by an hour.

Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t change clocks, so their gap moves only with Germany’s.

The price doesn’t change with the hour. Timing only matters if someone must collect the pages today: 9 a.m. in Los Angeles is usually 6 p.m. in Germany.

Send your fax to Germany with FaxTonic

1. Save your document as PDF, JPEG, and PNG, up to 20 pages, cover included. An A4 form shrinks slightly to fit US Letter.
2. Open FaxTonic and add it. For a cover in German, use the German app, where prices show in euros, not dollars.
3. Put your phone number or email on the free cover page. FaxTonic can’t receive a fax, so the office can’t fax back to the US number in the page header.
4. Choose Germany and type the number, hyphen ending included.
5. Compare the digits at the review step, check the total ($1.59 a page) and pay by card.
6. Follow the status page. “Delivered” means the machine in Germany confirmed the fax: it’s a record of sending, nothing more. If the fax fails, the “What to check” box gives any reason the carrier supplied.

Play the video: How to Send a One-Time Fax Without Signing Up for Anything

If the fax can’t be delivered, the refund is automatic: we keep a fee of $0.30 + 2.9% and return the rest, or return everything if our fax provider refused the fax when we submitted it. A delivered fax isn’t refunded, even to a wrong number. See the refund policy.