Fax, email, registered letter: which channel for your send?
Three channels, three promises: what each one actually delivers, with the numbers to back it up.
Email lands in seconds, but nothing confirms that it got past the filters and into an inbox someone actually reads. Fax needs one to two minutes and obtains an acknowledgement for every page from the receiving device; on Faxeroo the first page is free and, from the second page on, the whole document is charged at €3.99 incl. VAT. Registered mail, whether it travels on paper or electronically, comes under the strictest rules, and the postal option takes several days to arrive. Two questions settle most cases: which channel your contact asked for, and which evidence you can produce if delivery is challenged.
Seven lines to separate three channels
Each line describes how the channel actually behaves, without bias or sales pitch.
| Criterion | Fax | Registered letter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transit time | One to two minutes in principle; a little longer when the lines are busy. | A few seconds, provided no filter intercepts it. | Several working days on paper; almost immediate in electronic form. |
| Record held by the sender | A status that updates continuously and, as an option on Faxeroo, two PDF receipts: the request, then the transmission. | Technical headers, plus a read receipt your recipient is free to refuse. | A third party records proof of deposit and the delivery notice. |
| Recipient's response | The machine called acknowledges the pages as the call proceeds (MCF message in the T.30 protocol). | No reliable automatic notice tells you the message reached an inbox. | The postman or the platform records the signature or the collection of the item. |
| Possible silent loss | Low: an engaged or silent line ends in a displayed failure. | Real: a message classed as spam sits in a folder nobody opens. | Low: an unclaimed item is returned to its sender, with the appropriate marking. |
| Price | First page free; after that, one fixed fee of €3.99 incl. VAT applies to the entire document, regardless of length; PDF receipts cost €2.99 incl. VAT. | Nothing to pay. | Expect a few euros per item; the return receipt adds to the price. |
| Form of the content | Static page snapshots: no hyperlinks, no macros, no attached executables. | Text, links and attachments in any format — familiar ground for phishing. | Paper, or uploading a file to a dedicated platform. |
| Who still requires it | Medical practices and pharmacies, insurers, court registries, plus a large portion of government offices. | Never required for a formal act, accepted everywhere for day-to-day correspondence. | Contractual cancellations, formal demands, notifications whose form the law prescribes. |
Matching the channel to the document
Email for everyday matters
A detail to check, a quote to comment on, a document your contact awaits and will confirm by replying: email suffices. Universally available, free and quick, it remains the everyday workhorse of correspondence.
Fax when your contact asks for it
A prescription for a pharmacy, a form for a government office, proof requested by an insurer: when the fax number is printed on their letters or published on their site, that is the channel this recipient handles. Within one or two minutes you will know whether the pages went through.
Registered letter when the form is imposed
Cancelling a contract that provides for it, notifying a debtor with a formal demand, starting a time limit running: where the law or the clause names registered mail, the debate is over. Its electronic version, once qualified, carries the same weight as paper — subject to its own conditions.
Proof and the law: what you need to know
French law requires written evidence for any act above €1,500, unless an exception applies (Civil Code, article 1359). Electronic writing has the same force as paper once the author is identifiable and integrity preserved (article 1366). Between traders, evidence remains free (Commercial Code, article L110-3). Transmission reports from fax, email headers, postal receipts — all admissible; the court weighs each based on the file.
Registered mail stands apart: a third party attests deposit and delivery. France recognises its electronic form under CPCE article L100; across the Union, eIDAS (EU 910/2014) applies, and article 43 grants qualified services presumptions of data integrity and of accurate send/receive dates. On a litigious matter, have the channel confirmed by a lawyer: this comparison describes mechanisms, not verdicts.
What you ask us
- Can a fax replace a registered letter?
- Only where neither law nor contract calls for registered mail. When a text prescribes the form — certain cancellations, a formal demand — that form prevails. Fax remains useful for sending a document quickly to a contact who requests it that way; the transmission receipt backs it up.
- Electronic registered mail: what is it?
- The deposit happens on a provider's platform: the provider authenticates both parties, then time-stamps the deposit and the delivery. In France it carries the same weight as paper registered mail if it meets article L100 of the CPCE (postal code); an individual recipient must have agreed to this method beforehand. Faxeroo does not offer this service.
- My email gets no reply: why?
- Perhaps it never reached its recipient: blocked by a spam filter, set aside for a suspicious attachment, drowned in a full inbox, or filed away by an automatic sorting rule. The sender is generally not told. Fax, on the other hand, displays a failure if the line called stays silent or the reception breaks off.
- What budget for a fax, against the other channels?
- Page one costs nothing, and you can send as many times as you like. From page two onward, each send is €3.99 incl. VAT, no matter if the document is 2 or 50 pages long. PDF receipts can be added for €2.99 incl. VAT; you are charged just once the fax is delivered. Paper registered mail — especially with a return receipt — tends to be pricier. Email costs nothing, though its record carries less weight.
Law and proof
This topic
Keep reading
Pages chosen to help you prepare a send, track it, or keep proof of it.
- One warns, the other delivers and proves.
- Every stretch of the journey examined, with its points of vigilance.
- Sending a fax containing personal data without breaching European regulations.