6 ms·

People in US still use faxes? Funny!

ghshephard 14y ago
Fax usage in the United States is a small fraction of what it is in Japan. I haven't received (or sent) a fax in 2+ years, and I used to deal with them (multiple times) every day in 2003.
mibbitier 14y ago
They also use pagers. Crazy.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Pagers, in their niche, are better than any other technology available. Considering how often my phone battery runs dead by accident, I feel a lot more comfortable with surgeons having pagers that run for months off a single AAA battery. http://mobihealthnews.com/12503/why-doctors-pagers-still-trump-smartphones/ http://mobihealthnews.com/12503/why-doctors-pagers-still-tru...
  - mibbitier 14y ago
    A simple nokia from 10 years ago or so will run for a week on a charge. It's only modern phones with massive screens, GPS, etc that eat battery.
    - jlgreco 14y ago
      A week is a far cry from months. Range, reliability, and delivery guarantees are also an issue with phones. The only real argument against pagers is that it's another thing to carry around, but in that regard modern pagers are a lot better than dumb-cellphones so pagers still have the advantage (because lets face it, people are still going to want their smartphones). (Well, that and "they are old, and old is lame", which is not really an argument. ;)
      - mibbitier 14y ago
        Outside hospital workers, you'd be hard pressed to find many in the UK that even know what a pager is, let alone someone who has one.
  - R_Edward 14y ago
    I'd like to know where you're finding a pager that runs for months on a single AAA. My pager takes a AA battery, and it has to be replaced roughly monthly. Why, yes, I do work in Healthcare IS, why do you ask?
DannyBee 14y ago
Only lawyers and realtors, from my experience
- endlessvoid94 14y ago
  and insurance companies
  - mathiasben 14y ago
    And accounting firms. Many plumbing supply companies accept invoices this way as well.
- felideon 14y ago
  Healthcare offices as well, e.g. for requesting records, transferring records, etc.
  - mirkules 14y ago
    Honestly, I don't know what terrifies me more about such businesses: storing my personal information on pieces of paper with no way to track their movement, or storing my personal information on (what is most likely) unsecured computers. They are both pretty horrific, but I think I prefer them to store it on paper if they can't/won't afford to have secure computers. I can't count how often I've seen doctors offices use Windows 2K or XP Home Edition this year alone. Even saw a doctor use a computer after closing down "does your computer have viruses" IE popups -- and then proceeding to enter my private info into their (probably HIPAA-certified, which, at that point meant squat) patient tracking application. Just saying that paper is not always necessarily worse than electronic records.
- jkaljundi 14y ago
  And Apple.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
whatusername 14y ago
APPLE asked me a faxed copy of an ABN Certificate for a friends business I was setting up as a business developer account.
- guptaneil 14y ago
  They've changed this requirement and now require your company's DUNS number instead. I'm still not sure which is more annoying.

Fax usage in the United States is a small fraction of what it is in Japan. I haven't received (or sent) a fax in 2+ years, and I used to deal with them (multiple times) every day in 2003.

mibbitier 14y ago

They also use pagers. Crazy.

jlgreco 14y ago
Pagers, in their niche, are better than any other technology available. Considering how often my phone battery runs dead by accident, I feel a lot more comfortable with surgeons having pagers that run for months off a single AAA battery. http://mobihealthnews.com/12503/why-doctors-pagers-still-trump-smartphones/ http://mobihealthnews.com/12503/why-doctors-pagers-still-tru...
- mibbitier 14y ago
  A simple nokia from 10 years ago or so will run for a week on a charge. It's only modern phones with massive screens, GPS, etc that eat battery.
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    A week is a far cry from months. Range, reliability, and delivery guarantees are also an issue with phones. The only real argument against pagers is that it's another thing to carry around, but in that regard modern pagers are a lot better than dumb-cellphones so pagers still have the advantage (because lets face it, people are still going to want their smartphones). (Well, that and "they are old, and old is lame", which is not really an argument. ;)
    - mibbitier 14y ago
      Outside hospital workers, you'd be hard pressed to find many in the UK that even know what a pager is, let alone someone who has one.
- R_Edward 14y ago
  I'd like to know where you're finding a pager that runs for months on a single AAA. My pager takes a AA battery, and it has to be replaced roughly monthly. Why, yes, I do work in Healthcare IS, why do you ask?

DannyBee 14y ago

Only lawyers and realtors, from my experience

endlessvoid94 14y ago
and insurance companies
- mathiasben 14y ago
  And accounting firms. Many plumbing supply companies accept invoices this way as well.
felideon 14y ago
Healthcare offices as well, e.g. for requesting records, transferring records, etc.
- mirkules 14y ago
  Honestly, I don't know what terrifies me more about such businesses: storing my personal information on pieces of paper with no way to track their movement, or storing my personal information on (what is most likely) unsecured computers. They are both pretty horrific, but I think I prefer them to store it on paper if they can't/won't afford to have secure computers. I can't count how often I've seen doctors offices use Windows 2K or XP Home Edition this year alone. Even saw a doctor use a computer after closing down "does your computer have viruses" IE popups -- and then proceeding to enter my private info into their (probably HIPAA-certified, which, at that point meant squat) patient tracking application. Just saying that paper is not always necessarily worse than electronic records.
jkaljundi 14y ago
And Apple.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

whatusername 14y ago

APPLE asked me a faxed copy of an ABN Certificate for a friends business I was setting up as a business developer account.

guptaneil 14y ago
They've changed this requirement and now require your company's DUNS number instead. I'm still not sure which is more annoying.