The following consist of a proposal to install a system whereby official Honduran FAX communications between the United States and Honduras will occur without making an international phone call,  In addition to the obvious advantages of cost savings; this system offers advantages in 1) reliability of transmissions, 2) quality, 3) flexibility, 4) tracking & accounting, 5) archiving, 6) fewer calls, 7) conversion of paper documents to word processing or text files for any computerized purposes.

The need for a means to the satisfy the above was recognized while I was attempting to FAX copies of the E-mail Enrichment Effort (E³) proposal to the Fundación de la Primera Dama de la Nación in Honduras,  The foundation's FAX would not accept more than one page before disconnecting,  After another number finally answered the next morning, poor line quality prevented us from connecting at full speed, so it took over 21 minutes to send my FAX,  I do not look forward to dealing with the phone bill when it arrives,  Then I recalled numerous problem reports about the difficulties in sending a FAX to or from Honduras,  Upon realizing how this must be a considerable and expensive problem for anyone engaged in frequent FAX transmissions; it occurred to me how important it would be to sent up a system to FAX documents with out incurring any international phone charges (while gaining extra benefits besides),  So first I am going to explain how this system basically works, and then I will examine all the benefits listed in my first paragraph.

Most persons probably realize that computers can send and receive a FAX with greater clarity and more enhanced options than FAX machines,  Every FAX sent or received by a computer is done so using a (FAX) file,  So when I want to send a FAX to a 'technical' cohort, we can simply do so by sending these files via e-mail,  This is often more convenient and the files suffer zero loss in quality,  Plus these files can be sent anywhere in the world at no charge,  With the foregoing in mind, the system I envision works by allowing every Honduran official, Consulate and Embassy in the U.S. to send any Honduras bound FAX they wish to a central FAX "host" location within the U.S,  This need not be a special facility, but a phone line should be provided that is dedicated solely to this purpose,  Once the FAX is received by the U.S. host, a FAX file it is immediately available for sending to a similar computer host in Honduras via e-mail,  The Honduran host then calls the final destination in Honduras to send the FAX,  No international charges what-so-ever are incurred,  A FAX originating in Honduras works exactly the same way,  Both host can receive a phoned in FAX and then e-mail it to the other country, or they can accept e-mail with FAX files for distribution with in their respective nation.

The only manual attention required at the FAX hosts will be to enter in the FAX number for the end destination after retrieving it from e-mail,  So in review:

• The FAX operator does not have to make an international call, but rather can send all FAX to just one number within the local country.

• At designated times, (say 9AM, noon, 3PM, & 6PM) the host collecting the FAX messages from step 1 sends all FAX files to the other country free via e-mail.

• Moments later, the second host retrieves said e-mail FAX files.

• Now an operator at this second host enters in the number where each FAX should be sent by reading the FAX number from the first/lead page of each FAX as it is displayed on the computer screen.

• Next this same computer makes all the FAX calls unattended and even re-dials calls if necessary until successfully completed.

   NOTES concerning the above:
It is suggested that the operator in step 4 will have a menu list of the most frequently called FAX numbers so when (s)he identifies the number where the FAX is to be sent, it can be entered with a single key press,  This method does require that said FAX number to appear on the lead or cover page of a FAX, but this is standard practice anyway. Eventually we may wish to automate this step, but it now has the advantage of being very reliable while not requiring personnel to learn extra steps when sending a FAX,  In fact regular FAX activity will actually be quite streamlined,  If you have a FAX for five separate locations you can send all five with just one call within the local county instead of five international calls,  And not only are you many times more likely to get through on the first call, you will enjoy a better connection, resulting in faster speeds and a cleaner FAX,  So the cost and time is much reduced, while FAX quality and reliability are noticeably increased.

   Reliability of Transmissions:
An international call can sound satisfactory to the ear, while being inadequate for a solid FAX connection,  Under such conditions FAX machines will be forced to connect at a lower speed and may be prone to disconnect prematurely,  Staying within national borders is not only much less expensive but phone connections are made more readily and with better caliber interconnects.

   Quality:
Low quality international calls also frequently result in the FAX being blurred or otherwise blemished at the receiving end,  Exacerbating this problem is the fact that the sender usually has no idea of the problems at the other end,  This then results in two more international calls (a voice call requesting a resend and the resulting FAX call),  This is NOT an issue when FAX files are e-mailed,  Check-sum protocols assure that received files are identical to sent files without intervention on anyone's part,  While it is true (but less likely) that a FAX could still come out bad at the receiving end due to line problems (or paper jams, etcetera); a resend however, only require calls to be made within national boundaries.

   Flexibility & Enhancements:
There are several areas where introducing a computerized FAX system will add flexibility. 1) Instead of just one FAX number, a lead page could contain a whole list of numbers where the following FAX should be sent,  2) FAX host computers could maintain current pristine copies of standard forms, which could be requested on the lead page by the sender and inserted into the current FAX in any order desired,  3) By taking advantage of widely available telephony products; the FAX hosts could be remotely instructed by a standard touch-tone phone to FAX said stand forms to any number specified by Honduran officials with the proper pass codes,  Thus a FAX could be conveniently initiated from any phone,  4)Another way to extend FAX abilities is to enable FAX servers to receive plain text or word processing files along with FAXing instructions via an unique e-mail addresses.

   Tracking & Accounting:
As a matter of course, host computers will maintain detailed information on all FAX activity they handle,  Therefore every FAX can be readily accounted for and tracking down lost messages to re-sending will be easy,  Reports could be generated on what ever schedule desired and forwarded to where ever appropriate.

   Archival - Backup - Redundancy:
If desired, all FAX activity through the computers can be conveniently indexed and archived, plus the hosts provide a natural redundance and backup to each other.

   Fewer Long Distance Calls of Shorter Duration:
We have already noted that the number of calls placed to send FAX messages across borders can be drastically reduced by the fact many messages can be sent to multiple different FAX numbers with a single call to your domestic host,  This dramatically simplifies and decreases the FAX operator's work load, while also assuring faster transfer speeds. Additional time is also saved to the extent that any of the above flexibility enhancements are utilized, because these instances save on the actual transmission of either redundant data, standard documents & cover sheets already stored on the FAX hosts, or by submitting jobs by e-mail.

   Conversion of Paper to Digital Documents:
On occasion, text information in a received FAX document, may be wanted in for use in a word processing document, e-mail, or other application,  Either you can manually type the information in while reading the document or a computer can do it using OCR (optical character recognition) technology,  I suggest installing the most advanced FAX OCR on your FAX host computers,  Then your two computer operators could be trained to run the OCR on any document submitted to them via FAX, and then return the processed text via e-mail.

   Speeds:
There is a number of ways to measure speed,  In terms of the time it takes for a long multi page FAX to go from say the Chicago Consulate to Tegusigalpa, my Ifree system could possibly be faster,  But that would require the received FAX file being e-mailed immediately to the Honduran based host and then FAXed posthaste to the Tegusigalpa FAX number. In other words if a direct international call went through and the FAX was successfully sent then the likely hood of Ifree FAX being faster could only be possible if the FAX is many pages long,  But this in not the narrow area where we are trying to gain an improvement,  It would not be a big deal to e-mail every FAX received by a host to it's partner in the other country,  However, once the FAX is received at the other host an operator is required to enter the FAX numbers contained on he 'lead' page(s),  And I was not anticipating an operator to be stationed at the FAX host computer full time (although that may well be acceptable especially if they had other work they had to do),  So normally the Ifree system will only be faster during times when international calls were experiencing sustained difficulties (which may not be so unusual).

The real goal of Ifree FAX is big savings in work load & time, phone charges, and frustration; while also offering better quality, tracking, and enhanced features,  Personnel no longer need to be concerned with struggling and wasting time when international FAX calls go through badly or not at all.

   More or Fewer Steps?:
Like the section on "speeds", this depends on how the "steps" or measured or perceived. From a system stand point, Ifree FAX has several more steps involved which is exactly why it takes longer when the U.S. to Honduras international phone system is working well. But in terms of the users the steps are simplified, and repetitive efforts are eliminated,  The steps needed to resend a poorly received FAX are also streamlined and more cost efficient.

   Expandability:
In addition to the considerations covered under "Flexibility & Enhancements", is the suggestion that we consider this project as just the first step,  The FAX host in Honduras could work with a computer in Europe or Australia as easily as one in the U.S,  So the Ifree FAX system begs to be globally expanded.

   A 'Parallel' System -- Zero Negative Impact on Current Procedures:
Ifree FAX will in no way interfere with doing "business as usual" and sending FAX messages by direct international phone calls,  It will work with all current FAX equipment already employed and requires no new equipment in any of your offices,  Ifree FAX simply gives you an alternate in-country number to use when making your international FAX calls,  All that's needed is a computer in each country, some software, custom integration, and a little training for the computer operators.

   Computers NOT "Dedicated":
While I have termed the computers "FAX hosts", that only specifies their function, and is not meant to suggest they are unusually sophisticated,  It likely makes the most sense to locate the computers were the greatest amount of FAX activity takes place (as this even eliminates long distance charges within the country),  In Honduras I'd suspect Tegusigalpa is best, and in the U.S. perhaps Washington D.C. or Chicago,  Elizabeth seems OK with using her home and computer for developing and testing the system if she can be provided with an extra phone line as required.

It is also advised that if a computer is located at an official site with full time employees;  FAX 'turn-a-round' times could be greatly reduced if an employee can be assigned to forward incoming FAX messages as they arrive,  Also it is not necessary for the computers to be dedicated to this sole function, for they could be used for other chores while waiting to receive FAX messages,  It is also likely that existing computers could be upgraded and used for the task.