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Comment by qwerty456127 | Hacker News Reader

Fax machines seem long extinct everywhere except in Japan and in some hotels. Landlines probably only survive in business environments, I hardly know anybody who would have and use a landline at home. Also, both businesses and consumers mostly use VoIP-based "landlines" employing codecs which can't support fax.

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Faxes have become a largely digital thing, as there are various digital fax services. Neither side needs to have a phone connection that can support it. The fax services just need to be able to communicate to each other.

I was in a radiology startup for a bit, and getting people to fill out forms on something like an iPad is still a problem. You need staff able to help them, and people damage or try to steal them. So then you end up with paperwork, and if that paperwork needs to move somewhere else, people fax it.

Fax machines are still widely used in healthcare, at least in the U.S. Can't speak for other countries, but I'd be surprised if that weren't also the case elsewhere.

My employer was moving us to a new office, right before the pandemic, it's not seen much action, but... there's a fax machine. I doubt any of us would use it, but it comes with our corporate really estate package. Just in case you need to send a fax to Japan... or some hotel?

Perhaps. Whatever, it sounds comforting and fun. I've heard they have a colour (!) fax machine at almost every home Japan. If I moved into an office which had one, I would actually contact somebody there and have fun sending hand drawn pictures to each other :-)

15 years ago, the office I worked in received daily menus via fax from local delis and restaurants with their specials, in case we wanted to get lunch. I have no idea if this is still a common practice but it seemed to be at the time.

This even had the slight benefit over sending email to a random address because a fax can just be posted on a common board in the office space, rather than someone having to take the step of printing the email first.

Landlines are probably more common than you think. I only got rid of mine last year. I would have kept it for backup but it just cost more than I was willing to pay. Many of us don't get great cell reception and WiFi assist isn't always perfect.

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