Short answer: when your fax connects to the recipient's line, even briefly, telecom operators charge us for that connection time, regardless of whether the document was successfully delivered. We pass on those costs in the form of credit deduction. We know this is counterintuitive and we want to be transparent about how it works.
When credits are deducted vs when they aren't
| What happened | Was credit deducted? |
|---|---|
| No answer at the recipient's number (line rang, never picked up) | No charge. No credit is deducted. |
| Recipient's line was busy on first attempt | No charge for that attempt. Auto-retry may attempt again. |
| Call connected but failed before any pages transmitted | Yes, based on connection duration. |
| Some pages transmitted, then dropped (partial send) | Yes, based on the pages transmitted plus connection time. |
| Successful delivery | Yes, normal page count. |
| Recipient picked up but their fax machine didn't respond | Yes, based on connection duration. |
Why this happens technically
When your fax is sent, our system places a phone call to the recipient's fax machine. Telecom operators worldwide bill per minute on a connected call, whether or not anything useful happens during that call. The same charge structure that applied to physical fax machines for decades still applies to digital fax services like ours.
This is why a 1-page fax that took 1 minute and 6 seconds to attempt may be billed as 2 pages, even if it failed: the connection time was over 60 seconds.
How to see exactly what you were charged for
To view the cost breakdown of any specific fax:
- Log in to Fax.Plus and go to the Sent section.
- Find the fax in question and click on the three dots next to it.
- Click on Fax Status to see the operator-level breakdown, including the connection duration and the page count billed (Cost (No. Of Pages)).
This tells you exactly why credits were used and helps you decide whether to retry.
How to minimize charges from failed faxes
- Verify the recipient number including the country code (e.g., +1 for US/Canada, +44 for UK). A wrong number can connect briefly to the wrong machine and consume credit.
- Use auto-retry so the system automatically tries again at a smarter interval rather than you re-sending immediately. See How can I configure my account to initiate automatic fax resend attempts in case of a fax failure?.
- For high-traffic destinations like the IRS, see How to send faxes to the IRS successfully for retry timing recommendations during peak periods.
- Break up large faxes into 5-10 page batches to reduce the cost impact of any single partial-send failure.
"But the recipient confirmed they didn't receive it"
If your fax shows as "transmitted successfully" but the recipient says it didn't arrive, see Understanding fax delivery confirmation and troubleshooting non-receipt claims. A "successful" status from Fax.Plus means the destination fax machine acknowledged receipt. If the document didn't reach the right person internally at the recipient's organization, that's typically an issue on the recipient side.