It was only later, once Japanese businesses had truly popularised the technology in the 1970s and 1980s that fax became the business tool of the yuppie age.

By the end of the 20th Century, fax had become practically ubiquitous. The technology was now a key part of the booming information age. It was flashy and reliable.

But faxing was also a little irritating. Because fax machines have their own phone numbers, they sometimes erroneously call people’s telephones, blurting out unintelligible, warbling dial tones. There are still reports today of people plagued with nuisance fax calls. Perhaps more powerfully than anything else, though, it was the world wide web that signalled trouble for fax, as the technology reached its zenith. For many, the web very quickly replaced the need for faxing. But the surprising thing is just how long fax machines have stuck around, and the reasons for this are surprisingly complex.

Spam-free zone

In Japan, for instance, where faxing’s golden age really began, the ability to send handwritten notes using the traditional alphabet appeals to some businesses who rely on the formality of linguistic tradition.

Elsewhere, faxing has continued to allow for specialist transmissions, such as sending legal documents with signatures via a protocol or encrypted fax service which guarantees to a high degree of certainty that the message has not been tampered with. Also, one benefit of faxing over email continues to be the simple fact that the sender is notified when their document has been successfully received. There are no spam folders on fax machines.