How to choose a fax number for your practice

Choose a local number in your office's area code, and one number for the whole practice. At Fax Pigeon you pick it at signup from the numbers listed for your area code, and every plan includes it, from $4.99 a month billed annually for 200 pages with a signed BAA. A second number costs $4.95 at SRFax, and $4.95 a month plus a $20 one-time fee on WestFax Team.

Should a practice choose a local or toll-free fax number?

Local. The FCC describes a toll-free number, one that begins with a code such as 800, 888 or 877, as a number whose calls are paid by the called party, the toll-free subscriber, instead of the caller (FCC). That suits a business that wants callers anywhere to reach it free. A practice's faxes come from referral offices, labs and payers, and they dial a local number as readily as any other.

HHS's fax guidance gives no reason to prefer toll-free either. Its safeguards fall on the sender, such as confirming a number that is not regularly used with the intended recipient, and none of its examples turns on the kind of number (HHS FAQ 482). Every Fax Pigeon number is local.

Which area code should the number have?

The one where most of the offices that fax you work, which is usually the practice's own. Any fax machine in the country can dial a U.S. number, so the area code changes how the number reads on a referral form and has no effect on who can reach it.

Pick it once. HHS names pre-programming frequently used numbers into the fax machine as one way a sender avoids misdirecting a fax (HHS FAQ 482). An office that saved your number that way keeps faxing the saved entry, so a number that changes leaves every saved copy pointing at the old one. If you ever leave a provider, port the number out instead of letting it lapse. The order is in Port your fax number before you cancel.

How do you pick the number at signup?

At Fax Pigeon's signup:

1. Choose a new number, or transfer the one you have. Porting in is free at Fax Pigeon. SRFax charges $25.00 per number to port in, and WestFax $20.
2. Search the area code you want.
3. Pick one of the numbers listed. If a code has none, search a nearby one.

Choosing costs nothing extra, because every plan includes your own dedicated number. The free first fax sends from a shared number, so the choice comes with a paid plan. Read the ten digits back once before you print them anywhere, because a wrong digit on a referral form sends faxes to someone else.

What do one number and a second number cost?

Every plan below includes one number, and every Fax Pigeon plan includes a signed BAA, executed at signup. The costs split at a second number and at porting the number you already have.

How many fax numbers does a practice need?

One. Fax Pigeon puts unlimited people on one number and one inbox at no extra cost, and the shared inbox has roles and assignment, so a fax for the billing desk and a fax for a clinician arrive in the same place and go to different people. The Security Rule requires a unique name or number that identifies and tracks each user (45 CFR 164.312(a)(2)(i)). At Fax Pigeon each person signs in as themselves, so a shared fax number never means a shared login.

SRFax sells extra numbers for individuals and departments, and its plan cards read "Additional fax numbers at $4.95 each". WestFax Team adds a number for $4.95 a month plus a $20 one-time fee, which makes the first year of a second number $79.40, and Solo cannot add one. Shared fax inbox for a small office shows how assignment works.

Where does the number go once you have it?

On your letterhead and referral forms, in payer and directory listings, and in your e-prescribing enrollment, where platforms ask for a fax number that receives. Do I need a fax number for e-prescribing? covers that requirement. If the number ever changes, update every one of them, because anyone reading a listing you missed keeps faxing the old number.

Who should switch

A practice that pays for extra numbers only so faxes reach different people can route them by assignment from one Fax Pigeon number, with unlimited people and a signed BAA executed at signup, from $4.99 a month billed annually for 200 pages. A practice on WestFax Solo that needs a second person should switch too, because Solo is capped at one user license. A number already on letterhead ports in free, with the old provider receiving until it lands in 5 to 15 business days for most transfers. The six plans are on the pricing page, and the full comparisons are Fax Pigeon vs SRFax and Fax Pigeon vs WestFax.

* Prices last verified October 7, 2026, at each provider's own site. Fax Pigeon is not affiliated with SRFax or WestFax.