Electronic message system that transmits over telephone lines.

communications:(short for facsimile) Hardware that sends a digital image of a document over communication lines to a similar device. Originally a fax scanned a printed document and a paper copy was recreated at the other end. With fax modems documents may remain in digital form.

(1) Abbreviation for facsimile. (2) Reference to either the service or the actual machines by which a copy of a document or picture may be transmitted

This is a shortening of Facsimile, and it refers to one fax machine sending a digital representation of a hardcopy over the phone lines to be received and printed out by another fax machine.