The All-in-One That Refused to Fax

Look at the DCP-L2540DW's spec sheet and one absence defines it: there is no fax modem. Brother's DCP line is print, scan and copy only, aimed at offices that retired their phone line years ago and saw no reason to pay for a fax board ever again. What Brother kept is the grown-up networking — this budget 3-in-1 has both wireless and a wired Ethernet port, which is more connectivity than several of its fax-equipped siblings offer.

The rest of the hardware is built for steady desk work: print and copy speeds up to 30 pages per minute, automatic two-sided printing, a 35-sheet automatic document feeder for unattended scanning and copying, and a 250-sheet tray that takes letter or legal paper. Brother rates the machine for up to 10,000 pages a month at the ceiling, with 250 to 2,000 pages a month as the comfortable working range. That range is exactly the territory where the TN660's math wins, as the table below shows.

What Each Cartridge Costs to Run

Supply	Rated yield	Our compatible price	Cost per page
TN630 (standard toner)	~1,200 pages	Sold through the TN660 listing (see note)	Not quoted — see note
TN660 (high-yield toner)	~2,600 pages	$22.95	About 0.9 cents
DR630 (drum unit)	~12,000 pages	$27.67	About 0.2 cents

Prices verified on our product pages, November 2, 2026. The empty cell deserves an explanation rather than a number: our TN630-named listing is the same listing as the TN660, and what ships is the high-yield 2,600-page cartridge. Dividing a high-yield price by a standard yield would manufacture a cost per page for a product that is not what arrives, so the TN630 appears here with its yield only.

For a machine printing near the top of its recommended range — say 1,500 pages a month — a TN660 lasts close to two months and the drum becomes a once-a-year conversation. Toner at roughly nine-tenths of a cent a page, drum at roughly two-tenths: the paper costs more than the imaging.

Two Parts, Two Clocks

Brother splits this platform into a toner cartridge and a drum unit that live separate lives. The cartridge carries the powder; the DR630 drum is the imaging surface the cartridge clicks into, and it stays in the machine through about four TN660 cartridges. Learn the symptom split and you will never replace the wrong part: output that fades evenly from top to bottom is toner running dry, while spots or lines that repeat down the page at the same spacing point at the drum's surface.

The cartridge that ships in the box is a reduced-yield starter, not a full TN630 — its early retirement is normal and tells you nothing about the printer's real appetite.

Swapping the Cartridge

1. Leave the machine switched on and lift open the front cover. 2. Pull the drum-and-toner assembly straight out toward you. 3. Push the green lock lever down and lift the empty cartridge out of the drum frame. 4. Unpack the replacement, rock it side to side gently a few times to level the powder, then pull off its protective cover. 5. Set it into the drum frame until the lock lever clicks it home. 6. Run the drum's green corona-cleaning tab all the way across and back to its arrow mark, slide the assembly back in, and shut the cover.

If the panel keeps showing a toner warning with a fresh cartridge seated, the counter sometimes needs a manual reset — the exact key sequence for this model is printed in its manual, and it is a two-minute job rather than a fault.

When the Drum Comes Due, Buy Them Together

A drum rarely dies the week after a toner swap; the two clocks converge often enough that Brother owners learn to expect a joint purchase. Our TN660 + DR630 set pairs one of each for $34.54 (checked November 2, 2026), against $50.62 if the same two parts are ordered as singles — about $16 saved and a single delivery to track. Drum-and-two-toner and larger combinations sit alongside it for heavier users.

The honest counter-case, as always: if your DCP-L2540DW is a year old and its drum counter is barely into five figures' first half, the set's drum will sit in a cupboard. Buy the lone TN660 now and let the partnership form when the drum has genuinely aged.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can this printer send a fax if I add a phone line? No. The DCP-L2540DW has no fax hardware at all — the DCP line is print, scan and copy by design. If you need faxing on the same toner platform, the MFC models listed below are the ones that carry it.

Why does a copy come out lighter than the same page printed from my computer? Copy density is set at the scanner, not the printer engine. Raise the copy density setting a notch on the panel before suspecting the toner — the cartridge prints exactly what the scanner hands it.

Does the Ethernet port change anything about supplies? Nothing at all. Networked, wireless or USB, the machine takes the same TN630, TN660 and DR630. Connectivity decides who can print; the cartridge shelf is identical.

How long should a TN660 last me? At Brother's recommended ceiling of 2,000 pages a month, about five to six weeks. At a home office's 300 pages a month, the better part of a year — toner does not expire on the shelf inside a working machine's normal life.

Other Printers That Use TN630, TN660 and DR630

The DCP-L2540DW's supplies are shared across the whole TN630/TN660 generation. If a second Brother in the building is one of these, one shelf of cartridges covers both:

• HL-L2300D
• HL-L2305W
• HL-L2315DW
• HL-L2320D
• HL-L2340DW
• HL-L2360DW
• HL-L2380DW
• DCP-L2520DW
• MFC-L2680W
• MFC-L2685DW
• MFC-L2700DW
• MFC-L2705DW
• MFC-L2707DW
• MFC-L2720DW
• MFC-L2740DW

Ready to restock? Start from our DCP-L2540DW toner page, which gathers every cartridge, drum and set that fits this printer.