Bought this about three years ago as I need a fax for my work. I use it primarily for outgoing faxes maybe 150-160 pages a month. I have incoming faxes maybe 5 pages a month. This seems like pretty light duty to me. All was well until a couple of months ago when the machine just stopped faxing. The faxes would run through the machine into memory, the machine dials the number and connects but the faxed page count remains on 1. I have found if you turn it off and back on there is a good chance it will then fax. However you need to repeat this maneuver nearly every time you want to fax out. No error codes are displayed.

I called Brother tech support and other than blame the number I was faxing to (which works when you turn the machine on and off) they were of no help.

Now I paid $99 for the machine so in that context it has cost me about $2.75 a month which probably isn't too bad. I sincerely hope no one is considering paying the prices I see today of around $350.00 plus shipping for this device.

I've replaced it with a Brother 2840 which is $99.00 at least as of now. Amazon prices can vary wildly day to day.

Funny, I just read an article about "outdated" technologies people still use, and the fax/copier was listed amoung them, and the article had a picture of this Brother IntelliFax 2820 as an illustration. I have discovered that using a scanner at home to make a copy is "OK" in a pinch, but is cumbersome. If you just need document copies for your records, or a copy of a neighbor's recipe, this Brother 2820 fills the bill. It makes plain-jane, black and white, very readable reproductions in a very short time (about ten seconds). I haven't had to order a replacement toner cartridge, but I don't think the cost will kill you. Toner is almost always cheaper then ink-cartridge replacements. Set-up from the box is about five to ten minutes for the techno-literate. I would recommend this machine to anyone with basic, moderate volume copying needs.

I have desired and wished for a useable FAX machine for years but thought that they would be too costly or complex for my tastes. After a LOT of research and reading of reviews on various machines, I ordered this one from Amazon. One of the best decisions of my life! This little guy was just the right size, was very affordable, had every feature that I could imagine, and was a dream to set up and learn to use. Everything went like clockwork and within a very few hours, had it purring. First test was for copying and it just took right off and gave me perfect copies at the push of 1 button. The next day, had to send off 11 faxes to close a financial deal and again, lickety split, it sent off all the faxes first try by just reading the manual (the recipient immediately verified receipt).

For the uneducated on these machines, you don't need a separate FAX telephone line or number to send faxes. It did it's thing right over our normal phone connection.

I highly recommend this little guy. It does everything a FAX machine should do and does it easily and well.

For the record on 'Brother', the manufacturer, I had a question that the user manual just didn't quite answer and I called the customer support number listed in the manual and very quickly had a knowledgeable service rep on the line that quickly, patiently and courteously took care of my problem. It's been a long, long time since I had such good service for a new product.

Thank you, Amazon and Brother!

I bought this fax for our home and my husband and my home business. I knew this fax from the office I worked in as a very busy private practice psychotherapy center in our town. Though our office manager used it more than I, I used it frequently as a therapist. I am not a very tech savvy person, but loved this fax at the office. It is easy to use and held up great while I was there, for 5yrs, and it was there when I joined the practice. So I know it lasts at least that long. We received and sent a great deal of faxes a day, several pages in length, and the drum and toner seemed to handle that well before needing a new one. Educated estimate use each day might be 100+ pages a day. It also makes great copies, though of course used the office copier more often for that, but when in a quick pinch checking out a client, I'd go for the fax to make a copy, since our copier seemed to more often than not give me trouble!
Again, not a major "office person" or very tech savvy, but since I knew this machine and can operate it, knew exactly that I wanted one of these for home business use. Easy set up, great instruction booklet, and of course had to call brother when registering it, and they were very nice and helpful, even though my question was a major "duh" thing. I also had a Brother fax yrs ago in our horse barn office...it was cheap, took some beating being in a barn exposed to elements, even with it in closed and insulated room, it was also a tack room. So I just trust Brother's quality. Great price here to as usual.

The only problem I had is that it is kinda hard to put the cartridge in and they only give you a starter cartridge but the starter is 1500 sheets. I would of liked regular ink cartridges just because they are easy to find at staples if you need one in a hurry, but for the price this is a great product for a small business. Was really easy to set up, took a half an hour. Now I have to find the toner cartridges, I think I found them for 20 dollars without shipping, way cheaper than ink and they last a long time so they won't dry out as fast as ink. I think I am going to enjoy this new fax machine.

Update:
Still working really well. I did use it to copy and took it off the fax mode for a moment. I switched it back to the fax mode which is just pressing a button, however it didn't go back quickly enough. It seems to be accepting faxes now. I hope I don't miss any. Other than that one time, it has been a great machine so far!