Printing

Confused By Wireless Printing?

Wireless printing allows you to place your printer in an area of your home thats convenient for everyone. Setting it up can be tricky. Just knowing what to buy or not to by can be kind of confusing as well. The purpose of this article is to simplify the choices you have when it comes to wireless printing.

When it comes to wireless printing on your home network there are basically two ways to go:
  1. Purchasing a new printer with wireless capabilities already built in.
  2. Purchasing a wireless print server will allow you to use a printer you already have.

Wireless Printer

Purchasing a printer that already comes with wireless capabilities built-in can be a little bit more expensive at first but the amount of setup involved is minimal. As long as you are familiar with your wireless network settings (SSID, encryption type and security key) it should be a breeze. Most printers that come w with built-in wireless capabilities simply need to be connected to your computer with a USB cable like you would a regular printer. It's then a simple matter of installing the software on the CD that comes with your printer. The software typically includes network drivers that will allow your printer to work with your operating system. Once you are able to print a test page from this configuration the next step is to go wireless.

The best way to get this process started is to connect an ethernet cable from the network port on your wireless printer to one of the network ports on your wireless router. Once your printer senses your wireless router you can enter in your wireless networks security parameters by using a keypad located on the printer or software installed on your PC. Once this connection is set up properly you can remove both the USB cable connected to your computer and ethernet cable connected to your wireless router. Your printer is now wireless! You can move it to any location in your house that's within range of your wireless router and print. Drivers for your free wireless printer will need to be installed on all your other computers. This can easily be done by using the setup CD that came with your wireless printer.

Wireless Print Server

While a good wireless printer can cost anywhere from 100 to 200 dollars a print server can cost considerably less and it accomplishes the same thing only in a slightly different way. If you already have an inkjet or laser printer that you like and is reliable using a wireless print server is a good option.

A wireless print server is simply a device that converts the USB cable connection on your printer to a wireless signal that can "associate" with your wireless network. This is done by connecting the wireless print server to your wireless router with a network cable and then running a setup CD from a computer that has a wired connection to your router. As with a wireless printer physical cable connections are necessary at first to get the setup started. Once the settings are complete the network cable can be removed. Plug the printers USB cable into the print server and move both to a location in your home that's convenient for everyone to access.

Wireless print servers can be a little tricky to set up. Sometimes they'll lose their IP address and you'll have to set them up all over again a few days later. The best way to prevent this from happening is to set your wireless print server up with what is known as a static IP address. A static IP address is one that never changes as opposed to an IP address that assigned by a DHCP server. Most computers on a network are assigned DHCP addresses which can change all the time without you even knowing. If this happens to a printer or print server it can lose its connection and be unable to print.

Now that you understand more about wireless printing you should have a better idea of what you need to get and what to expect in terms of set up.

JJ