Nutter helps a reader who’s having problems printing wirelessly
The computers in my office are only able to talk to the laser jet printer intermittently. I’m told the router is not compatible with the printer. What’s the best router for laser jet printers and wireless to work together consistently? Also, I want the computers to print wirelessly, directly to my copier. I’m told that a particular router must go with a particular Ethernet card in the copier. If so, what are the proper routers for the PCs to access the copier and printer?
Via the Internet
I haven’t heard of a router being incompatible with a laser printer before, but I guess it is possible. First, see how strong the Wi-Fi signal is from the computer with the wireless card to the access point when the user is having the problem. When the Wi-Fi user is having printing problems, is anyone else reporting a problem? Does the printing problem occur during a job or between print jobs? I’m trying to figure out exactly where to look for the problem. Other areas to look at are drivers and firmware. Make sure the Wi-Fi workstation with the problem is on the latest drivers for the wireless card and printer. Ensure the latest firmware is installed on the wireless card, access point and printer. This could be a situation in which more than one change is required to fix the problem.
If you’re using any type of Wi-Fi encryption such as WEP or WAP, try disabling it to see if that is the problem. I wouldn’t normally think of this, but I recently ran into a problem in which a vendor’s implementation of a particular encryption option had a bug that was causing the connection to periodically drop. Also look into the Wi-Fi channel(s) you’re using. It is possible that a company on another floor in your building is using the same or nearby channel and could be causing the intermittent problem you’re experiencing. As a general rule, out of the 11 Wi-Fi channels authorized for use in the U.S., 1, 6 and 11 are the best to use because they won’t overlap or interference with each other. If you’re using Channel 1 on one Wi-Fi access point, you’ll want to select another channel for a nearby access point, especially if any of their respective coverage areas overlap.
I’m not familiar with the requirements you’re being given as to a particular vendor’s router requiring a specific Ethernet card in a copier or printer. They’re all supposed to interoperate unless special features are being used that are unique to a given vendor. It may be that the vendor you’re working with is only familiar with certain brands of equipment. If the copier or printer manufacturer is making this requirement, it needs to explain to you why. Since it appears you have an existing wired network, you can buy wireless access points that are just that – without any firewall or router functionality. That should make things a little easier.
