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Today, you can purchase, at a reasonable cost, wired and wireless network printers that can be shared by all of the computers in your office. If you are like many people, you have shopped for a new network-capable printer and have wondered if you should buy a wireless or wired network printer. In addition, you probably have noticed, that a wireless printer can cost you $50.00 or more than its wired counterpart. So when should you buy a wireless network printer?
First, a basic knowledge of networking is in order. Whether you are dealing with a home office, business office or enterprise office, all devices, i.e. desktops, laptops, servers, printers, shared media storage and VOIP devices, need to be able to “talk” to each other and to the Internet. This is accomplished by networking (or connecting) them all together. The device that handles the networking is called a network router. If the router also has wireless capability, you can connect wired and wireless devices together. The router is the “traffic cop” of your network. For example, if you want print to a printer from a wireless laptop or a wired desktop, all communication to that printer must first go through the network router and then back out to the printer. A computer NEVER prints directly to a network printer.
Today, most printer manufacturers offer network printers that not only connect, using the old style method of USB connection, but also include a wired network connection and optionally, wireless networking. The only purpose of having wireless capability, in a printer, is to allow you to place the printer in an area, outside of cable range, of the network router. If you are going to place your printer within network cable range of the network router, save your money and don’t buy a wireless capable printer. We have seen expensive wireless printers sitting 10-15 feet from the network router when a wired-only network printer would have sufficed and saved you $50 or more. In most cases, a network printer, with a wired-only cable connection, will serve your printer needs. Network cables, called CAT cables or RJ-45 cables, are quite inexpensive and allow you to easily run 50′ lengths without having to worry about signal loss.
The next time you are researching the purchase of a new printer, look for one that has a USB and a network connection, even if you are initially planning on using only the USB connection. In the future, if you add more computers to your office, you can connect the printer using the network connection, and allow all computers, in your network, to get access to the printer.