Printer wifi connection

This is just to illustrate how things can be affected. My phone kept making random loud noises and I discovered it was caused by my free train pass being stored in the phone cover.

Thanks Marydoll. I’ve had two HP printers and they’ve lasted for ever. I gave my first to a friend who rarely uses it and I think it’s still chugging on! My present one is making weird noises and getting slower and slower and the inconvenience in having to transfer stuff from the iPad to laptop has made me think of looking for another. I’m glad you warned me about HP as I probably would have automatically gone for one. I’ll do a bit more homework.

And I’ll move my phone away from the router!

Nfk I think most printer manufacturers have software to block compatible inks these days - I know Epson does, and that's been my preferred brand of printer for years . But the chap in my local computer shop told me there is an Epson Eco Tank (I think that's what it's called) now with refillable ink cartridges, which works out a lot cheaper. When my one finally bites the dust I will probably investigate that a bit further. No doubt the printer itself will cost more than others, but going by the prices of branded inks I reckon the difference might be recouped pretty quickly.

Ink used to be a major expense but our current HP printer came with an automatic ink option. We pay £3.49 a month for 100 pages, usually more than enough these days. Any not used rollover up to an extra 100 pages, we currently have 200 we can use. There are lots of options according to need. The printer ‘talks’ to the HP site and cartridges turn up well before they are needed. It works for us even if the printer can be temperamental. In our last home the router was upstairs and the printer downstairs in my office. It worked very well, in fact far better than being next to it. No sense in that but I’ve given up trying to understand.

I gave up on the alleged WiFi ness of my printer and just bought a connector to plug into the computer. Sorted.

I’m now remembering why I came out of the shop without one last time I looked....I confused!!

I don’t think the monthly payment option would do for me as I can go weeks without using it and then run off reams of stuff. Most useful would be one which will print out from the iPad through WiFi. And be simple enough for DH to use with his really old laptop which would probably need to be plugged in.

I had the same issue when Virgin changed the router. Once I changed to Sky it worked perfectly again. I found out that new broadband sometimes has two lines a 2g and a 5g. The 2g line is the best for a printer. Not sure why, but hope this helps someone.

Thanks, it might well help me MaryLou. I’ve bought a new printer! A cheap HP one which had good reviews. It was so cheap it only just cost more than the cartridges! But, I did a bit of printing yesterday to use up the old printer cartridges and the old printer worked perfectly! So the new one is still in it’s box.

I do have WI fi on my printer, Its a canon MG 4250 it prints very well indeed but the ink is expensive.

It copies double sided and does have very good functions
However the printer only cost about £60 a year or so.
I think they make their money out of the ink. The printer would otherwise be more expensive.

I've had this problem too, and resorted to uninstalling the printer and re-installing it . (Actually got DS to do so the first time round). At about the fifth attempt it actually worked.

MaryLouM, your new router sends out it's WiFi signals at 2 different frequencies, these are 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (GHz stands for GigaHertz). If you have new devices that meet new standards, they will be able to see and use either frequency. The difference is that 2.4 GHz is the old standard for WiFi and many older devices can only use it. 5 GHz is a new WiFi frequency and is less 'cluttered' and allows for faster data transfer.

You can usually tell if your WiFi printer meets the newer standards because you will be able to connect to either frequency when you add your WiFi password to your printer.

However, 5 GHz is faster and more efficient when passing data between your printer and router than 2.4 GHz but 5 GHz doesn't travel as far nor does it pass through walls/obstacles easily. If your router is tucked out of sight of your devices, it will not be as effective as the 2.4 GHz frequency and, in fact, your printer may simply not be able to see it or just not work as well.