SOT: setting up a printer

Can you connect them with a USB cable?

I'm not sure the dongle is going to set up a wifi network suitable for the printer to connect to. It may not pass traffic needed for the printer and computer to communicate.

Dongles often appear as wired network devices (ethernet or modems) so may not provide any wifi at all. It's possible the computer is making an ad-hoc wifi network but the printer won't connect to it.

In this case, you can set up a 'normal' wifi network with a router (perhaps using the hotspot as the uplink), but easier would just be a USB wire.

There might also be a way to print to it via Bluetooth, which is a way to do it point to point without needing a wifi network. You'd need to check the printer has Bluetooth support and how that should be set up.

Theo

She has the printer in a cupboard. I think this fits with her idea of feng shui in the dining room.

I assumed - probably entirely wrongly - that a mobile hotspot was the same as a Wi-Fi hotspot on a phone.

It has worked before though, until about two weeks ago. This suggests there must be a way of achieving a connection.

She does not have a router or a landline. The dongle is Vodafone (4G) instead of reinstalling a landline. (Until I moved out she used to share my Wi-Fi as my flat was directly above hers.)

I wondered about Bluetooth. I'll ask her to check the instructions (when all else fails, that is).

The mystery is that it worked until recently.

Try

There are options for when the PC is connected to the Internet without using a router, to allow the PC to effectively act as a router for your local devices.

Working then not working suggests an inadvertent change in settings.

Cheers

Dave R

Has it worked since youmoved out? Was it using your wifi to connect?

Yes to both. I moved out in February and it worked until two weeks ago.

HP wireless printing. My limited experience is that is a flipping nightmare and very unreliable.

The good news is that HP will give you unlimited phone support - the sort of system whereby after half an hour your issue will be elevated to a higher level of tech advisor who will stay on the line while you reinstall everything and not go away until you can print a page.

The bad news is that printing a single test page doesn't make it work. Tomorrow it will be still dud, failing to connect or something.

More good news is that Currys (and maybe anywhere because it must be supported by HP) have a no questions return policy. If your printer doesn't work just plonk it on the Customer Relations Desk and they will give you another!

More bad news is that the new one won't work either, although strangely it malfunctions in a slightly different way.

Good news though, they do work perfectly well plugged in with a usb cable, forget the wireless.

Bad news is that the wireless printer will show alongside the wired printer as a different device when you want to print, and it can be tricky to tell them apart. This is frustrating, it looks like the printer doesn't work, but actually only the ghost printer on the non-existent wireless connection doesn't work, although they are really the same.

Good news though, Christmas is nearly here.

TW

One thing to consider is if the hot spot enforces isolation between its wifi clients - many will provide internet access to a number of devices, but won't in effect place them on a local lan where they can communicate with each other. So you might get a case where the printer can see the internet, and so can the laptop. The laptop can get to the web site, and so can the printer, however the one thing that won't work is the laptop be able to see the printer. (you might be able to test with two devices like laptops connected to the hotspot, and seeing if one can "ping" the other)

The printer may have a "WiFi direct" capability where it behaves as a wifi hotspot, and the laptop can connect to the printers network.

This can work, but can also be a pain to use since the laptop (having only one wifi network interface can then either talk to the printer, or to the internet, but not at the same time. So much swapping between wifi networks then ensues.

My solution would be a cheapo wireless access point that supports "WISP" Wireless Internet Service Provider. [1]

You connect the WISP router to the hotspot, giving it a WAN connection - but via wifi, then create a secondary LAN wifi access point on the WISP router. That means that laptop and printer are now on the same LAN and can talk to each other, and the laptop can also see the internet without jumping networks.

They often connect to the laptop via USB. Download the manual for the printer,it should have a reset button somewhere. Does it print a test page ?

When you do this, when using the GUI, there is a "generated password". Make sure to write that down, or you'll have to switch that on a second time.

The first time I tried that, I'm like "OK, it wants a password, where is the password?" . And you have to be very attentive or you'll miss the password output. The password is used on the other device.

As far as I know, this style of Wifi Direct, is limited to 51Mbit/sec or less. It does not necessarily allow the transfer of gigabyte files in the blink of an eye.

Paul

If you print the test page, does it have any record of the settings ?

This is HP we're talking about - I would not expect them to allow you or help you to debug a setup.

On some of the HP devices, they removed the USB interface, so you would be forced to use their App for setup, and be forced into servitude buying monthly ink or toner.

Paul

I'll not be accepting that. At this moment, in any case, we're quite happy with our Canon G6050, which I poured ink into the day we bought it, and it's only now, more than four years later, that the black is approaching the refill mark. I'd say we make low to medium use of it.

Sorry, 'hundred', should have read hundreds, plural..

On the first piece of good news, my former neighbour phoned HP support this morning. They talked her through it and the 'fault' was that the printer was set to ethernet. I assume it must have become corrupted as it worked wirelessly before.