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Wireless print server versus wireless bridge?

A

amheck

Golden Member
Just some back ground.....

I have my wireless router in the main house. We also have a detached garage apartment, which is my home office. Right now I'm running a linksys Wireless-G PCI card in my PC and I'm connected fine at about 70% signal strength.

I'm currently looking for a new printer and throwing around some ideas in my head.

First of all, I see Linksys makes wireless bridges and wireless print servers. If the printer only connects by USB, I think you'd HAVE to use the wireless print server, right? But if the printer has a RJ45 port, I think you'd be ok using the wireless bridge, AFAIK.

Then I started thinking, would I be better off buying the business class wireless bridge with build in 5 port switch? That way I would have 5 wired ethernet ports in the back office, for whatever I needed.

Just kinda throwing around some ideas in my head. Not too sure which way is best to go here.

Thanks!
Aaron
 
I agree that a wireless bridge + networked printer is generally the better way to go than a wireless print server + non-networked printer. For two reasons: (1) Print servers can be somewhat flaky, limited in support for printers and slow. (2) Networked printers are sometimes better than the lower-budget non-networked models.

That said, of course sometimes you can make it work otherwise.

The Netgear WGPS606 is one device which lets you have a taste of both options. It supports some USB printers, and also has a client mode wireless bridge and a built-in 4-port switch. It's somewhat dated, but available relatively inexpensively on eBay and refurb clearance.

I wouldn't recommend it for challenging environments and long hauls, as the built-in antenna is not very impressive. Of course, you could hack on your own antenna (and you would need to do this if you twirl the built-in one enough -- that can snap the internal connection), but all this would probably be not worth the trouble, and you'd be better off finding a stronger device to start, and could fairly easily if you don't bother with the built-in print server.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. I found a $99 Brother Laser that looks pretty nice. Combining that with the Linksys wireless bridge may be the way to go. WIsh I had known about the wirelss bridge before I popped for the $50 wireless linksys card for my PC, but such is life.

I'll check out the netgear, too. Thanks for the tip.
 
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