WSD printer - What's the benefit?

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I got a new Epson WorkForce 633, hooked up by either wireless LAN or wired LAN (tried both). The install process had it installed as a WSD device in Windows 7. It's an all-in-one scanner, printer, fax, copier.

However, Windows 7 would continually lose contact with it. If I didn't use it for a little while, I'd have to either reboot the computer or power cycle the printer or both to get it to work.

So, I just uninstalled it and reinstalled it using a "Standard TCP/IP Port" for the printer (with a fixed IP address). What am I losing by doing this? What's the point of the WSD setup?

BTW, as part of the troubleshooting process, I turned off bidirectional printing. It didn't help with the WSD port setup. I still have bidirectional printing turned off with the "Standard TCP/IP Port" setup, but everything seems to work so far, including the printer's ability to report back ink levels, and my ability to read/write over the network to a flash card connected to the printer. Faxing direct from the PC also works fine too. I haven't reinstalled the scanner drivers yet though so I haven't tried that.

 

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Scanner functionality works fine too, non-WSD.

P.S. If you search for WSD on the net. It seems that much of the hits are about why WSD devices are wrought with communications problems. I don't know if it's due to growing pains with WSD's implementation, bad drivers, or both. In any case, Epson's customer support suggests only installing the printer with a standard TCP/IP port, so I guess they don't like WSD either.