I used to use an AirPort network, but recently changed over to a Velop mesh network (LinkSys). I have a base on each of three floors and it seems to be covering pretty well. I used to have a Time Capsule that does not seem to be used by the portables as a Time Machine anymore, but my main problem is that I have laser printer that was on the network that does not have access anymore.
This is an older Brother laser printer that works perfectly well, but does not have a very friendly configuration for WiFi. I have it in another room, as I do not have room in my office and had it hooked to an Airport Extreme that the airport would communicate with, link to the printer, and then have an extra EtherNet to feed the entertainment system (that seems to be working OK with the new Wifi). I would like to have a station that I could hook the printer up to by ethernet. nut it does not recognize my old Airports as being able to extend the network without a direct ethernet connection and even that does not seem to work as advertised.
Should I just move the mesh from the first floor to have 2 wifi tours int he basement (one connected to the router and the other to the laser) and the third mesh on the 2nd floor? Will the mesh reach up two floors? having two mesh towers within 20 feet of each other seems a waste, but the walls and ceiling are such that I cannot run a cable. Is this one place one of those ethernet on AC gadgets would work?
Obsolescence in the name of improvement (?) always seem to bite me in ways I did not see and this is one time that the older system worked, but one part of it was not working well and the replacement broke the linkages.
I recently bit the bullet and bought a basic HP laserjet printer (no ink cartridges for HP inkjets in Australia but that is another story…). I was impressed with the simple wifi setup after installing the HP Smart software on my Mac.
My point is you might be best buying a new laser printer, as much as I hate electronic waste!
I always connect my printers via Ethernet. I have many wired devices (especially desktop computers) in addition to wireless devices, and I want to be able to print from them all.
With an Ethernet connection, there’s no need to configure the printer’s Wi-Fi. Anyone connected to my LAN can print. (I did configure it for a static IP address, so I don’t need to rely on Bonjour to discover it).
I realize that the original question says that the printer is in a different room from the router and that there’s a problem using Airport Extreme as a network extender for this purpose. You might want to consider using some other form of network extender.
In my home, I use power-line network adapters. Anything based on the HomePlug AV2 standard will have plenty of bandwidth. Connect one to a LAN port on your router. Connect the other to your printer, in whatever room it’s in. If you need a few wired Ethernet devices in that room, put a switch between the HomePlug adapter and the printer.
If you want to extend the Wi-Fi, you can use HomePlug for that as well. Put a router into bridge mode and connect it to a HomePlug adapter in whatever room needs extra coverage. If you have a mesh network, connect your mesh node(s) to HomePlug so they can use your power lines as backhaul instead of Wi-Fi.
The performance isn’t as good as running actual Ethernet cables between the rooms, but it is far far easier and is good enough for most uses.
I went through a very similar experience. After many years I had learned to detest inkjet color printers with a vengeance so about 10 years ago I decided I’d only buy laser printers from here on out. Obviously, b/w only because color was just too expensive (for home use) and I don’t really need it anyway. I also didn’t want any of this copier/scanner nonsense that always seems to give people heartburn. Just a simple b/w printer that’s quick and no fuss.
After buying two HP LaserJets and being quite happy, I bought a new HP LaserJet about three years ago that supported wifi printing, but no Ethernet. I was super skeptical about all that (and PCL5 TBH), but I figured for the pennies I was spending on it, I might as well give it a try.
I installed zero software. I used a browser to “configure” the wifi part of the printer once and it took me about two minutes—essentially choosing my wifi’s name and entering the WPA2 password). I have never touched anything there since and it has always worked without a hitch. The printer’s quick and quiet, cartridges last well, and print quality IMHO is just fine for what I use (mainly text).
My next laser printer will again be a HP LaserJet with wifi support.