AirPrint/HP ePrint Requirements Clarification regarding Network

I am one annoyed customer today. I went into the Apple store over the weekend to buy my father a printer for his iPad. I asked the same thing Tim's Tree did. My parents have no internet and have no access to a network. They want to print from their iPad directly. The genius guy said I should purchase the HP E-Station C510. They were out of stock so I went down to my local Best Buy. I ask the same thing to the Best Buy sales rep. They called there Apple rep and said the same thing. I purchased this $349.00 printer and guess what you need a wireless network connection.

I guess I will return the printer. I should also return the iPad since they've only had it for a week and pay for my parents internet at this point it would be easier. Let them use there old school computer.

You don't need an internet connection. The connection is helpful to upgrade the printer to the latest firmware but that is not necessary. You can have the printer create an ad-hoc network and connect the iPad to that. Take a look at Tim's Tree's last comment.

Iris,

The HP eStation C510 is really designed to be a Printer that has network connectivity and is always connected to the internet. If you are looking for a Printer for the sole purpose of printing from an iPad, any of the current crop of HP Photosmart/Officejet/Envy's will work. Some of them require a firmware update to get working, some of them work out of the box. In either case, its best if you can get the printer connected to the Internet temporarily just to make sure it is running the latest firmware.

Based on what you're telling me, there isn't much need for more then a Photosmart D110 (the lowest end of the product line), and borrowing someone's Internet connection for a bit. The B210 adds individual ink tanks. The C310 gets duplexing (two sided printing) if he's interested in that, the C410 adds Fax, and the Envy 100 gives you a great looking printer in a nice small form factor. But based on what you telling me, I simply can not recommend the eStation since its way overkill for what you're looking for and without an internet connection is a complete waste of money.

To summarize, the printers I would consider for your Dad:

HP Photosmart D110 - Basic Printing
HP Photosmart B210 - Individual Inks
HP Photosmart C310 - Duplex Printing
HP Photosmart C410 - Faxing (if your Dad needs a Fax machine)
HP Envy 100 - Small Form Factor, Duplex Printing, but not individual inks.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Andrew,
It looks like you are a miracle worker here. I have a similar problem, I'm working for a plumbing company and we do our invoicing with iphones. The only problem is there is no way to print the invoice for the customer when a plumber is done with the job. Basically I just want to know your recommendation of a printer that will be cheap on ink, portable and be able to create an adhoc network like you've been discussing. We really only need a black and white printer. Battery powered would be ideal, but it is possible to get a converter for our trucks if necessary. What would you recommend? And thanks ahead of time. I already called applecare with this question and they said it wasn't possible, but it looks like they are wrong...

Nathan,

Right now, without using a MacBook as a Print server on the road, you will need to run the Printer off of AC. I would recommend the HP Photosmart D110a. A quick look at Amazon and HP.com show it currently selling for $69.99, but I have seen it for a little bit less. It is probably your best bet for that type of environment if you don't have a MacBook to use at your disposal. If you do have a MacBook, the Officejet H470wbt can be run off of battery, and has wireless, unfortunately it does NOT support AirPrint, and there are no plans to do so, so you would need the MacBook as a Print Server. I have been making everyone I can aware of the need for an AirPrint capable printer to fill this need, but I don't see us having the perfect answer for a while.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

THANK YOU ANDREW!
This is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you, I'll be purchasing one today, I'll let you know how it goes.
Nathan

Got the printer today and set up was no problem. Everything looks to be working great, thanks for your help Andrew! You just made an entire company satisfied apple and hp customers!

Nathan

Andrew,

Thanks so much for the help! I bought my Dad the D110 and works like a charm. He loves his iPad. I also bought an iPad for my brother now that everyone is satisfied. We love Apple and HP.

Happy Holidays!

I'm glad everything is working out. And Happy Holidays to everyone around here as well. I'll be in and out over the break, but I try to be around at least once a day in case anything comes up.

Again, Happy Holidays!

Just trying to keep the peace.

Andrew

I'm having problems printing from my iPhone 4, and my parent's 3GS's. I have a HP B210 printer connected to my AirPort Extreme, with the new firmware update. I don't have any internet access from this router, we only have dial up. I can print from my iMac fine, but not the phones.

I took it to a neighbor's house yesterday and hooked up to their wireless network (which has internet) and I could print from my phone as well as her iPad. It worked very intermittently on Christmas Day, and then it stopped soon afterwards. Any help?

themacintoshdaddy,

It sounds like you are having a problem with your wireless router. What router do you have? There are known problems with quite a few. One alternative since you don't have an Internet connection, yet you have the latest firmware installed, is to turn the Printer's wireless radio on into AdHoc mode and connect from the iPad directly to the Printer.

The weird problem that I don't understand is that the Airport Extreme should work just fine. Are you sure you updated the firmware on the printer? I believe that printer had AirPrint support out of the box, but it still had some issues. If you print out the report on your Printer and tell me what firmware you have I can double check to make sure its the latest.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

I can't seem to find the AdHoc settings anywhere on the printer. If you could help me find that, you'd be greatly appreciated.

I will try to reset the router and see if that works in the meantime.

OK, first, reset your network setting by selecting "Restore Network Defaults". This will turn off your wireless radio. Then select "Wireless Radio" and turn it to "On". You will now find a network that is created by your Printer. On the Mac it will get called out in a separate section of the Airport Menu titled Devices. On the iOS devices, it simply gets mixed in with the rest.

This will at least get you talking directly to the Printer and taking the router out of the equation. However obviously at this point the Printer will have no network connectivity so ePrint, the Apps on the Printer, and future software updates won't work in this mode.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Found it, seems to be working well over AdHoc. May be the best solution in the long run, but I'd still like to get it to work over my regular network. Took the printer to a neighbor's house and updated firmware, and updated my firmware on the AirPort Extreme as well. Still nothing. Any ideas?

So let me ask how your Wireless network is setup? The Extreme SHOULD work (its what I use at home and work, both with no problems), so since its not working, I'd like to understand more about your environment. Can you please tell me as much as possible about how your configured your AirPort (the Summary and Wireless tabs of the AirPort settings and the Internet Connection and TCP/IP tabs of the Internet settings would really help).

Just trying to help.

Andrew