Will AirPrint work on a dual-band WiFi network? All the printers I looked at only supported 2.4 Ghz WiFi. My iPad 3 is connected to the 5 Ghz band. Will AirPrint work across bands or does the iPad also need to be connected via 2.4Ghz?
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Will AirPrint work on a dual-band WiFi network?
- Thread starter windmill83
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Even though they are different WiFi bands (and have different SSIDs), they are both part of the same network - so it won't be any problem. You won't even notice the difference.
My Canon printer and my iPad work fine together despite being on different bands (I use an Airport Extreme base station).
My Canon printer and my iPad work fine together despite being on different bands (I use an Airport Extreme base station).
Should work. I have something similar, but I did notice I had to make sure I was using WPA or better. WEP would not work for me. Not an iPad issue, but more of an issue that my AirPrint Printer would not connect with the network properly under WEP, so WPA was my only choice.
Just a note in case you want to run WEP for some reason and can't get it to work.
Just a note in case you want to run WEP for some reason and can't get it to work.
Thanks. That's the information I was looking for. I have a Netgear WNDR3800 dual-band router with the iPad 3 connected to the 5 Ghz band using WPA2 encryption. Hopefully it will work when I connect an AirPrint printer to the 2.4 Ghz band. Each band on my network has its own unique SSID. Does that matter? Also, do any brands of printers work better in this setup than others?
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The unique SSID is no problem.
The printer brand shouldn't matter as long as it can connect to your network. Our Canon printer is a few years old now and works just fine.
I have an Epson WorkForce 520 connected to the 2.4GHz AP and my computers and iPad connected to the 5GHz AP - I can print to the printer with no problems at all. I also have two separate SSIDs on my setup, and it makes no difference at all, since it's all still the same internal network.
The network is the same, so no worries. I do suggest, unless you need to have the level of control you do, considering running the same SSID on both bands. That way you'll have larger, more seamless coverage. As long as 2.4GHz doesn't have too much noise in your area, the downsides to doing this aren't huge.