Router needed for printer in college?

[Jackson10T]

I have an Airprint printer that I use with my iPhone 4, Mac Pro, and Macbook. I'm leaving for college in two months and was wondering if I would need to buy a router to wirelessly connect them all up to the printer? or is it possible to connect my printers and apple products via the school's wireless internet? thanks!

p.s. idk if this if a dumb questions so be kind. lol.

 

[gsahli]

That's going to be hard to advise you on - because different schools have different policies.
At my school, any device that can browse to a registration page, will be able to access the network for one year. Routers/DHCP servers are frowned upon. The printer would need to be connected by USB in this case.

 

[nunes013]

I'm 99% sure you cannot connect via the schools network. I have tried other stuff like this and it never worked. Just a cheap router will work. If money is not an issue airport express is very nice. I use it with speakers hooked up and it works nicely. Plus it will play nice with all your Apple gear.

EDIT: some schools dont allow routers so call IT first. At my college they do allow it but I think it has to be locked.

 

[Jackson10T]

thanks so much!

Would getting a Apple Airport Extreme Base Station A1034 be too old for my macs? It would still be compatible right? and would it be slow?

 

[nunes013]

That station allows for a speed of 54 Mbit/sec. Some college networks are faster than that but 54 is no slouch either. it should work as you are just creating a network. just email or call apple support or call an apple store and they should know. i would test it but i dont have that airport extreme.

 

[ECUpirate44]

Just a thought, I could be completely wrong. Most universities require or provide an ethernet port in the dorm, could you enable Internet sharing on your mbp and use that network to connect the printer?

 

[nunes013]

Just a thought, I could be completely wrong. Most universities require or provide an ethernet port in the dorm, could you enable Internet sharing on your mbp and use that network to connect the printer?

i was thinking this too. how would you go about setting up the internet sharing? im heading up to my university in 2 weeks and can test it.

 

[ECUpirate44]

i was thinking this too. how would you go about setting up the internet sharing? im heading up to my university in 2 weeks and can test it.

Settings/sharing/Internet sharing. Be sure to select from Ethernet to airport and wep encrypt.

 

[BiggAW]

Wireless G routers are slow in dorms. My dorm has 10mbit ethernet, but my router cannot come close to keeping up. I use it occasionally, but I just have it there so my XBOX and iPod Touch can connect in without hassle. I usually hard-wire my laptop. The reason is that there are so many networks, you are constantly hitting interference.

Why do you have that much gear? I would just have a laptop and USB connect to the printer from that. It's rare you will need to print anything, and printing from an iPhone, is, well, rather useless. If your school allows routers, and you have a printer with an Ethernet port, then you could set up network printing behind the router, but I doubt it would work on their network proper, and the iPhone would be hopeless, since most schools are virtually a separate ISP for the wireless side than the wireline side. I know at my school, you can see other computers on the Ethernet LAN in the dorms, but once you get to wireless, it's like connecting over the public internet.

 

[nunes013]

Settings/sharing/Internet sharing. Be sure to select from Ethernet to airport and wep encrypt.

ok. cool. i will test when i go up in a few weeks and post back.

Edit: ^^ BiggAW The G in my dorm is ok. Top speed is around 54 Mbit. I brought my airport N base stations and get around 64 Mbit down and 40 up. Thats wired from the ethernet plug to the router. I then extend the network with an express and the xbox is plugged into that. Only lag is from the school and the stupid firewall when we play on live. Other than that its locked down to my roomates only. also bypasses the sign-in that we have to do

 

[BiggAW]

ok. cool. i will test when i go up in a few weeks and post back.

Edit: ^^ BiggAW The G in my dorm is ok. Top speed is around 54 Mbit. I brought my airport N base stations and get around 64 Mbit down and 40 up. Thats wired from the ethernet plug to the router. I then extend the network with an express and the xbox is plugged into that. Only lag is from the school and the stupid firewall when we play on live. Other than that its locked down to my roomates only. also bypasses the sign-in that we have to do

That 54 is very theoretical, real-world top speed for G is about 25 if you're within a few feet. Realistically, I usually see <10. Still plenty good for what it's used for, but not exactly lightning fast...

 

[nunes013]

That 54 is very theoretical, real-world top speed for G is about 25 if you're within a few feet. Realistically, I usually see <10. Still plenty good for what it's used for, but not exactly lightning fast...

thats good to know explains my att G router

in that case i would buy an N because most colleges have speeds close to 40 Mbit if not a lot more and you will want to take advantage of that

 

[42streetsdown]

EDIT: some schools dont allow routers so call IT first. At my college they do allow it but I think it has to be locked.

even if they don't allow it you could just turn SSID broadcasting off, and connect manually. They wouldn't know the difference.

 

[BiggAW]

even if they don't allow it you could just turn SSID broadcasting off, and connect manually. They wouldn't know the difference.

Would be pretty easy to fine with a stumbling program.