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Thinking about a wireless printer? Read this first
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Posted on May 29th, 2012
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Windows 7

Thinking about a wireless printer? Read this first

Wireless printers are great. They offer a bunch of benefits that could genuinely make a difference in our day-to-day. However, they're not the same as regular printers, and a little bit of care should be taken in setting them up. Once they're up and running, they provide simple and convenient access to your printed documents anywhere in the home (no more walking to the living room to get your printout!) - so it's worth doing them right.

For this article I'm going to use the Dell V313w wireless printer but you can use your own, or your own brand if you prefer.

1. Make sure you have a wireless router.

Before you can set up a wireless printer, you'll need to have a wireless network in place. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - such as, in the UK, Virgin, BT Total Broadband and so on - will provide an option to get a wireless network installed as part of your sign-up. They're super-simple and mean you can walk around your house using the internet on your laptop (or even certain phones!) without trailing wires all over the place. Once you've got that, you're ready to get wireless printing going on.

2. Find a spare power outlet.

My Dell printer is in the middle of my house, right where everyone can walk past it. That means it's open and available to anyone. You're going to see that multiple people can connect to the same printer (if you let them), so it's nice to put it somewhere that everyone can use it.

3. Connect the printer to the power and turn your computer on.

The printer will come with a CD in the box. Pop that in your computer and it should guide you through the steps to get your printer up and running. It will probably ask you to print out a couple of test pages - this will use up some ink, but it's a good step to make sure everything is working properly.

4. Once you have one computer working with the printer, put the CD in other computers to get them connected too.

If you have any other computers in your house and you want them to connect up to the printer, they'll need to install 'drivers' which let them talk to it. Those 'drivers' are on the CD that came in the printer box. If your computer doesn't have a CD drive, there should be some instructions to follow in the printer manual (also in the box) that give you a website to get those 'drivers' from.

5. You're good to go!

Before I sign off, here are my top three troubleshooting tips for wireless printers that are not behaving themselves.

1. Is the printer connected to the wireless network? Check in the printer settings. There should be an option to 'scan for,' 'search for' or 'connect to' your wireless network. If your network has a password (which I advise), you will need to put that in to your printer. If your printer is too far away from the wireless router box, it won't receive the signal and you will need to position it somewhere else.
1. Does the printer have enough ink? Ink runs out, and the ink cartridges that come with a printer won't last you too long if you print a lot. But before you rush out to pick up some spares, check for a code written on the printer ink cartridge inside your printer. Not all ink works with all printers, so make sure you buy ink that has the same code as your printer's ink, and is manufactured by your printer's manufacturer.
1. Don't be afraid to ring the number in the manual if you're stuck. There are people paid to help you and they will do their best to get you sorted. If you’re more tech-savvy, try Googling for your problem and reading forum members’ experiences and solutions – there’s always someone who’s been through the same thing are you are.

Happy printing!

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