Print to Wireless Direct Printer

[ron6962]

I am a novice with iPad, so hopefully my question makes sense. I am in a retirement building where internet access is provided with an existing wide area network. Attaching a printer to the network is not supported, therefore I am unable to connect my printer to that network. I can print to my printer from my computer with a USB cable, but I would also like to print to the printer from my iPad. My printer is Wireless Direct capable, so I can connect the iPad directly to the printer's built-in network and print whatever is on my iPad. However, I would like to be able to be connected to the internet via my provided local network "and" be able to print to the wireless direct printer without logging off one network and logging onto another.

Can this be done? Can I be connected my local network for internet access and also print to the wireless direct printer? Any advice very much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[LannyC]

Your printer manufacturer may have an app for that. Check in the App Store.

 

[ron6962]

Your printer manufacturer may have an app for that. Check in the App Store.

Thanks for the reply. Already checked for an app, unfortunately, they all require the iPad and the printer to be on the same network...and that is my problem.

 

[NSquirrel]

What make/ model of printer do you have? It maybe that the Printer Pro lite app by Readdle may help you.

 

[ron6962]

What make/ model of printer do you have? It maybe that the Printer Pro lite app by Readdle may help you.

Thanks. I can check that out, but pretty sure it will also require both the printer and the iPad to be on the same network. The printer is an Epson Workforce 545.

 

[NSquirrel]

You will need to go to Settings/ Wifi on your iPad and connect it to the printer.

The slight drawback here is that you can only connect to the printer or to your normal wifi connection (e.g. internet); not both at the same time. Once you have the two in your list of wifi connections, changing is straight forward.

If you want to print something on the internet, use the Safari ‘Create PDF’ online; save the PDF and then print the pdf when next connected to the printer.

I hope this helps.

 

[NSquirrel]

I looked at the user manual and it does not give the default IP address of the printer. They do mention a network status page, which may give the IP address.

 

[LannyC]

Can you buy your own wireless router, put it on your building's network, then use its own wifi to connect your stuff?

 

[NSquirrel]

Good idea, LannyC. The router may not even need to be connected to the building’s network.

 

[ron6962]

Thanks for the reply. I did try that and while inconvenient, it does work. Printing an email is more difficult, so was hoping I could find a solution that allows staying on one network.

 

[ron6962]

Lanny C.....thanks for the suggestion on adding a repeater network to the existing network, then connecting the iPad to the repeater SSID. I tried that on my own home local network, and it does work A-OK. Now I need to try it on the network at the retirement facility and see if it works there as well....hopefully it will and problem solved.

twerppoet......thank you for understanding the issue and offering some excellent alternatives. I'm going to try the repeater approach and hopefully that will resolve the issue. If not, I'll look into the software alternatives. at this point I am trying to keep it as simple as possible for the user. Thanks again.

I'll report back in a couple of weeks when I can try out the repeater network approach.
Thanks to all.

 

[twerppoet]

I belive Lanny’s suggestion of creating your own network should work. You don’t need a powerful wi-fi router for this. Might be better to use a small one with limited range, just to avoid interfering with others. Cheaper too.

I ended up deleting my post. There were a few things I said that were true, but I wasn’t sure if they were still true today. It’s been a while since I surveyed the state of iOS printing. If I’d realized that you had already read it, I’d have just added a qualifier instead of deleting it.

Good luck.

On the subject of printing emails. This is probably the most reliable way to accomplish it if you have to keep switching networks.

In Mail, choose the print option; but instead of chosing a printer, pinch out on the preview to expand it. From there choose the share icon (box with up arrow). You’ll have the abiltiy to copy or send the email to other apps (including the Files app). It will be saved as a PDF, which you can print after you switch networks. If you have several emails to print, you can save them all to a folder in Files, then go to print.

This should be more reliable than opening the email on one network, swithcing, then printing. Sometimes emails have online content that might get lost if the internet is gone.