Basic Facts about Wireless Printers and Wireless Printing

Wireless printing is essentially the printing capability of remote printers which are not connected via "cabling" to a computer. That computer can be anywhere within the range of a wireless printer and communicates with the printer through either Bluetooth connectivity or wireless networking.

First, as already stated, wireless printing eliminates the need for annoying, tangling cords and wires that are used to connect your PC to a printer. With wireless connectivity, your PC no longer needs to connect physically to a printer to print what documents or files you may want to produce in hard copy form. Since the computer no longer needs to be connected through "cables" to the printer, wireless printing enables shared printing capabilities among members of a family. Wireless printing allows multiple connections to the printer by different computers. And because of this, you can now move around within the range of the wireless printer and no longer need to be right next to the device.

The capability to print wirelessly on a printer can either be achieved through a Bluetooth connection, a wireless network, or Wi-Fi. Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth offer you a facility to connect your PC to a printer. They are almost the same technology in terms of connecting your PC to the printer with some basic differences such as the 300 feet range allowed for Wi-Fi compared to Bluetooth's more limited 30 feet range. Printing wirelessly through Wi-Fi is faster than printing using Bluetooth. Wi-Fi is capable of sending data at around 55mpbs, enabling you to print faster and quicker even if your file is large. For Bluetooth, it would take ages to transmit large files. Hence, Bluetooth is more popularly used for mobile phones than wireless printing

Now that you know the two ways by which you can connect your PC to a network printer, how do you go about it? What are your options when establishing wireless printing in your home? Most of the new generation printers available in the market today are already equipped with a built-in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity feature so you won't have a problem connecting your PCs remotely to the printer. For those printers which don't come with the built-in Bluetooth, one solution would be to purchase a separate Bluetooth dongle that you need to connect to your printer via the USB port. With the Bluetooth dongle attached to your printer, your PC can easily access it and send files. The same thing is true with Wi-Fi.

If you're considering purchasing a wireless printer, make sure to check out the series of top printer reviews here at Bright Hub before you buy. We'll let you know about the ups and downs of each device so there won't be any unpleasant surprises when you finally do get your new printer home and take it out of the box.