Hands on Tech 212 Transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.
00:00 - Mikah Sargent (Host)
Coming up on Hands-On Tech. We've got a printer question and I will be answering it. Stay tuned. This is Twit. Hello and welcome to Hands-On Tech, the show where you write in with your questions and I answer them. I mean, that's really all there is to it. I am pleased to say that this week features a question about printers and I am pleased to say I can answer it very easily. So this question comes in from Kevin.
00:39
Kevin writes in to say I have a mesh network at home, but before I used conventional Wi-Fi and could not connect to a printer not connected to Wi-Fi, so I used a power line adapter to make this connection. Now that I have a mesh network, I am looking for a solution to connect via an Ethernet cable. I have another Eero add-on available, but I don't think it allows a wired connection to this add-on extender. What device do you recommend that will allow a connection to the printer? So, when it comes to mesh networking, yes, depending on the brand that you choose to go with, you may or may not have access to some more Ethernet ports on the back of the kind of other beacons that you place around your home other beacons that you place around your home. It is often the case that there will be one or two on those extenders, on those beacons, because Eero likes to provide what's called wired backhaul, which essentially gives you the ability to, if you have it, run Ethernet to each of those extenders from the main mesh node. I keep calling them extenders they're not technically extenders but let's just go with nodes, and access points is probably the best bet. So from the main router to these access points, and in doing so the connection there is is a little bit more robust because it's not just pulling the signal from Wi-Fi and then trying to repeat that signal or extend that signal over Wi-Fi. But if you have extenders that are that don't have an Ethernet port, well then you have an issue.
02:22
If you have a device like Kevin's printer that requires an actual wired connection, the good news is Eero doesn't need you to only use Eero devices as access points in your home. You can use third-party access points with an Eero router and in fact in the past I had a printer that was still wireless but it required that really old school Wi-Fi protected access where you would hit the little button on the side of the router and it would temporarily kind of make your network available to connect to without a password and then let different devices connect to your router. So I had an Apple and now I'm forgetting AirPort Extreme that I had connected to my Eero network and its sole purpose was to give this printer access to my network, and that's because in the airport utilities app I was able to turn on that Wi-Fi protected access option for a moment to be able to connect the printer to it. So all of that is to say I have tested this before and it does work. You can connect a third party router or extender or whatever it happens to be to make this happen. The good news is TP-Link, among others, provides a really inexpensive and also, might I add, wirecutter-recommended device, which is the TP-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi extender. This device is available currently on Amazon. It's half off, so it's $27, and there's also a $5 off coupon, so you can get it for not much at all and it plugs into a wall and then you use its built-in system to be able to connect it to your existing Wi-Fi network, and then it has an Ethernet port on the side, and that Ethernet port is specifically for being able to connect a device to it. So, kevin, in this case you would take your printer and you would connect it to the side of this TP-Link extender and then you would have access in your Mesh Eero home to be able to use that printer on your network. So again, it sounds like your printer is from an age when the Wi-Fi connectivity was not built in and therefore requires that physical connection. So this is your answer in the time of mesh networking Very simple, and I highly, highly, highly recommend that you just keep this for the printer, that you don't connect a bunch of other devices to this TP-Link device.
05:36
It is last year's, yesteryear's Wi-Fi connectivity and so it's not going to be a speedy connection. I would give it a name that is separate from the rest of your network so that your devices don't get confused about it, and just let it be the way that your printer connects to your network and nothing else. Don't try to use it as an extension of your network for other devices, because that's where the Eero access points come into play. They'll be doing that and letting all of your devices kind of move around in your home while you maintain that great connection. This is not for that, it is. I mean it's for that in a home where no other option is available, but my point is, I don't recommend using this as an extender. If you have a better solution and you do so specifically for the sake of turning your printer into a wireless, wirelessly accessed printer, that's what this can do, and then you don't have to use that power line, which is what you had going before.
06:47
Kevin, thank you for writing in with your question. Love getting a printer question. I know I can answer and look forward to hearing how this solution worked out for you. I'm going to reach out over email. I don't know if you're watching live, but if you're not, then this is not going to come to you until April 20th. I'm going to reach out over email if I don't know if you're watching live, but if you're not, then this is not going to come to you until April 20th. So I'm going to reach out over email uh to Kevin for those listening to. Uh, let him know so that that way he can hop on it while there's still a nice deal going on. Who knows how much it'll be by the time, uh, he hears this. So, kevin, let us know how things go and look forward to hearing from you To those of you who are tuning in live and to those of you who are tuning in after the fact on our YouTube channel, I want to tell you about Club Twit, twittv slash club twit.
07:35
For $7 a month you can join the club and you get to kick things off with a free two weeks. Yes, we have a two week trial so you can kind of check it out, see if it's for you. I think you'll find it is. You can check out the Club Twit Discord, which is a fun place to go to chat with your fellow Club Twit members and those of us here at Twit. You can also access every single one of our shows ad free. Just the content, none of the ads, and the TwitPlus bonus feed, plus so much more. Twittv slash Club Twit is where you go to check it out and we'd love, love, love to have you. Thanks so much.
08:12
All right, that is going to bring us to the end of this episode of Hands-On Tech. If you have questions, be sure to reach out. H-o-t at Twittv is how you get in touch. I've loved getting these questions. There have been some really good ones coming in, so be sure to write in there. Hot at twittv. That is that on this, and I will catch you again next week for another episode. Bye-bye.
