Wireless Home Networking - Index of

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Part II: Making Plans
Print servers
A few multifunction wireless routers have a feature that enables you to add
a printer to the network: a print server. Next to sharing an Internet connection,
printer sharing is one of the most convenient (and cost-effective) reasons
to network home computers because everyone in the house can share
one printer. Wireless print servers have become much more economical in
the past few years. However, when the print server is included with the
wireless router, it’s suddenly very cost effective.
The disadvantage of using the print server bundled with the AP, however, is
apparent if you locate your AP in a room or location other than where you
would like to place your printer. Consider a stand-alone print server device
(discussed in Chapter 10) if you want to have your printer wirelessly enabled
but not near your AP.
When you choose an AP with a print server, make sure that you have the right
interface to your printer — most printers these days use USB connections, but
a few still use the parallel port connection. We recommend that you choose an
AP print server that supports USB 2.0 for faster printing of big, graphically
intensive files.
Operational Features
Most APs share a common list of features, and most of them don’t vary from
one device to the next. Here are some unique, onboard features that we look
for when buying wireless devices — and you should, too:
� Wired Ethernet port: Okay, this one seems basic, but having a port like
this saves you time. We tell you time and again to first install your AP on
your wired network (as opposed to trying to configure the AP via a wireless
client card connection) and then add the wireless layer (like the
aforementioned client card). You can save yourself lots of grief if you can
get your AP configured on a direct connection to your PC because you
reduce the things that can go wrong when you add the wireless clients.
� Auto channel select: Some access points, typically more expensive
models designed for office use, offer an automatic channel-selection
feature. That’s nice because, as you can read in Chapter 6 and in the
troubleshooting areas of Chapter 18, channel selection can try your
patience. (You may wonder why professional users pay more for more
business-class access points — this feature, which adds to the expense
of an AP, is a good reason.)