Help for a newbie!!

[hayrikki]

I have read the "Read this before you post" threads, read the articles and am still not sure what I need. I have a Toshiba L505s5990 laptop, a 5 year old Dell desk top and a HP 1200 printer that I would like to hook up with a wireless network at home. I have a DSL connection (highest speed). The Dell and the printer are not wireless. The Maximum distance from where the router will be in the house is aprox. 35'. There seems to little if no other wireless traffic in the area,(at least when my daughter had her portable router hooked up here). I do have a wireless phone in the house.
Question 1. Would a "g" speed router be sufficient? 2. Is it possible to hook up the dell and /or the printer and make them wireless capable and what do I need if so? 3. What brand would make the best sense in this scenario?
I hope I have put out enough info for you who will respond and hopefully it makes sense.
Thanks for your help and patience!

 

[thiggins]

Simplest thing to do is attach the printer to the desktop, then share the printer. The wireless client will be able to access it via its network connection. The downside is that the desktop needs to be on to access the printer.

If the printer can be located next to the router and has a USB connection, then you can look for a router that includes print serving. But this feature has been dying out and not many routers have it. (The D-Link DIR-655 is one).

Another alternative is to buy a wireless print server. But they can be a pain to set up and may not support all your printer's features. Some examples are the NETGEAR WGPS606 and Cisco/Linksys WPSM54G.

Best solution is to buy a printer with wireless built in. This will support all features and be simplest to set up.

Unless you're going to be doing HD video streaming or big file downloads / transfers, 802.11G wireless is fine.

 

[hayrikki]

Thank you for the help. I will take your suggestion and buy a wireless printer. I need to k.i.s.s. at this point.

 

[msl]

Another possibility (not necessarily a recommendation!)...

If a printer can be located close enough to the router to be connected with an Ethernet cable, you could buy a printer with a built-in Ethernet connection. You don't actually need the printer to have built-in wireless capability for it to be accessed by the wireless devices. As long as everything is connected to the same router (either by wire or by wireless), they will be able to talk to each other.