Your printer could be hurting your Wi-Fi performance

posted in: networking & Wi-Fi | 0

wi-fi printerDo you own a wireless printer? If you do, and unless you turned it off, it’s wireless is probably enabled. An easy way to test this is to go near it and scan networks using your phone, computer or tablet. If the name/model of your printer shows up, it is likely enabled. This Wi-Fi is usually called something like “direct connect” – where you can connect your device directly to the printer’s network in order to print, insetad of using a usb cable or printing through your normal Wi-Fi network. The problem is that most people don’t ever use their printer this way and so the printer is just tying up a and available channel, which can cause decreased performance, especially if you have a lot of networks in your area. Look into turning off the “direct connect” Wi-Fi on your printer, or better yet, call Tech Ease for an appointment to do it for you and analyze your network performance at the same time!