Internet, wifi, printer hookup

[kramperD]

This'll be our first lengthy trip that we'll be taking both the laptop and wifi printer. We know the campground has wifi, but do we need to do anything other than allow the Mac to find the signal and then the printer and Mac will automatically work like here at home? Thanks for your help! D

[HamRad]

Dino and Deb,
We just take our Macs with us when we travel. We have a regular hookup printer that we carry in the trailer. We do NOT depend on the CG WiFi. We got disappointed too many times. The CG stuff will be "out of order" or overloaded or has a strange and funky log on process and or you have to pay. So we bought a Verizon MiFi device. It is only 3G. But it works great for us. You can have 5 different devices connect to it at any one time. Or if you want you can connect directly to the device. We use only the wireless connection. Solved the problem of both my wife and I able to get on at the same time. We were worried about connectivity issues but that has turned out to be a non issue. We have had no trouble getting connected and staying connected. Obviously there are places where one can not get a signal and then you'll be without it. But the way we camp / RV we've had no problem.

We started with a Hughes Net satellite connection but after a few years we got tired of lugging around the rather large antenna and support structure. So now we have a business card size device that allows us to connect wirelessly. We may upgrade to the 4G device within the year but still letting things sort out.

If the CG has a good solid system then you should be OK. But since we already have an extremely portable system we take it and use it. If we happen to run into a CG system that is extremely fast and easy to use we will sometimes use it. At the Spring Rally this past year we used the CG system all the time because we had no connection on our Verizon. Thankfully their system worked well enough to cause us no problem.

Good luck. Dennis

[Waynem]

Dino,

As you probably know, getting a wireless printer to work wireless sometimes is not the easiest task.

You can try this at the stick & bricks. Create a Ad Hoc Network on the PC, set up the wireless to access the Ad Hoc network. Every time you boot the PC you will have to re-initiate the contact with the wireless, but it is like connecting to any other WiFi spot.

For Win 7, go into your control panel, Networks. The very first icon in the "change" list is "Set up a new connection or network." This will indicate Ad Hoc as one of the networks.

Go to Control Panel
Network
Set up a network
scroll down and choose Set up a wireless ad-hoc.....network

Give it a name (use the WPA2-Personal security key)
give it a security key (Password)
Click on the squire "save this network."

Follow the rest of the prompts.


Happy trails.

EDITED: Oops! I just re-read and you are using a MAC. I'll leave this post here for the Windows users. I'll see what I can find on the MAC, as I'm using one here.

[Waynem]

For the MAC

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3500

Setting up Wi-Fi

Creating an ad hoc wireless network is different from using FireWire or Ethernet but just as easy.

Click on the AirPort icon in your menu bar. From the AirPort menu, select Create Network.

Click on Show Options and encrypt the connection by entering a password as described in the dialog box.

Click on OK. The AirPort icon in the system menu bar changes to a little computer in a gray signal field.

Each user on your ad hoc network can now select the network that appears in his or her AirPort menu and enter the password you set.


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For Art:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3500?viewlocale=es_ES

Sorry! Couldn't resist.

[HOOK]

PhilP helped us hook up our printer at Mid Atlantic Rally, works great. DW has an Iphone and I have a Blackberry (Verizon). We are able to use either as motom. Works great. Larry

[kramperD]

Thanks for the input....it's definitely a new experience for us. It'll be our first home away from home trip as far as out of state and out over several months! Just trying to cover all of our bases before leaving town. : )

[CATCRAW]

We got a Samsung Galaxy Tab that we use while traveling and when parked it becomes a mobile HOtSpot for up to 5 wifi devices without the added fees for Mobile Hotspot. Works great for us and the portable size is nice as well. We use Verizon as our cell carrier so we have the data plan through them which you can change at will when you need more or less. Works for all our WIFI devices.

[snfexpress]

We use a combination of a Cradlepoint router which lets us use our Verizon air card and a Pepwave Surf Mini. When we want to use CG wireless, we use the Pepwave which injects the CG wifi into our LAN; this means that we do not have to change each of our 10 devices to the CG, just the Pepwave. When we do banking or other sensitive stuff, we switch to our air card.

[Phil P]

Hi

Thanks for the complement Larry. I am glad to hear that the printer is still working well.

We belong to a weekenders camping club. I have a wireless router (password protected) and my wife has a Sprint unlimited air card. We share the Sprint thru the router and every one around us can use the Internet or our printer (must have password). This is similar to what snfexpress is doing.

Phil P