Selecting Wireless Print Servers

A wireless print server is an efficient way to share a printer among several wireless clients. Although you can use an adapter to make each printer available on your WLAN, this can slow users down if there are a lot of clients using the same printer. A wireless print server can perform many of the same tasks that a PC acting as a print server previously did. Some Wi-Fi print servers have serial ports available for older printers that don't support Ethernet or USB connections (like my HP LaserJet 4L).

Wireless print servers range in price from $99 to $270, depending on the Wi-Fi standard, the features available, and the number of printers that can be connected to it at any one time. You also can use a PC as a print server, but if you don't have an extra PC, a wireless print server is more economical than purchasing a PC specifically for this task. If you decide to connect printers to a workstation and share them with other WLAN users, be aware that the workstation's performance may degrade while it is being used as a print server.