Jetpack MIFI5510L in low signal areas
Frog00
Newbie

What a mistake- we prebought phone and jetpack prior to move, burning 1/2  their 14 day return plan.  got moved and set up.. and printers would not come out of sleep mode to take the print command.  HP was wonder to work with- on the 3rd printer when, even changing port configs on the jetpack... signal strength was all over the board from -117 to -92... and 10 feet from the door -125....( from what I understand is 'no signal').  We discussed at the local (30 miles away) Verizon store,who acknowledged we are in a low signal area and they have trouble with coverage. .Created a ticket that was mislabled to only signal strength, not the jetpack.  Since HP took a week to send we ach printer, and I burned 14 days by buying early- we are now to pay full price to terminate the plan for something that for our business,does nor work.  Once I got a hard data line- Bingo everything works! Printers come out of sleep mode to print, no loss of signal... But we are paying big,full price dollars to terminate the contract 1 month into the plan because the unit does not work for us.

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Re: Jetpack MIFI5510L in low signal areas
John_Getzke
Champion - Level 1

Something doesn't add up here.  Are you trying to print from some kind of online printing service like HP's eprint?

A wireless printer (HP or otherwise) does not need an Internet connection to function.  All that a wireless printer needs needs is a wireless router to communicate with your local network devices.  You can use any wireless router to perform that duty.  Actually there are several stand alone routers that can connect to your MiFi so that the printer can still have an Internet connection too.

Perhaps what is causing confusion is the fact that a MiFi does not have a very good local wireless broadcast range.  It is advised that devices be 50 feet or less from the MiFi to function correctly.  A normal home router would be much more efficient in this role too as the range from these always on/powered devices is much better.  The local broadcast range should not be confused with the MiFi's ability to speak with the VZW towers in your area.

Again, the fact that you now have a hard data line should not have much impact on wireless printing.  What made a difference is that you now have a much more powerful (and standard) home router performing your wireless network duties.  You could have purchased any number of routers and produced the same results while treating your MiFi as a modem only.

All that said, I think you will be happier with a land line connection since one is available.  I think MiFi's are great but the data plans that are associated with them are not friendly for permanent or home Internet connections.  Too often do we see complaints about phantom data usage and the ovarages associated with them that no one can explain.  A MiFi is best kept as an alternative internet connection, there are much better options available now such as the 4G LTE routers and the HomeFusion product.

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