Do you need a router for a wireless printer if you have a wireless laptop?

Answer 1

Yes you still need a router t hook up your wireless printer, but it's the same router you have that gives you wireless internet access for your laptop. The router is the Wireless Access Point (WAP) that allows all the wireless devices to connect together and gets it on the wireless system. Hope this helps.

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Not necessarily…

Wireless printer can be set up in 2 ways.

1. Infrastructure

2. Ad-Hoc

To set up the infrastructure, you need a wireless router where the printer can be used in more than one computer wireless and you can also use security levels in the router… in this case the computer can have wireless internet connected while trying to use the printer wireless…

For Ad-Hoc the printer can be set up with the computer without a router.., the printer need to be set up once but the connection should be activated every time when you want to print something…

- Bennettjdavis

Answer 2

Your laptop cannot have a wireless router. What it has is a wireless adapter which is not the same thing.

And the answer is yes, you need a wireless router if your dsl modem does not have one as an option.

Answer 3

it is possible to configure the computer and printer to use Ad-Hoc networking that allows the two to communicate directly without the need for a wireless router or wireless access point. My experience with Ad-Hoc networks, though, has been hit and miss: it seems that they are not as stable as traditional wireless networks, so I suggest getting a router/wireless access point for $30 or so to insure the best stability and performance possible.

If the question was whether a specific router/access point is needed to serve only the printer as separate from the rest of your devices, then the answer is most definitely no. That would isolate the printer onto a second wireless network and keep it from being useful by anyone. I mention this because I ran into a client recently who had a second router set up in his home that was being used by only the printer and a Bose Wave radio and he could not understand why he couldn't print to the printer. I asked him why he had things configured that way and he said, "Because that's what the guy at the store told me I had to do." Well, the guy at the store was wrong! Despite knowing that the client had a wireless gateway because of his AT&T U-Verse service, the guy at the store wanted to sell a bit more product and got him to buy the unnecessary router. Unfortunately, I was called by the client a few months after this, so there was no chance to return the router for a refund but I got him set up correctly and everything worked as expected.

In most situations, there is no reason to need any more than a single wireless network in a private home. So if someone tells you differently, ask for an explanation as to why and feel free to contact me if you want to see if what you are told make sense. I am always glad to help.

Answer 4

If it is just a plain router, not a modem with a router, you would not need a DSL line, specifically. You would need to have an Internet connection. The router just takes an Internet connection and splits it, and converts wired Internet to WiFi. It does not provide the Internet. So if you don't have DSL, then you'd need cable Internet, fiber optic Internet, or satellite Internet.

Now, if what you are calling a wireless router also combines a DSL modem, then you would need a DSL line.

Answer 5

Yes- you need a wireless router, unless you are at a wi-fi hotspot in which they will provide the wi-fi for you.