A colleague asks your advice on purchasing a new printer for his home. He has a SOHO router that provides network access throughout the house, and he wants anyone with the proper credentials to be able to connect to and print to the printer. He is placing the printer in a different room from the router. For the easiest installation, which printer connection do you recommend the printer have built-in?
Explanation
Answer: B - An 802.11x (wireless Ethernet) connection will provide for the easiest installation in this SOHO network.
Key Takeaway: With an 802.11x connection built-in, the printer can easily connect to the user’s preexisting wireless network, providing by the SOHO router. This setup would provide access to the printer for anyone on the network. Although Bluetooth also provides wireless access, it requires a specific setup and does not work within a large range. Wired Ethernet could work, but would require some wiring. A printer server would require a dedicated computer or extra piece of hardware, and although these can be built-into SOHO routers, the extra cord makes the installation more cumbersome in this instance.
