Cisco WRVS4400N Router and iPads/Airprint

[geojf3]

Hello,

I have the above mentioned WRVS4400N Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router with VPN setup for a small user base.  I also have a Netgear WNDR3700 installed, but in a different area.

Recently I put an HP Officejet Pro 8500A printer on each wireless network with no problems.  We then attempted to print to these printers from our iPads and that is where the issue begins.  On the Netgear side, everthing is running and printing fine.  On the Cisco side, we can see the printers and the iPad indicates that it is connecting to the printers, but the output just goes into a Printer Queue on the iPads and never prints.  Every so often a message will pop up on an iPad and say the printer is offline.

The reason I am on this support site is because I believe the router has something to do with the printing problem.  If I take both printer and connect them to the Netgear and connect the iPads to the Netgear - there is no printing issue.  When I move the printers and iPads to the Cisco - there is no printing.

One site mentioned that it might be the Cisco blocking mDns traffic, something to do with Bonjour.  I do not know where to look on the router to see if the Cisco is indeed blocking this.

Also, the Cisco router is funtioning fine in every other aspect.  There are no issues with network or Internet traffic - just the printing issue.

Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[mpyhala]

Hi George,

Thank you for posting. In the WRVS4400N, browse to Wireless-> Security Settings and Disable Wireless Isolation (within SSID):

This should resolve the issue of wireless devices being able to print to the wireless printer. That setting blocks wireless devices that are connected to the WRVS4400N from seeing each other. Please let us know if this solves the problem or if you need further assistance.

[geojf3]

Hello and thank you for the response.

I disabled the wireless isolation, but I still canot print.  The output is still going to the iPad Print Queue.

Thanks you.

[mpyhala]

George,

There are two settings on that page. One is Wireless Isolation (between SSID w/o VLAN): which will have no effect. Make certain that you disabled Wireless Isolation (within SSID):

If you still have the same issue, try rebooting the router. Also, try to ping the printer's IP address from a wireless laptop or iPad. If you can ping the printer, you should also be able to print to it. Please keep us updated.

[geojf3]

I changed both to disable and the result is that I can print (thank you for that), but it takes between 5-8 minutes to print a 1 page document that has 2 words on it.

So, thank you very much for your assistance in printing.  Would you have any idea as to how to speed it up?

Thanks again.

[jasbryan]

George,

First I would check in your printer Queue within your laptop. The only reason it would seem to take 5-8 minutes is that it’s being held in your laptops queue for that time. When your laptop makes connection with the printer it should wake up and then be sent very quickly. You can watch your Queue and see just how fast it prints, see if any errors are reported from the printer. I would call the printers manufacture support and see if they could assist with further support on this issue.

Jasbryan

[geojf3]

I'm printing from an iPad.  When I select print, it will sit in a "Connecting To Printer" state for about 3 minutes.  It then goes into the iPads print queue and sits there for about 4-5 minutes.  I am thinking that this lag is an Apple problem, so I will head to their forums.

Thank you.

[jasbryan]

Thanks,

Lets us know what you find out – also when I look over some apple forums I have seen some trouble they had/having with WPA/WPA2 encryptions. To test this theory you can add another SSID without security and send a test print and see if it takes the same amount of time. This would narrow down your problem as well and provide further data for trouble shooting.

Jasbryan