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Parents want iPad, have question

S

sleeks

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
49
0
They travel between two homes and do not have a wireless network in either. They currently use a verizon USB cell card to connect whichever house they are at. Printing is easy as they can just hook up their laptop to one of their printers. Without a wireless network, is printing possible without becoming difficult?

I have my iPad on a wireless network at home with an hp eprinter so I don't know what will work for them.

Thanks in advance
 
What kind of laptop are they using, does the laptop have wifi? If it does you can create an adhoc network on the laptop for the iPad to connect to.
 
Night Spring said:
What kind of laptop are they using, does the laptop have wifi? If it does you can create an adhoc network on the laptop for the iPad to connect to.
Click to expand...

The whole point of the iPad would be to ditch the laptop(it's seen better days).

I think they will just need to get a new laptop for now.
 
sleeks said:
The whole point of the iPad would be to ditch the laptop(it's seen better days).

I think they will just need to get a new laptop for now.
Click to expand...

The whole printing issue aside, with which I’m afraid I can’t help you with…

…ditch the laptop? Without a machine running iTunes, what will they sync their iPad to? Unless their current laptop is practically dead in the water, they could just keep that home as the machine to sync with and drag the iPad around with them.
 
mcmlxix said:
The whole printing issue aside, with which I’m afraid I can’t help you with…

…ditch the laptop? Without a machine running iTunes, what will they sync their iPad to? Unless their current laptop is practically dead in the water, they could just keep that home as the machine to sync with and drag the iPad around with them.
Click to expand...

Yes, they could use it to sync, but they don't want to drag it back and forth if they didnt have to.

Worst case, I could let them sync up on my PC to get software updates.
 
I think there is a hack to let them print where ever. Hacktivator or something? Not sure about the wireless network though. There are a few threads on it here.

As for the updates there was only one update last year and possibly one in the coming wks so using your computer for the updates wouldnt be bad.
 
FWIW if they don't want to do the MiFi thing, they could deploy a device like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...995056&cm_re=3G_router-_-75-995-056-_-Product that is a WiFi router you plug the USB dongle into. The iPad can then connect to that network.

You kind of say, but don't quite that the iPad would be their only computing device. Is that the idea?

Depending on what printer(s) they have now, the unfortunate reality is that without a computer, the easiest thing to do would be to get a couple of AirPrint compatible printers from HP and be done with it. (They are < $100 each).

It sounds like they want to simplify their lives, so I wouldn't consider any solutions that require any sort of "hacktivation" or jailbreaking.

B
 
balamw said:
FWIW if they don't want to do the MiFi thing, they could deploy a device like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...995056&cm_re=3G_router-_-75-995-056-_-Product that is a WiFi router you plug the USB dongle into. The iPad can then connect to that network.

You kind of say, but don't quite that the iPad would be their only computing device. Is that the idea?

Depending on what printer(s) they have now, the unfortunate reality is that without a computer, the easiest thing to do would be to get a couple of AirPrint compatible printers from HP and be done with it. (They are < $100 each).

It sounds like they want to simplify their lives, so I wouldn't consider any solutions that require any sort of "hacktivation" or jailbreaking.

B
Click to expand...

Yes, this would their only computing device.

Jail breaking and hacking are out. They aren't tech savvy and helping them fix an issue when they are traveling would be difficult.

An AirPrint printer would work without a wireless network?
 
My parents are in the same boat. Two house between WI and AZ. Balamw is right on. I got them a Cradlepoint Wireless router and plugged their Verizon USB modem into that. When I was there last week we went to Verizon and swapped the USB modem out for a Mifi and I must say the Mifi seems to have much better connection speeds. The advantage of the Cradlepoint over just using the Mifi is the MUCH better range. It basically covers their entire lot at either property. They still have a MBP but I'll be getting them an iPad next month. As far as printing, Everyone else has had good advice about the HP Airprint compatible printers. I would still try and keep a computer around to sync the iPad to though.

If they were dead set on dumping the computer and just using the iPad, then of course the best plan would be to just get unlimited data on the iPad.
 
sleeks said:
Yes, this would their only computing device.

Jail breaking and hacking are out. They aren't tech savvy and helping them fix an issue when they are traveling would be difficult.

An AirPrint printer would work without a wireless network?
Click to expand...

If they switch to a MiFi or continue to use the USB dongle with a router they will have a wireless network for the iPad and printer to connect to.

If they ditch the dongle and use a WiFi+3G iPad (why not if this is their only device?) then it appears that the WiFi-enabled AirPrint-compatible HP printers do support creating their own "ad-hoc" wireless network the iPad can use to print, e.g. http://discussions.info.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13091181

EDIT: The one advantage to sticking with the separate router is if your parents live in areas where the network will be going LTE "4G" sooner rather than later. Though it's not like the WiFi+3G models give anything up over the WiFi only ones.

B
 
Thanks everyone.

So, to be clear. They want to go to IPAD with 3G only. No computer, no networks, etc.

I have a PC that they could sync to for backups and software updates when needed. That is really the least of my concerns.

I'll have to test the printer creating its own ad-hoc network as I do have an Ipad and an HP e-print printer. If that works, that would solve the problem.
 
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