Wireless technology is an integral part of daily life. We connect to Wi-Fi from our phones to browse, shop, communicate, watch a movie, or play a game. We can even print a recipe wirelessly from the kitchen. But the same technology that makes things easier at home doesn’t always translate to a business setting, and printing in a dental practice is a prime example.
Printers are essential to office operations. Many computers send print jobs to the same printer, and each job needs a solid connection from the originating computer, through the network, to the printer. Depending on how your network is set up, there are multiple points of failure: places where if a device goes down or restarts, the process is interrupted. Wi-Fi is great for many parts of your practice, such as patient entertainment, but printing isn’t one of them.
| Factor | Wireless printing | Wired printing |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Slower by nature, and slower still with obstacles and poor router placement | Much faster, handles far more traffic |
| Security | Jobs broadcast over Wi-Fi can be intercepted | Sent directly to the printer, much harder to intercept |
| Transmission | Obstructions, neighboring networks, and distance cause dropped jobs | Location issues removed; print from nearly anywhere on the network |
01Speed
Wireless: Wireless is, by its nature, slower than wired, due to the technology itself, physical obstacles, and where the wireless routers, computers, and printers are placed. That slows printing and can hurt productivity. Too many people printing at once to a single wireless printer is like a river trying to flow through a crack: the flow slows and eventually blocks, bringing everything to a halt.
Wired: Wired connections are much faster, so they can handle far more traffic without losing functionality. Just as a pipe in a dam is designed to move thousands of gallons of water, your wired connection is designed for faster speeds and more traffic.
02Security
Wireless: Wirelessly connected printers are vulnerable to anyone accessing your wireless network. A skilled hacker can intercept a print job being broadcast, and the printer’s disk stores document copies and usage logs.
Wired: A wired connection removes a point of security concern, the Wi-Fi signal itself. Wired transmissions are much more difficult to intercept and are sent directly to the destination device, rather than broadcast toward it until the sending device gets an acknowledgment.
03Transmission
Wireless: Wi-Fi transmission issues can have many causes. Most won’t cause problems for the variety of devices on your network, but transmission errors in a print job result in dropped or backlogged jobs. Causes include physical obstructions, neighboring networks, Wi-Fi competition from other devices, and distance (an insufficient wireless access point layout).
Wired: Transmission issues caused by the physical location of devices disappear on a wired network. A computer can be nearly anywhere on the network and print directly to the printer.
The verdict
A well-designed, organized wired network is key to reliable printing and office efficiency. You don’t need to remove your wireless network, since you use it every day, but you will see a real benefit from connecting your printers to your wired network. Your IT partner can organize wired printing to increase speed and efficiency while minimizing headaches. There may be no perfect printing setup (as the movie Office Space permanently emblazoned in many minds), but reducing points of failure and leaning on your IT partner for best practices can take you from constant frustration to printing being an afterthought.
About Darkhorse Tech
Whether you’re just starting out or a well-established organization, Darkhorse Tech has the experience and technology to help get you moving, cut costs, and streamline your operations with unlimited IT support. We help you do what you do best: provide top-notch care and service for patients, not deal with IT problems, time spent on hold with technical support, or complicated technical mishaps. Our additional security services include:
- Unlimited remote and/or on-site IT support of all your hardware and software
- Improved network performance and security
- HIPAA-compliant off-site and local backup service (Darkhorse Secure Backup)
- Managed antivirus, anti-malware, and anti-ransomware (Darkhorse Security Products)
- Compliance and security law standards
- Microsoft security patch management
- Vendor management: we will be on the phone, not your employees
- Secure, remote access to your office
- Firewall management
- Network management
- Long-term planning and budgeting
Contact us anytime to learn more about our dental-specific solutions and unlimited support packages. Read our reviews or call us today at 800.868.4504.
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