Printer problems

I have recently purchased a Pepwave Surf On-The-Go travel router. What I want to do with it:
For WiFi connections in parks while traveling.
I have a Pantec UM-150 USB modem used on the Verizon Cell towers to use for Cell Service as a fall over back up.
We want to connect a iPad one, an iPad three, a 2011 21" iMac and a 2012 13" MacBooke Pro. Brother MFC-J825DW wireless printer.

I am having trouble maintaining the printer connection with wifi. The printer is hard wired to the iMac and WiFi to the router. When I go through the printer set up I get a print out from the printer which says


Connection : OK


<Configuration>
Network Name (SSID). “MY Router Name”
Hardware Address (MAC). 00.22.58:9c:e0:68
Communication Mode infrastructure
Authentication Type WPA/WPA2-PSK
Encryption AES
Network Channel 6

What is causing the router to keep dropping the printer?

Hi,

May i know iPad one, iPad three and iMac also drop off from the Surf On-The-Go AP ? or Only Printer having WIFI connection issue ?

Thank You

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No, none of the other devices have lost connection with the router. Just the ability to find the printer when trying to print something. When I go through the printer set up again it will work for a few file prints, then if allowed to sit for a few minutes it is not there any more. Just the printer.

Does the printer’s wifi work fine when not connected via USB? There may be a setting that’s putting the printer’s wifi to sleep when using USB.

Also, try Ad Hoc if available to the printer to see if the wifi stays on or try another router if you have one.

check if there are any firmware updates for the printer.

This is not a new printer. I have been using it successfully with a Cradelpoint 1000 for the last 5+- years with out any problems. The printer works fine with a USB cord wired into the iMac. Does not work with wifi into or out of the router.
Do you want me to use the one and only USB port on the router to plug in my printer?
I updated to the most recient version when I put the router online, Version 1.0.26 build 1260 2015-06-02.
I don’t know what you mean by ad hock?
I have not checked updates for the printer.

Ad-hoc connects you directly to the printer without a router: What is Ad-hoc mode? | Brother this is just to rule out that the router and your printer don’t like each other. If you still have the cradlepoint fire it up and see if the problem resolves.

Since you’ve used it previously connected directly to a computer via USB plus wifi then you maybe able to rule that out. What I was suggesting was to disconnect the USB cable and run it wifi only.

When you lose the ability to print via wifi can you still print via USB from you macbook? Does the printer still have an IP address assigned by the router (accessing the router’s interface should tell you what clients are connected or you can do it from the printer itself)? The product specs says it’s able to access facebook/picasa/etc via the web, can you still access those services when the the computers can’t print to the device from wifi.

See if any of these steps may work - do one at a time to see if they fix or break anything:
1 - Switch to a different wifi channel
2 - Try a manual setting of IP, Subnet and Gateway on the printer
3 - Make sure the wifi is on 20Hz or 20/40, some devices either won’t connect or have problems with 40Hz.
4 - Scan for any other SSID’s and make sure yours isn’t the same as any near you

I know, trouble shooting can be a pain in the butt, lol.

"When you lose the ability to print via wifi can you still print via USB from you macbook? " YES

"The product specs says it’s able to access facebook/picasa/etc via the web, can you still access those services when the the computers can’t print to the device from wifi? "

I have never accessed facebook/picasa/etc. through the printer. The router is my only internet connection. The MAC OS (Yosemite 10.11) does not utilize all of the printer capabilities, it is designed for a WINDOWS environment primarily.

It may take ma a while, but will try your other suggestions.

Hi,

Add on for MadSquabbles Suggestion:

Do you able to ping the printer when you can’t print ?

Thank You

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This morning I have connected my Brother Printer via wifi to my Verizon Jetpack 6620L. It is working fine with all of my devices, 2 iPhone 5s, both iPads, and I think therefore the problem is with the with the pepwave not the printer.

When I looked at the list of clients with the Pepwave access the printer is still in the list, but my IPad can not see it, the MacBook Pro can not see the printer either.

If you power cycle the printer does it automatically connect to the Surf again?

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In your OP the printer is saying it is authenticated via AES but it should be TKIP. Try reconfiguring the Wi-Fi settings on the printer and choose TKIP as the encryption type.

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“In your OP the printer is saying it is authenticated via AES but it should be TKIP. Try reconfiguring the Wi-Fi settings on the printer and choose TKIP as the encryption type.”

From the printer control panel there is not an option to change the encryption type. The only options under network are:
Wired Lan
WLAN
tcp/ip
setup wizard
WPS/AOSS
WPS w/pin code
WLAN status

Thanks

What does WLAN status show?

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It shows what I printed out in the first post. It does not give me the option to change the encryption anywhere I can find. Plus it works the way it is with my Jetpack, encryption type AES.

Why? When I googled TKIP I got this type of response:
“In essence, TKIP is deprecated and no longer considered secure, much like WEP encryption. For optimal security, choose WPA2, the latest encryption standard, with AES encryption. (If your router doesn’t specify TKIP or AES, the WPA2 option will probably just use AES.)”
I am using the WPA/WPA2-PSK authentication option in the router. Does the router not use AES encryption?

Yes, it does use AES encryption. I was just reading through the user manual for your printer and thought I came across something…

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So to summarize: The Printer itself is staying connected to the Surf Wi-Fi and is OK. The problem you are having is that your Apple devices don’t see the printer after x amount of time?

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If it’s not too much trouble and if you haven’t tried it yet… reset your router to default settings. Make sure you back up your current settings so you can reload them of nothing improves.

I have the same problem with a Brother HL-3170CDW. Mine is connected via wifi to my soho surf and static routed to a specific IP. The printer connects fine and works well until it goes into “deep sleep”. With my previous router this did not happen. In fact the only thing I changed in my entire network was the router. I’ve updated to the latest printer firmware with no solution yet. I’ve had AirPrint issues with the soho surf router on another model brother printer when I set up the work network. It is definitely something we’re not figuring out in the router’s settings…

Hi,

  • Can you elaborate more and provide network diagram for better understanding?
  • Brother HL-3170CDW is connected to Surf Soho via Wifi? If so, why you defined static route on this?
  • Please provide network diagram that shows the connectivity between brother printer and end devices. Please take note AirPrint works in Layer 2 environment only.
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