NETGEAR PS121 USB 2.0 Mini Print Server
by Netgear
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Our Price: $89.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $20.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NETGEAR PS121 USB 2.0 Mini Print Server
Customer Review: Inconsistent Performance Despite Calls to Technical Support
Summary: 1 Stars
After using this product for more than two months two major complaints have discontinued my use of this product:
1) INCONSISTENT PERFORMANCE
The Print Server did not work out-of-box. Two calls into Technical Support helped me get product working (by installing extra "administrative level" software). While annoying I thought this was a just a little hiccup.
But then my Print Server would stop working every two to three weeks, resulting in more calls to Technical Support for assistance. After the third failure I knew the help-script very well and was able to diagnose the problems and restart the Print Server myself.
But why should a use have to tweak a product like this every few weeks?
SLOW PERFORMANCE
Printing graphics files or PowerPoint presentations that are just 3MB or bigger through this Print Server is very slow. What prints in 1-2 minutes with a direct USB connection takes more than 10 minutes with this Print Server.
CONCLUSION
Iffy reliability is a deal breaker for me. If you have more luck with the connection be aware of the slow printing speeds, which are unacceptable for printing large files, but may be acceptable for basic documents and spreadsheets.
Customer Review: Works fine, easy setup
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought one for about $30 refurbished, installed it minutes. My printer, Brother MFC 3220C, was not on the supported list, but it works. Netgear states that multifunction printers are supported only for printing, which is all I use it for.
Installation is much easier if your home network uses DHCP. Otherwise, I can understand why people have so much trouble installing it (or any similar print server).
There are multiple reasons for using a print server such as this. You achieve similar results on a Micro$oft based network using printer sharing and connecting the printer to one of your computers. This requires that computer to be booted up for any computer to use the printer. The printer must also be located within the max length the communications cable (USB, parallel, serial). The print server is essentially a very small computer that replaces the computer described above, and is always on. It, too, must be co-located with the printer, but since it is very small and used for nothing else, the only issue is providing power for it. The cable length issue is now the length of the 10Base-T (twisted pair) cable connected the print server to the rest of your network, which is 100 meters, over 330 feet.
Customer Review: Simple and easy way to network a USB printer
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this Netgear PS121NA USB Mini Print Server about two months ago to use with my new HP 460 series DeskJet inkjet printer. I had no problems installing this print server and using it with my HP 460 series printer. Just to see what happens, I tried to add this print server without using the Netgear CD by guessing a default web management page: nope, you'll need to use the installation CD but I did not encounter any problems. As the instructions say, you will need to use the install CD with each computer.
The CD software also installs a MFP Smart Printer Assistant so you can "reserve" a multi-function printer/FAX/scanner/copier device so others on the network can't send a job to that same device that can cause trouble if you're trying to say FAX a document from the MFP. Nice.
So far, so I've disconnected and reconnected the LAN cable between the printer and print server many times without having to reset or cycle the power to the print server. Well, just once but even then, just cycling the power got things working again. But that's because I was purposely playing with the power. If I leave the print server alone, I've not had any problems. That's nice.
It's a keeper.
Customer Review: Works great with my Samsung printer
Summary: 5 Stars
My setup: IBM laptop running W2K, Proxim wireless card, Microsoft MN-500 wireless router, this Netgear PS121, and a Samsung ML-1710 printer.
Plug the PS121 into the wall, the usb cable from the printer into the PS121, and an ethernet cable runs between the PS121 and a spare port on your router. Now I can print from anywhere in my apartment.
Setup was a snap, took about 5 minutes. I did have to read the troubleshooting part of the instructions to discover that I needed to disable 'bidirectional printing'... whatever that is.
I don't know why the amazon description says that you can share with 'up to 3 computers', because you can share with any number on a wireless network.
One complaint: this thing comes with a usb cable but no ethernet cable. Everyone with a usb-printer already has a usb cable, but some people might not have an ethernet cable laying around. I would prefer that they lower the price a few bucks and include no cables, most people who buy esoteric gadgets like this have extra cables.
Overall, this is a nice little toy, I highly recommend it.
Customer Review: Troubling
Summary: 1 Stars
Purchased this server for home use in preparation for adding several computers to a LAN. Worked great with just 1 computer. Then, added internet and a router. That's when the server decided not to work. Turned off all the firewalls, as recommended. Re-installed the software several times, each time with the impression that all was well. Not so. The SmartWizard was not installed, so the print server would not route to the printer. Now for the frustration. Contacted Netgear support several times over the next 6 weeks. Each time, except for the last, I was assigned a different technical support person. Each time, except for the last, I was directed to their web site to download the latest software, which I already had. The last response was ..."your printer is probably not support by Netgear..." which is not true (HP Officejet) since it worked fine previously. Needless to say, the server ended up in the trash - not because of the equipment, but because of the support, or should I say the lack of support. I'm sure there's a simple solution, but Netgear is numb to it's customers.