Disable Wireless Printing for Faster Internet Connections
April 30, 2019 10:00 AM
Have you noticed a weak or slow connection to ObieWifi?
Does the signal seem strong but webpages are loading slowly?
Have you noticed any other available wireless networks in addition to ObieWifi?
If your answer to all of these questions is yes, you’re probably experiencing wireless interference.
What Causes Interference?
Many new printers come out of the box with their own wireless networks enabled (e.g., named HP****). These printers can often be on the same wireless ‘channel’ as your nearest source for ObieWifi.
People often don’t realize that their printer is blasting out interference and don’t take advantage of the wireless features anyway. Your printer can interfere with dorm rooms all the way down the hall!
If you are really close to an access point for ObieWifi, you may not notice any interference, as you may be connected on 5GHz instead of 2.4GHz (almost all these printers are 2.4GHz only).
How Can You Eliminate Interference?
CIT relies on you to help eliminate interference and improve network performance for everyone.
Turn it off.
The best thing you can do is find the source of the interference and turn it off if it’s your own printer. If you need an extra long USB cable, visit the Oberlin Technology Store.
Talk to your neighbors.
If you can’t find the source of the interference, talk to your neighbors. They are also probably experiencing interference and you can work together to figure out whose printer might be the culprit!
Official CIT Personal Wireless Printing Policy
CIT does not support personal, wireless printers on campus. Wireless printers can interfere with ObieWifi and cause degraded network performance for users connected to ObieWifi, meaning simply that you and the other people in your dorm will have slower connections if there are wireless printers set up in your building. For this reason, we ask that you connect directly to your printer using a USB cable when you would like to print in your residence, and disable its wireless features.