In the last couple of days I have ordered a new printer and a new router.
My trusty HP 8500g printer decided on its own to stop printing in a draft mode. It can still print somewhat readable from the front panel (e.g., the network report) but from a remote connection it doesn't come up correctly. This was driving me to drink while I was trying to get some resume's printed. I finally gave up in disgust and ordered a HP OfficeJet Pro 8620 All-in-One Color Photo Printer with Wireless. Like my HP 8500g, it has Ethernet connectivity and wireless connection (I usually don't use the wireless). But there are some new bells and whistles like the AirPrint capability built in (working with my Apple products) and the legal size scan bed. I also noticed that there are some newer software drivers and the printing is much faster. The scanning seems to be more reliable. It had a 4.3 out of 5 rating for 1102 respondents, which is very high.
The new router is an Cisco RV325. The RV220W that I have has reached the end of life and will only be supported with patches until 2020. I got the RV325 because it has a fall-over mode to 3G/4G enabled cell usb adapter. In addition, it has 14 usable ports which may be setup to use VLANs. The additional 2 ports are used for dual WAN connections (one being a fall-over). Looking at the throughput it was around 800Mbps with about 50 Mbps for IPSec connections. Since I am planning on setting up an IPSec VPN to the house, this seemed like a good purchase. It has a 3.8 out of 5 rating for 50 respondents. Update: response time is very quick on this router, much faster than my RV220W. I will probably push the RV220W into service as a WAP only box.
This is a blog mostly about techie things, what I am doing to my apartment network on the cheap, IOT, 3D Printing, Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, ESP32, ESP8266, Home Automation, Personal Weather Stations, Things That Go Bump in the Night, and some side issues that need discussing. Remember, sometimes the journey to an end is as much fun as the goal achieved!
