iPad printing using Bluetooth

Ipad new in. Sept 2012. Also have Safari for www. NO WIFI!!! (live in the boonies). My iPad & HP 5510 printer will not interact. Have been told a Bluetooth adapter on the printer will make it possible to Print without WIFI. Any problems I should expect?? The BT adapter I am looking at is a "universal" not an HP.

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As far as I know, iOS devices can only use AirPrint to print and that requires WiFi access to a compatible printer. I don't believe Bluetooth is one of the supported methods for printing.

Not sure what WiFi has to do with your location since the WiFi would be contained just within your house??

After much research, my hope of a home-contained WiFi --- iPad to HP 5510 -- is not something I can do. You are correct about needing WiFI for AirPrint. Before I spend $$$ on a "universal" Bluetooth adapter, I just want to be sure it will really make my HP LISTEN TO MY IPAD and PRINT!

Recluse said:

After much research, my hope of a home-contained WiFi --- iPad to HP 5510 -- is not something I can do. You are correct about needing WiFI for AirPrint. Before I spend $$$ on a "universal" Bluetooth adapter, I just want to be sure it will really make my HP LISTEN TO MY IPAD and PRINT!

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Can I ask why you can not do WiFi in your home? All it takes is a WiFi router. You don't need to connect it to the Internet to let it connect things within your house. So even if you have only dial-up connectivity, you can still do WiFi for connecting the iPads and the printer. I would steer clear of trying to get Bluetooth to support printing.

Recluse said:

After much research, my hope of a home-contained WiFi --- iPad to HP 5510 -- is not something I can do.

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Can you tell us why this is the case? If you were not going to have anything to connect the WiFi router do, the downside is that you'd have to enable the wifi connection on the iPad to print and then disable it if you have the 3G model to get to the Internet..

PULLEEEEZ, tell me in plain English (not "techie speak") how I can set up a self-contained private wifi network exclusively in my own home. I was told (incorrectly??) a router would NOT allow me to speak from my IPAD to my HP 5510 without a valid external WiFi connection. Some sites implied I could do this IF I had a certain App or software or upgrade. As far as I can tell, I cannot "re-program" the HP. I did download ePrint from HP, but that accomplished nothing. Both the HP (with AT&T 4G and Safari for www) and the HP 5510 Photosmart are Wifi capable.

By the way, my 2 pc's and 2 other printers are NOT connected to the internet and are Microsoft Vista based. So far, my pc recognizes that my iPad is hooked up through the USB port, but all it will do is give a readout of file usage. It would be perfect if I could print through one of my pc-linked printers! Don't know how . . . Would installation of Apple software on one of the pc's solve everything??

Help!!! (while I still have some hair that hasn't been pulled out!). Thanks for ideas and solutions from the Recluse!

OK..plain English..

You can ONLY print from iOS devices over WiFi to a compatible printer. You can make a incompatible printer compatible by running programs like Printopia on a Mac to share a printer that is directly attached to the Mac..

As far as creating a private network and all that jazz, you don't have to do anything and whoever told you about the external connection stuff was lying to you..

A router will automatically hand out IP addresses to any devices that connect to it. Once you have the printer and iPad connected to the router (using the proper WiFi password), you can do all of your printing.

You really just need to get a router, enable the wireless and set a password. Follow the instructions of your printer to get it into onto the WiFi router. On the iPad, enable WiFi and it will find the router, choose the network name, enter the password and you are done.

The hp 5510 shows to be on the list of hp printers compatible with the ipad so youre ok there. But are you saying you have no wireless connectivity at your home? If tat is true, there is no way to connect tour ipad to your printer.

If you do have wireless ad are having problems getting your iad and printer setup to print, on hp's website, there is a link that says “printing from a mobile device". There are instructions for setting up your printer for “Wireless Direct". You will have to search for those words on the search bar on hp's website. I had to setup my ipad/hp printer like this.

Ashwin! You get a big "ATTABOY" or "ATTAGIRL" for all your help on this. I can get a router from he local RadioShack (told you I'm in the boonies (high desert of Central Oregon to be exact). If someone could tell me any must-haves for the router, I would be most grateful . . . Don't want to buy any additional "stuff" that won't work.

A big THANK YOU from the Recluse!

MacWannabeNTX!! You are telling me that neither the Bluetooth adapter nor a router will make me, my iPad and my HP 5500 talk to each other?? Soooooo, until and unless a wireless network becomes available in the forested boonies where I live, I guess I'm not going to print from my iPad at home! Bummer! Thanks for the info. . . "Recluse"

No, you don't need any external networks to print. WiFi is a very short range network, established by the router you buy, that has a range of about 100 feet. You can connect the printer, all your pc's and iPads to it, even iPhones! They can all talk to one another. And if the router can be connected by Ethernet to your internet modem, if you have one, then all those devices can see the Internet as well. Basically, YOU establish the WiFi network in your house with the router.

BTW, I know a bit about the forested boonies of central Oregon. I used to live in Washington, flew airplanes all over Oregon and Washington.

MacInWin! I always wanted to live n the boonies, and now I are. With your "Birdseye" view from the plane, you probably are quite aware we are NOT RUNNING OUT of standing timber!

I'm gonna take a chance and get a generic (?) router this week. ALL I WANT TO DO IS PRINT FROM MY IPAD! I already have Internet with my iPad package. You've given me hope that we can all be on speaking terms once I follow the iPad, router and hp 5510 directions.

Thanks much from the "Recluse."

Lots of trees in those boonies! If ALL you want to do is print, there may be a way to get Vista to share the printer, letting you point the iPad to the Vista machine to print. It's easy to do that on an all-Apple network, but I don't know how to get Vista to share. But if you don't mind the expense of a wifi router, that is the easier path. Pretty much any WiFi router should do.

Recluse: I think part of the problem here is that everyone is using the term "WiFi" and "Internet" sort of interchangeably when they are not the same thing, which may be confusing you.

Since you are communicating with us on this forum, you clearly DO have Internet service -- so I'm not sure why you appear to be under the impression that you can't buy a wireless router (I strongly recommend the Airport Express or Airport Extreme, given your need for reliability) and set up a Wi-Fi network in your home, hopefully that is just a misunderstanding on your part.

The Bluetooth idea will MOST DEFINITELY not work so let's just forget that entirely.

As stated by others, a Wi-Fi router will let you create a network in your home. It is not repeat NOT dependent on an Internet connection, though of course it appears you could have that if you set up a Wi-Fi network. In either case, the iPad and the printer would then communicate. They just need to be on the same "local network," not necessarily the Internet.

Obviously, once you've connected the Wi-Fi router to your existing modem, you will also enjoy your Internet connection on the iPad as well if you choose to do that.

Ok, the clarification I am asking for is for my own benefit and nobody may care about that but me. But then again, clarification may help recluse. Anyway, here's what I am getting now from this thread - Recluse does not have a modem/router, she has internet access thru her ipad. Macinwin advised that she could still use a router that would allow connectivity between an ipad and printer to all printing on the ipad via this router. Is this correct?

And Recluse, I am in the boonies in Texas, live on a ranch. Love it but it does at times get inconvenient.

Chas_m! I have NO MODEM. My PCs don't have email or Internet, otherwise I'd print off the PC's. Sooooo, before I spend MORE $$$ . . . My internet is WIRELESS through AT&T 4G (Safari browser) to my iPad. There are NO wifi signals in the heavily forested boonies where I live. I am retired so I have NO work access. All I want to do is get my wireless iPad to speak to my wireless printer AND the HP wireless will print!

If a ROUTER will act as an intermediary between my wireless iPad and wireless printer -- NO OTHER EXTERNAL SIGNALS OR HARDWARE NEEDED, I am ecstatic!! PLEASE CONFIRM! My local RadioShack has a router I can pick up my next trip into town.

Thanks much for all your info from the "recluse!"

OK, now that we know the full picture..we can answer better..

You have no Internet (cable modem, FiOS, DSL) available to your house. This is not WiFi. WiFi essentially is the means by which you take an external Internet connection through the above mentioned options and make it available wirelessly (through the air) to other devices within a certain radius. You can also share your AT&T 4G connection from your iPad with other devices. This is known as creating a hotspot (and costs your extra)..in this case the iPad would act as your WiFi router to other devices..

Anywho..you can indeed purchase a router to create a wireless network that is not going to be connected to an external Internet connection, but rather will be used to connect your iPad to the printer.

HOWEVER, you are going to have to enable the WiFi on your iPad to print and then disable it again if you want to go on the Internet.

Once connected to the WiFi, the iPad is going to assume that it can get access to the Internet through that connection and will not fall back to the 4G connection when it fails. So you'll have to manually do this to help the iPad..

Good explanation Raz0redge. Recluse, WiFi is not something national, or regional. It is a technology that allows you to set up a very short range wireless network. Basically just in your house in the boonies. But that network will let you print from the iPad. As Raz0redge said, though, because the iPad will assume that if it has WiFi, that it should connect to the Internet through that path, it will stop using the AT&T connection. Which means you cannot be on the Internet through AT&T and print through your wireless network at the same time.

But you will be able to print from the iPad.

My most ecstatic THANK YOUs -- all of you -- for your help. Once I get my ipad-router-HP printer hooked and running, I will be happy to pass the answer along to all of those NEOPHYTES LIKE ME (who are facing the same issue). I specifically asked the local store if a router would be the answer to my problem, and something he read me from the router box made both of us believe it would not. THANKS FOR SETTING ME STRAIGHT!! The "Recluse"