Defective product, slow support, inadequate documentation | TRENDnet Wireless 1-Port Parallel Print Server

Good signal, easy setup | TRENDnet Wireless 1-Port Parallel Print Server

electronics:


	• TRENDnet Wireless 1-Port Parallel Print Server Trendware Usa Trendware Usa average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

great product, works as advertised

Bought this to make a LaserJet 6MP wireless, and very happy with the results. As others have noted, initial setup needs to be done via the ethernet port, and make sure to configure the IP address manually (rather than DHCP) to be within the same subnet as your wireless network (otherwise you won't be able to access the web-based config, although printing still worked). Once that was done, I plugged it into the printer and voila, wireless printing. It supports Bonjour so it automagically appeared in the OS X "add printer" dialog. However I ended up setting it up as an LPD printer because I had some issues with the queue pausing. Now it works great and allows printing from multiple laptops. Nice but sometimes cryptic web-based config allows me to remotely check the status. Overall, very happy, will definitely consider buying other Trendnet products.

for more information click here

Defective product, slow support, inadequate documentation

I received this on March 26, and did not have a working replacement until 22 days later, on April 17. To Amazon's credit, they got the order to me fast, and to TrendNet's credit, everyone I spoke with was polite and helpful. In the end, I have a functioning replacement print server from TrendNet.

Out of the box, I was unable to get the Print Server working with my Windows 2000 PC and NEC Superscript 860 laser printer which was manufactured in 1996. Trendnet support told me it was defective which I have no problem with if I am taken care of. However, the problem in my case was not with the product itself, the problem was with the poor documentation and slow tech support.

The setup instructions did not include info on what steps to take if the provided PS software utility did not detect the print server or if the web based firmware did not show in the browser (which in my case they did not). It also did not contain any information on setting up network printers on the operating system and also did not include info in doing factory firmware resets, setting up IP addresses, etc and was lacking in just about every piece of information needed to set this product up correctly. The print server firmware could not be detected by the provided print server software. There were no troubleshooting steps listed on the company website for this particular product either - the only faq listed for PS utility for this item not detecting print server was to blame install problems on firewall software that the user may have installed on PC - which to me is a cop out as far as documentation is concerned since everyone has firewall software these days - I have a firewall and never have any problems installing any hardware.

I first called TrendNet toll free tech support line early wed afternoon. After being on hold for 10 min, A very friendly person took my name and phone number and told me someone would call me back later that day because they were very busy. No one called as promised, so I called them back at 8:30 pm wed, the second friendly tech support person said they would call me back Wed evening or sometime Thursday. No one called - all of wed eve and Thursday went by with no callback. I called them again Friday am, finally got a friendly person on the phone to walk through some install steps with me, we could not figure out the problem, then she said she would have to escalate my problem to a "Level 2 support" technician and someone would call me back later that day or the following day. No one called back Friday, I called back Saturday at noon, the polite person I spoke with said someone should call back later Saturday or Sunday. No one called back all weekend. I called Monday at noon, they said that a level 2 tech would call me back within the hour.

FINALLY, I get a call Monday afternoon from supposedly a level 2 tech (don't think it was though, because the person who called me back on Monday had the same name and sounded as same person I talked to on Friday).

We went through the exact same troubleshooting procedure that were done the week before, and after doing that, she told me the item was defective and to go to their website and request an RMA for an exchange (wish she had done that the previous week). Just in case, I requested an RMA from Amazon in case I wanted to ship it back to them and get my money back, and it took about 30 seconds to get an RMA from Amazon for this item via their automated web form. To get the RMA from Trendnet for a replacement unit, it took two business days.

TrendNet then told me that I would have to pay for shipping the defective item back to them to California (I live in Michigan), even though it did not work brand new, out of the box. I had to ship it Ground unless I wanted to pay 50 bucks to have it over nighted. I shipped it on April 2, it took a week to get there, and they waited four days before they shipped the replacement, which I received earlier today, on April 17.

Then when I could not get the replacement to work, I called tech support, we finally got the print server firmware and software communicating, but I could not print a page via the Ethernet connection off the print server. Even though we finally got a connection to print server via the ethernet setup procedure, the tech support guy at TrendNet then started getting impatient and said that the NEC SuperScript 860 was not compatible with the Print server, and spent about 15 minutes explaining to my why it was not compatible, and to start shopping for a new printer and gave me some hints as to what kind of printers to buy. I did not believe him.

He also told me that when I get ready to buy another printer, to call them first and ask them if the printer I want to buy is compatible with their print server, and gave me some printer brand suggestions, but would not give me any model numbers. So I asked him - if he had a printer model number compatibility list for this item either on their web site or one that he could send me, and he said yes they do but they don't make that compatibility list public, which seemed very strange to me.

So after we got off the phone, I spent another 15 minutes, changed the settings in my Windows 2000 printer settings to set up a network printer, printed out a test page, and got it working without his help. I then called back TrendNet to tell them that my printer did in fact work because the earlier guy said he would take my printer model number down an place it on their incompatible printer list for this print server so he could tell other customers, and I wanted them to know that it worked so if someone else had my printer they would not be discouraged from buying this print server for it if they are wiling to pull their hair out for days trying to get it to work. The last support guy and I worked with the PS for about three more minutes and FINALLY got it to print wirelessly. In toto I think I spoke with four support people there at TrendNet

My guess would be that the defective unit I sent back was not flashed with firmware prior to shipping since it did not show up at all in the PS utility. They should test each of these units to make sure they are functional prior to providing them to Amazon.

All TrendNet would have to do to avoid most of these kinds of problems, would be to provide extensive documentation as to setup, or at the very least provide a good section on the TrendNet website as to troubleshooting a device install, neither of which trendnet did for this product. Or hire more qualified people for their support department. I don't mind reading and troubleshooting myself, as long as the manufacturer provides the documentation to do it. The tech support guy told me today that if they did that. the manual would be as thick as a telephone book, and that they prefer customers to call tech support instead. I don't agree, if I pay 80 bucks for a print server, just send me the darn telephone book and I'll figure it out and if I can't THEN I will call. I don't mind paying an extra 5 bucks for the manual.

If I pay $80.00.00 for a print server which is priced more than many home use router-modem combos today, at the very least I expect either great documentation, or great web site faq's, OR great tech support with issues resolved within a 2 or 3 day time frame, is reasonable - and this took over three weeks to get a working setup.

In the end, the darn thing works great. Because tech support takes so long and because of poor documentation and the fact that they ship my unit without testing the firmware, I gave three stars.

for more information click here

Good signal, easy setup

I converted my LaserJet 5MP (what a workhorse!) to wireless with this unit. It communicates well with the Ubuntu and Windows Vista laptops in the house. Wireless printing is much more convenient than print sharing since you don't have to turn on an extra machine to act as a server.
The documentation could be better and you need a Windows computer (or WINE) to get this running because the web interface doesn't work out of the box. But it's been running fine for weeks now that I've installed it.
I haven't had a problem with signal strength at all and my printer is upstairs while my computer is often downstairs.
I would recommend this adapter with the caveat that it's easy to set up if you know the basics of home networks. From the other reviews and comments, I'd say that if you don't know what an IP address is or how to install a networked printer on your OS, you might want to look elsewhere for something simpler to install.

for more information click here

Great product!

Works exactly as described. Easy, well-documented setup. Great way to turn your old parallel printer into a wireless network printer for your home or office.

TRENDnet's TEW-P1PG is a direct attached print server that transforms a stand-alone parallel printer into a shared network printer. The TEW-P1PG provides IEEE 802.11g 54Mbps wireless interface for integrating into existing wireless network. The TEW-P1PG is designed for virtually all printers equipped with parallel compliant printer port and it is an ideal network solution to convert conventional parallel printer into a shared resource on the network.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3