Customer Reviews

HP Wireless Printing Upgrade Kit (Q6236A)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

I read several reviews, most of the bad experiences could have been made better if HP would support and document this product correctly. This device assigns an address to your printer, similar to how each computer on a network has an address.
First you install everything according to the directions. I had to unplug and replug in the USB part that connects to the computer and the one that connects to the printer until the connection was made. Once everything is set up and installed, you need to start the advanced setup options. This is how you set the printer to have access to your other computers on the network. You have to permit it to allow other users to connect. If you have WEP or WPA (which you should if you have a wireless network for security) you need to put in the password. I suggest using WPA.
Once you do that, right click on the icon in your system tray and connect. THEN you can remove the USB device from your computer. Go to start, then printers. You should see your printer there, paused (because you took out the USB device). Right click the icon, share the printer, that gives you the shared name. Unpause it.
This allows you to browse out on other computer when you `add' a new printer. You need to put in the name (mine is hpoffice which I think is the default). Anyway, once you do this you can add the printer to other computers after installing the software on them.
I hope this helps. I can confirm, you can connect several computers to your printer using this, and you do NOT have to have the USB part plugged in to any computers, once you set everything up. Setting the device up makes it a networked device that you can access from any other networked device.
I will update this review later once I have used it a while.

Folks, After reading the first review, I double checked with HP and they told me it would support more than one computer. So I bought it. It arrived last night...and I installed it to use. It worked great on my first machine, but I could not install on others. Since you need a wireless USB adapter for each machine.

Well...after 1 hour of chat with HP in India and then almost another hour with Level I and Level II support on the phone..they told me over and over it could not be done. I then found in the software options 'advance set up' and I choose that. It asks if I want to connect it to my wireless network. I say yes...and it then searches for my network. It finds it and then pulls up the security setting page and offers me 5 options, 4 of which are WEP enabled and one 'open.' Well...I entered my key of 26 chars for 128 encryption and guess what...IT DOES NOT ACCPET 26 chars. It only takes 22. So I called HP back and they level I told me it would not be able to do this. I asked for Level II and got Level II. Their answer was 'You have to set it up to 'open' and then it will work. If you set it to WEP we don't support it. We MAY, in the FUTURE, have an update that allows you to use WEP and the wireless technology."

Well...needless to say...Amazon is receiving back from me today this WORTHLESS WIRELESS UPGRADE DEVICE.

I was so mad I actually sent an email to Mark Hurd head of HP so he can know about their problems. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this upgrade kit hooks up easily to my hp photosmart c4100 all-in-one printer. my wireless network consist of a pc with windows xp, a laptop with vista, and a second pc also with vista. after i figured out how to hook up the 1st pc and the laptop with only one pc adapter, with the laptop i printed a test page w/o the adapter just my wifi connection it worked great. now all i need to to do is set up my 2nd pc, and i know it will work fine. i did not have to make any calls to hp tech support i just read the simple steps on the support website for hp products after i registered my upgrade kit. took a total of 15 minutes.

Most of the bad reviews are from people who DON"T KNOW how to set up the wireless kit. Don't blame the wireless kit when it's you who don't know how to configure the wireless setup.

First, go through the setup : Put in the CD & follow the direction. After you have it working with the wireless adapter plugged into your computer's USB port, go to Advance Setup & configure it to your WIRELESS ROUTER!

Once you have it configure to your wireless router w/ your network key, the printer is encrypted & no longer will you need to plug the wireless adapter into the USB! Also, you no longer have to reboot every time you put your computer in standby mode. The wireless printer now works off your wireless router! It's great once you know how to set it up right!

I am unhappy with the product. It works 95% of the time with my desktop and the PC adapter included with the kit. (Resetting the connection is necessary if there is a power outage or when the printer adapter is removed and reinserted or when the printer is shut down and restarted.) The operation using my existing wireless network for a second PC (a laptop) is an unsatisfactory experience. Once I get it working, it is OK, but every time I start up the laptop and try to print it requires resetting or reconfiguraing or reinstalling the drivers. I asked HP (twice) if a separate PC adapter could be purchased (because there is no part number for it) and received no response. The wireless network operation for a second PC stinks!!

The unit does NOT support Windows Vista. No date for upgrade release as of 3-15-07 according to HP support. I purchased an HP Photosmart Pro B9180 and the wireless printing kit. Neither comes Windows Vista compatible. If you go to the HP web site you can find a software update for the printer but not for the wireless Upgrade Kit.

Despite what some of the other reviews have stated the Wireless Printing Upgrade Kit does support integration with your existing 802.11g wireless network with several security options (WEP 64/128bit, WPA ,etc.) Maybe HP released a firmware upgrade?

The key is to install using the USB Adapter on your PC first! After installed and connectivity is achieved with the printer side adapter you can access the Advanced Settings using the connectivity software. From there it's a snap to set up your SSID, security type, security key, etc. (don't forget to add the printer side adapter's MAC address to your MAC filter list if you are using that feature on your wireless router).

Once this is set up you no longer need to use the USB Adapter with your PC unless you need to make additional changes to the Advanced Settings and now any PC/laptop on your network will be able to access the printer.

I have found the HP Wireless Printing Upgrade Kit to be a great value compared to the other print servers available. Works great over my wireless network and allows me to use the print/scan/copy features of my HP printer just as if it was connected via USB cable.

I rated the item 4/5 because these advanced features are nowhere to be found in the installation manual. I'm guessing this is also why there are so many negative reviews on the product with folks having problems with wireless networking set up and using the printer with multiple computers.

Bottom line...if you are savvy enough to set up a wireless network without following an instruction manual and have a compatible multifunction HP printer, this product is the lowest cost way to add wireless connectivity!

I read some of the previous reviews with a degree of scepticism particularly as there seemed to be problems when setting this up with Vista. However I went ahead and bought the product and I'm glad I did. Set it up to work on three laptops ,two on XP and one on Vista, it took no more than 30 minutes and it worked like a dream on all of them. It's still early days but on performace so far I have to rate this with 5 stars.

The ad for this item does not state that it is only compatible with windows. I have a mac computer and was dissappointed to discover that the upgrade kit does not work with a MAC operating system. I was also dissappointed to discover that the kit only allows you to upgrade on one computer. It is not possible to have 2 computers wirelessly print to the unit. The item may be great for those running windows with only one computer but I don't know because I haven't used it.

The set-up was fairly simple, with easy-to-follow instructions. Initially, I had a problem because my firewall was set high and was blocking the transmission between my computer and the wireless device. Once I lowered the firewall a little bit, I had no problems. I am very happy with this product.

UPDATE: After several months of using this product, it stopped working, and I have never been able to get it going again. The wireless adapter does not detect the printer. It was good while it lasted. I don't plan to buy a replacement.