Post Office broadband

Hi everyone, this is a first for me but we need some help!

We have recently swapped our broadband from Plusnet to the Post Office. The new router configured fine and we have no problems accessing the internet. I was also able to link our Epson XP-345 printer to the ZyXEL AMG1302-T11C router and can see that it is connected.

However we are unable to print anything as none of our devices (Apple MacBook Pro, iPhone 6 and Samsung Android phone) seem to be seeing the printer. We had absolutely no difficulties when we were linked through the Plusnet router.

The Post Office customer service team were absolutely useless and palmed us off with no solution. I am capable of logging onto the "admin" user of the router but am not technically experienced.

Is there anybody out there that could help with some advice?

Many thanks

If the printer or other devices are connected via wireless then it may be that wireless isolation is blocking communication devices on the network

Also on the various devices, you have searched for the printer and added it with its new IP address, rather than trying to print with the old settings.

Thanks for this response, I'm grateful for any help we can get!

Yes the printer and other devices are all connected by wireless. Could you explain what wireless isolation means and what we could do to fix it?

Also, with the various devices, we've just looked for any printers that are available on the network and none show up. As an example, the Epson printer supports AirPrint and yet my iPhone can't see it like it used to do. Is there something I could do to fix this?

Again, grateful for any help we can get - not being able to print is a real pain.

Have a look at p26 of the printer's user manual:

ftp://download.epson-europe.com/pub/download/6258/ep...

Thanks for your response.

The Network Connection report shows "pass" against each check and the signal strength is excellent.

The more comprehensive Epson status sheet shows no obvious problems and is very similar to the version produced when the printer is connected to the old Plusnet router, just some small variances.

I'm also able to log on to the Post Office (ZyXel) router and see that the printer appears to be connected ok.

So I'm still at a bit of a loss as to why I can't print!

Maybe, if you are using Windows you could go to Control Panel/Devices and Printers and then add a new printer and then print to that.

Thanks for your response, appreciated.

The main device I use is an Apple MacBook Pro, so I would normally add a printer through System Preferences, then Printers and Scanners but when I click on the + sign, it doesn't see any printers on the network to add. Am I missing a step somewhere?

Wireless isolation means that all devices connected wirelessly to your router can only speak to the router (and the internet through it), but not to each other. So your printer can communicate with the router, hence the passes in the report, but not to any of your computers. Your computers can speak with the router, but not to your printer or each other.

To turn this off on your router:

Page 89 of the manual here: ftp://ftp2.zyxel.com/AMG1302-T11C/user_guide/AMG1302...

Log into your router's control panel (page 18). Go to Network Setting -> Wireless -> General and untick both Client Isolation and MBSSID/LAN Isolation (so any computers using an Ethernet cable can see the printer).

Thanks very much for this advice, which seems to make sense.

I�ll be away from home for the next two or three days but will try this when I get back and will let you know if it works

Many thanks again

Again, thanks very much for this response.

After being away from home for a few days, I've been able to check your suggestions tonight and can confirm that neither of the two parameters you mentioned were ticked anyway so I've left them how they were.

Another suggestion was that I needed to enable uPNP, since apparently the manufacturer ships the router without this being enabled. However, when I checked, uPnP was in fact enabled anyway.

So I'm still no further forward!

If I switch on the previous Plusnet router and use this purely to provide a wi-fi connection between laptop and printer, it works fine. With both devices connected to this network, the Mac sees the Epson printer immediately and allows me to add it through System preferences > Printers and Scanners. Printing is then straightforward.

If instead I go through exactly the same procedure with the Post Office / Zyxel router, both devices connect fine but the Mac thinks the printer is offline. If I delete it and then try to add it through Printers and Scanners (as above), it doesn't see the printer at all so can't add it.

This situation is mirrored by my iPhone using the AirPrint facility. I sill can't find a way to print through this wireless router, which is very frustrating.

I appreciate I'm asking a lot of forum users to help me with this problem but any suggestions you have would be very gratefully received!

I had similar problem with hp printer and new router. Removing and reinstalling software resolved problem.

I've just been through exactly the same thing with a wireless printer. I upgraded my BT provided HH5A with Zyxel VMG8924. The wireless HP Printer connected fine and I updated the new IP address in the printer software but despte the printer being available and connected it wouldn't print or establish available comms. I downloaded the HP help wizard and that 'saw' the printer with no errors, but it still didn't work. I then uninstalled all the HP components and downloaded the latest software and installed it. In the past when installing this software it would just scan for the printer and all would be well. This time however the install reported no devices found but it allowed me to enter the IP address manually and finished the install. The printer worked fine after that. I then went through the same process on other PCs and laptops with the same results on each.

Everything is pointing to a wireless isolation issue, without access to the router to check all the pages to find this setting difficult to say more.

Are you able to access the printer�s GUI wirelessly by typing its IP address in a web browser? The printers IP address should be displayed in the list of connected clients on the zyxel router. If still no luck, then as others have suggested you need to remove the printer software/drivers from each pc and reinstall. During the reinstallation you should get the option of printing a test page to the printer to ensure successful installation. It might also be worth doing a factory reset on the Zyxel router.

Edited by deleted (Fri 27-Jul-18 10:41:30)

Perhaps this...

https://homeforum.zyxel.com/discussion/563/enabling-...

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply to my posts, much appreciated.

This last post has a link to a post on the Zyxel Home Community Forum that has proved helpful. It suggests making three changes to the router's settings. I was only able to make two of these since Network Settings > Home Networking > Multicast doesn't exist on my version of the router. However, with these two changes in place and applied, both my iPhone and my MacBook were able to see the printer again and print without difficulty. I have no idea why this should work but it does seem to do.

In parallel with seeking help on this Forum, I have been in email dialogue with Customer Support at Zyxel and have now sent them the solution for their comments. It's clear from the Community Forum that others have had the same issue so I just want to check that there are no downsides to the changes I've made. I'll notify any responses I get from them.

In the meantime, thanks again to everyone and specifically to bet_here who provided the link to the solution.

Many thanks for this thread.

I just switched from Talk Talk to PO Broadband but couldn't Airprint.

I followed . - https://homeforum.zyxel.com/discussion/563/enabling-...

The only change I needed to make was enabling Enhanced Multicast Forwarding.

However, before it was effective, I also had to:

1. Restart my router
2. Re-login to the wifi network on my printer and my (sending) devices - not sure how much of that was necessary but it didn't work with just the router control panel changes.

Probably routine for most folk, having got this far, but I mention it for any others.

Thanks agains!