Fastest Wireless Printer - Recommendations?

[WaltD]

Hello all! I have a unique use case that I am trying to solve for:

I have a web-based program that identifies a Hotel Guest from a list when they drive up to a security gate for a Hotel property. When the Guest is selected in the program using a mobile device, there is an email alert that gets sent out to the front desk employees at the main property that this specific Guest has arrived. However, I would also like to be able to have that email sent to a wireless printer at the security gate to print out and be used as a placard that would then be placed on the vehicle dashboard just before directing the Guest to drive up toward the property. This would have to be done quite quickly though to avoid any backups at the gate and to make it as brief a stop at the gate as possible for the Guest.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a wireless printer that receives a print request and completes the print job as quickly as possible? I am not sure with which printer manufacturer I should start. Any advice that can be provided would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[The Hat]

@WaltD, It sounds like a great idea, but you’ve got to remember, it’s not the printer that is slow, all Wi-Fi in general is very slow, and I do hope you come up with an answer and get it to work...

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

is it a kind of regular printer you think off, or what are you actually planning to print - a tag - something like a registration/membership card in credit card or similar size ? This might get you to look for a special tag/label/ticket printer. Do you have line power for such printer available there ? Do you have a reliable WLAN connection at this location ? Or could you use some type of Lan via power line equipment ? Or is there already some LAN connection available for gate control, surveillance etc ? Is this location manned for operational reasons - is there somebody to take care of the paper/label/tag material for the printer once it runs out ? Finding such printer is one thing, but to get and keep it working all day/week/year long reliably is the bigger challenge - but it looks like a real great idea to me.

 

[WaltD]

Hi, I am open to either a regular printer or a badge printer since the idea is to be able to print something anywhere from 3x5 to 4x6 inches which would be placed on either the dashboard or under the windshield wiper as the visual indicator to the valets on the drive to identify the category of Guest (VIP, Club, Dining, Drive-on etc). This placard would also include the Guest name so that the valets don't have to ask the arriving Guests for their name when greeting them (the goal is to only have the Guest asked once at the security gate without then sharing the name over the walkie-talkies). In the past, the process was to ask the Guest for the name, and there was a box of placards pre-printed with the arriving Guests' names on them, arranged alphabetically, that the security guard would then manually search through and place on the car. However, depending on the # of arrivals for the day, which could occasionally be up to 600, this was sometimes taking a long time and, in the moment, the placard could easily be passed over and the search needing to start again. Looking for a way to move away from the preprinted placards, I designed a program that can do the name search and sorting on the mobile device much easier, typing in the first 3 letters narrows down the list to one or two likely reservations for the guard to select. Now it is the printing part to solve for.....

For more details, there is power at the security kiosk, a reliable WLAN connection, a reliable ethernet connection, and is continuously staffed. Unfortunately, the program that I put together is self contained and relatively low-tech and therefore doesn't have integration capability with other programs. The way it transmits the info about who has arrived is by automatically generating the email alert. We have an HP printer at the location already, but when I tested out the ePrint service on it using the printer's email address, the email alert will print out after its received by the printer, but only after the print request is processed by the ePrint service first, sometimes taking more than 1 or 2 minutes, too long to be able to be used for the purpose I am looking for. I saw some videos online of high speed badge/tag printing but they seem to work off of having a QR code or bar code already provided which is then scanned, triggering the printing process. Using a badge/label printer may work out if someone is aware of a badge/label printer that works similar to an ePrint service where I could send an email to it and it would print out the email content. I've been looking at different Dymo and brother products but haven't yet come across a product fitting this case.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Did yu have a look to Zebra printers ? They have a wide range of products
https://www.zebra.com/gb/en/products/printers.html
I can image they have a printer for your tags/signs.
The actual setup, hardware, connection, software , operation etc is something I cannot be of much help in this case.
There are other printers on the market as well like these
https://www.amazon.com/Primera-LX900-Color-Label-Printer/dp/B003FO2NEO or
https://www.durafastlabel.com/color-label-printer/

 

[The Hat]

Ah come on will ya, Wi-Fi printers are not fast or that reliable and rely heavily on the strength of the signal it receives, as do all Wi-Fi printers..
Print speed has nothing to do with the connection to the computer..