Linking a Canon irc2380 printer on one network to computers on another network

Question

I am in an office which has an older Vodafone modem HG556a (Slow Internet over phone line). Connected to this modem were two Pcs and a Canon irc2380 printer scanner.

The Pcs are connected with cables and the printer/scanner is wireless.

The Canon is an absolute nightmare to configure as the settings are all over the place and its necessary to access three sets of submenus to configure ip addresses wireless passwords etc.

We got a new network in from Virgin (DSL) made by Arris and is model no Hub 2 /TG3492LG-VMIE and I spent three hours trying to configure the Canon to communicate with the new modem with no success. I had changed all the settings in the Canon I could find but cannot ping the new modem so I changed them all back to the old modem and got it all working again.

I now have the Canon connected by USB cable to one PC for printing and shared from that PC to the other one , but I cannot scan to PC unless the Pc I am scanning to is connected to the old modem/network.

Now I am left with a limited number of choices:

1. Use two modems and somehow connect up the printer to one network (the older slower Modem ) and the two computers to the newer fast DSL modem.
2. Change all settings on the DSL modem to match the older modem ( SSID, wireless password , Ip address range etc etc ) I don't know if the new DSL modem has the same features available as the old Huawei modem for me to be able to fool the Canon into thinking that it is still talking to the Huawei modem and not the DSL.
3. Any other available option.

I suspect that I have one of two problems, one being a setting on the Canon that I need to change so that it will communicate with the new DSL modem ( which I cant find so therefore it remains the same when I change the other settings which is why the Huawei will still work ) or that the DSL modem simply cannot talk to the older Canon printer due to its age.

The Canon has a socket for a network cable to plug into but seems to be totally set to only using the wireless network or else the USB cable for printing .

I cannot find a menu on the printer to tell it to use wired network instead of wireless or else the wired network card in the printer is dead or damaged ( someone pushed a USB cable printer end into it , don't ask ) Unfortunately it will not scan to a computer on the USB and only uses Network addresses to scan to preset Pcs.

If I can have the 2 computers on the DSL modem and the printer remaining on the Huawei modem and some easy way of communicating from one modem across to the other , (only for scanning) my problem would be solved.

I should add that the printer is on a static address, and also the computer that I want to scan to.

Answer 1

You might wish to edit your question so it is clearer. Also this seems to be a small office.

1. Have two modems: Why? I would not do this in a small office. Surely one is enough. Implement the new modem and remove the old one.

2. Change SSID, wireless password , IP address range on the DSL modem to match the older modem: That probably makes sense. This should help keep things straightforward for the users.

3. Any other available option: Do a hardware reset on the Canon Printer and connect it to the new network. Ensure it has a Static IP on the new network so it will not get lost.

Once the printer is set up on the network, it should work properly. You may wish to consider a newer and easier to use Printer. If you do, ensure it has a wired Ethernet connection.

Make sure you are modernizing your network and not trying to keep to the old ways. This is a much better approach.