The Canon lady told me I need a router.
I'm assuming the Canon lady is talking about 802.11x (where x=b/g or
whatever) otherwise known as WiFi, rather than IR or bluetooth. It's
hard to be helpful without a model number to look up.
If this is so a router would do the trick. Either that or an access
point, though a wireless router would likely be cheaper. I tend to see
wireless routers on sale for under $40, sometimes even under $20. I'm
new to the group so I don't know the rules regarding posting links to
things on sale. You could find a PC Wifi card that will act as an
access point if you wanted to have even less wires or don't want to pay
the extra money for a wireless adapter for your PC.
Basic requirements
1. Access point (or Router with WiFi Access point)
2. PC with Wifi card or PC with network adapter (wire to the access
point, or wireless to it).
3. Printer with Wifi support.
WiFi wireless is pretty cool in the fact that you have full networking
without wires with decent range. It has a draw back in the fact it's
not as fast as wires, and other people can use your stuff as well. A
good read through the manual is required or else you have an open
gateway that anyone can print to your printer from, or hook to your
Internet connection if you have a traditional cable/dsl/dish style
connection or have internet connection sharing turned on. Pay
attention to the pages on encryption and ask if the printer supports it
to prevent drive by surfing. Try for WPA encryption over WEP if you
have the option, but WEP is better than nothing. If it's just your
printer attached to the WiFi you the worst someone could do is print to
your printer from the street.
Or you can just use a wire.