easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
220-1201 Practice Question: A small office uses a wireless printer that…
A small office uses a wireless printer that supports Wi-Fi Direct. Several employees want to print from their smartphones without connecting to the company's wireless network. What is the simplest way to achieve this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth as peer-to-peer wireless methods; the trap here is that they may overlook Wi-Fi Direct's superior speed and range for printing tasks, which is a common CompTIA A+ exam point.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use the printer's Wi-Fi Direct feature to connect each phone directly.
Wi-Fi Direct allows devices to connect peer-to-peer without a traditional wireless access point. Since the printer supports Wi-Fi Direct, each smartphone can connect directly to the printer's own Wi-Fi Direct network, enabling printing without joining the company's wireless network. This is the simplest method because it requires no additional hardware or network configuration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Connect the printer to the office router via Ethernet.
Why it's wrong here
Connecting the printer to the office router via Ethernet establishes it as a network printer, accessible to devices on the same local area network. However, this method does not enable a direct, peer-to-peer connection between individual smartphones and the printer without an intermediary network infrastructure. While phones on the same Wi-Fi network could potentially print, the Ethernet connection itself does not facilitate direct smartphone connectivity to the printer.
- ✗
Enable the printer's Bluetooth and pair each phone.
Why it's wrong here
Enabling Bluetooth on the printer and pairing each phone individually is generally impractical for a small office with multiple users. Bluetooth connections are characterized by significantly slower data transfer speeds compared to Wi-Fi, a limited operational range (typically around 10 meters), and the cumbersome process of pairing each device separately, making it an inefficient solution for frequent, multi-user printing.
- ✓
Use the printer's Wi-Fi Direct feature to connect each phone directly.
Why this is correct
Wi-Fi Direct is the most suitable solution as it allows the printer to create its own secure, peer-to-peer wireless network, enabling smartphones to connect directly to the printer without requiring an existing Wi-Fi router or network. This feature simplifies the printing process for multiple mobile users by bypassing the need for network configuration or a central access point, offering a fast and efficient direct connection.
- ✗
Install a USB hub and connect all phones to the printer.
Why it's wrong here
Installing a USB hub and attempting to connect multiple phones to the printer via USB is largely impractical and unsupported by most standard mobile devices and printers. Smartphones typically lack the necessary USB host capabilities to directly interface with a printer for printing without specialized applications or drivers, and printers are not designed to act as USB hosts for multiple mobile devices simultaneously, rendering this method unfeasible.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Laptop Hardware and Components
Key term
Access Point
An access point is a device that creates a wireless local area network, usually by connecting to a wired network and broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal for computers, phones, and tablets to join.
Key term
CAN
A CAN (Controller Area Network) is a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.