Dell misrepresentation on 1600n

Question

Judging from posts on this board, a lot of people feel Dell is misrepresenting the capabilities of the 1600n. In its promotional materials, it advertises this as a multifunction printer/fax/copier/scanner with built in networking. Only after buying it and installing it (and after lots of confusion) are buyers finding out that only the printing works over a network, not the fax, copy and scan functions.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether Dell can or should do something about this? Would it be possible for Dell to create new drivers that perform all functions over a network?

How about shaming Dell into owning up to its actions, by publicizing this situation with PC World, PC Magazine and other reviewers?

OT Tech · Answer

In a network enviroment it is highly unlikely, if not impossible, for a printer to be connected to a PC.  Why then would anyone market a network printer as a multi-function machine that can not perform as a multi-function machine when connected to a network?  I have hundreds of co-workers and we all share a few dozen printers, fax machines, copiers, etc.  When the Dell was installed we were estatic.  Our productivity was going to soar!  We are all printing just fine.  But in trying to scan it's not the productivity that is soaring.

d3sp · Answer

dp8844, I understand your frustration. Can you give me a link to any article where DELL claims the 1600n model can scan over the network?

dp8844 · Answer

Thanks for the reply.

Dell's promotional material for this product (on its website and its print ads) simply says "Print, scan, copy and standalone 33.6k fax" and "Built-in networking," not "Built-in networking for printing." See below, taken from Dell's product highlights page, http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/print_1600n?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Dell Multifunction Laser Printer 1600n

Print, scan, copy, and fax with the Dell Multifunction Laser Printer 1600n. Fast, durable, and versatile, the 1600n is an excellent solution at the right price for home office. Save space by consolidating four office devices into one easy-to-manage multifunction printer.

Print, scan, copy and standalone 33.6k fax
Fast black and white printing and copying at up to 22ppm1
Built-in networking
Sharp 1200 image quality print resolution
Scan in 24-bit color at up to 4800 DPI interpolated resolution, 600 x 1200 optical resolution
etc.

The "tech specs" page also doesn't make this clear: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/print_1600n?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=specstab

Finally, look at the several threads on this board from people who bought this thinking all four functions were networked. The documentation doesn't even tell you it doesn't work -- only by trial and error and asking questions were buyers able to figure out that only printing is networked.

BlueSideUp · Answer

Hopefully this won't sound rude, but documentation generally doesn't tell you which features DON'T work, only the included features.

d3sp · Answer

I don't mean to sound harsh, so please don't take it wrong.

As far as I see, Dell never claimed that this machine can do scan over network. That was the wrong assumption that you made after reading it. I guess, you could ask DELL sales person (or via email) if this product supports scan over network.

After all, this is not expensive machine for local/desktop use, you can't expect it to be fully functional as proper network MFPs.

dp8844 · Answer

You write: 'As far as I see, Dell never claimed that this machine can do scan over network. That was the wrong assumption that you made after reading it. I guess, you could ask DELL sales person (or via email) if this product supports scan over network.' By that logic, it would be wrong to assume this machine can even print over a network. Here's how Dell describes the product on its website: 'Print, scan, copy, and fax with the Dell Multifunction Laser Printer 1600n. Fast, durable, and versatile, the 1600n is an excellent solution at the right price for home office. Save space by consolidating four office devices into one easy-to-manage multifunction printer. Print, scan, copy and standalone 33.6k fax Fast black and white printing and copying at up to 22ppm1 Built-in networking' It doesn't say 'Built-in networking for printing.'

raytmercer · Answer

I just purchased a 1600 to replace a Brother Inkjet MPF that did print/copy/scan and fax over a network. When I could not get it to scan, they sent me a replacement.  When the replacement did the same thing, it was not until I spoke the 3rd tech ( one of the techs wanted me to reformat my hard drive to fix the problem), who, after much research, said that it would only print over a network, not scan.  There was nothing in the paper or online documentation to allude to this fact.  I can live without the network capability, but I am disgusted with the time I wasted. I am still having problems getting the computer to recognize the scanner over the USB (prints fine).

flem1064 · Answer

I think an easy first step for DELL software engineers is to code/test/ship a fax driver where I can send a fax from my PC to the printer over the USB (minimum). It should be able to send a fax over the ethernet as well, but I would be pleased if they at least started with the fax function over the USB.

uatesamich · Answer

Well, i assumed the same thing and when i emailed customer support i was told that there is software that it comes with that will allow network scanning and they gave me directions on how to do it. However, the only disk i recieved with the unit was the sub par drivers. I have been calling dell for 2 months now and have yet to have them shipped to me. The only reason why i bought it was for the network abblity. i dont want it hooked to a computer. And thier sorry Hindi C_rap for a tech support can KMA. I will never purchase anything from dell again. Not only that i am sending out a smear campaign to my friend via the interntet for using out of country call centers. Hope you all will joing me in condeming them. Also i was wondering if any of you got these CD's that were supposidly to come with the 1600n.

glennkreisel · Answer

You can solve the network scanning problem with RemoteScan... It's cheap and works great on the 1600 No need to get upset... www.remote-scan.com

flem1064 · Answer

Any ideas on a fax driver, even over the USB?

d3sp · Answer

Flem, I'm not aware about any fax drivers for 1600n model..

OT Tech · Answer

I don't see how that companies software is going to fix the network scanning problem with the 1600N.  I have emailed the company and posed the question to them and am awaiting a response.  Is there a way to install the server appliation on the printer itself?  In a network configuration there is no PC hooked up directly to the 1600N only an ethernet cable plugged into the back.

uatesamich · Answer

That was the whole point to not to have to have a computer attached to the unit thanks for the suggestion though

jon.fong · Answer

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you know there is a new firmware/software update available. Allows you to scan over the network!!!

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R90776&SystemID=PRN_LSR_1600N&category=0&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=6782&devlib=40&fileid=118334

Printers

Dell misrepresentation on 1600n

Was this post helpful?