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Is it possible to connect a receipt printer to a telephone for printing similar to how a Credit card terminal works when connected to a telephone line.

Our clients donot have internet connections where we can connect the printer over Ethernet, so was thinking if it was possible to do the same via telephone line.

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migrated from superuser.com Oct 16 '09 at 5:58


Be aware: your question appears to be off-topic, and will likely be closed. Are you really asking about connecting the printer to the telephone network, or is this about caring serial data over RJ-11 or RJ-14 cable? –  dmckee Aug 22 '09 at 21:20
I assume RJ-11 or RJ-14 are the cables used to connect telephone lines, so then yes this question would be related to carrying serial data over the RJ-11 or RJ-14 cable lines. –  Anonymous Aug 23 '09 at 12:51
I do find the question on-topic, it's asking about a networking problem. That it's an unusual problem does not make it off-topic. –  sleske Oct 16 '09 at 10:47
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3 Answers

You provide too little information about your environment. Please at least mention:

  • What do your clients want to print?
  • What is your setup? Do you have a print server?
  • What is your existing network infrastructure?

That said, it seems you would like to remotely print to a printer, the way it is commonly done on a LAN, but over a telephone line instead of a LAN.

This is technically possible, but you'd need a printer that can talk to a telephone line. I'm not aware of any printer that does this. However, you could connect the printer to a router or a computer that has a modem and can dial out via telephone.

So either set up a (small) local server at the client site, or a special router. There used to be routers that made the connection Ethernet <-> analog modem, e.g. the MicroLink 56k Fun LAN from Devolo. No idea if there still is such hardware, but I'd guess there is.

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It should be a fairly easy to use a pair of modems, the type that were used for dial-up Internet, provided that the receipt printer has a serial interface. Pre-configure the printer-side modem to auto-answer and have the terminal (DTE) speed and protocol compatible with the printer and save it as the default setting. Dial the receipt printer's telephone number from the other modem and once a connection is established any data sent to the modem will print on the receipt printer.

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Wouldn't a FAX machine do the job?

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