Networking for Laundries and Courier Agents

Laundries and courier agents look like different businesses, but their networks share nearly the same problems: a few devices that must always be connected, one room that is hostile to electronics, and customers who wait a few minutes with their phones out.

What must always be connected

• The till and order-entry app. Nearly all are web-based now, so an outage means no new orders can be taken.
• The receipt or label printer. This is the device that causes the most trouble, and nearly always for the same reason: its address changed.
• Digital scales that send weights straight into the app, in both laundries and courier agents.
• Card terminal and QRIS. Must stay responsive at peak hours.
• Cameras, usually pointed at the parcel shelves and the counter.

The vanishing printer: one fix, once

The most common complaint in both businesses is a printer the app suddenly can't find. The printer is rarely at fault. The router hands out temporary addresses, and after a router restart or an overnight power-off, that address can move to another device. The app is still looking for the old one.

The fix: give the printer a DHCP reservation on the router, a fixed address always issued to that printer's MAC address. Do it on the router rather than typing a static address into the printer, because a manually typed address can clash with another device that happens to be given the same one. Explained in local IPs, DHCP, and conflicts, and securing the printer in securing a network printer.

While you're at it: cable the printer if it stays put. A label printer on the counter never moves, and cable removes this entire category of problem at once.

A hostile room

Laundries have two slow-acting enemies: moisture from dryers and steam irons, and fine lint from fabric in the air. Both settle in the router's vents, trap heat, and accelerate ageing. A router in an ironing room almost always lasts less than the same router in an office.

• Put the router in the reception or office area, not the washing or ironing room. Its signal usually still covers the whole shophouse.
• Clean the vents every few months. See overheating routers.
• Keep it away from washers and dryers. Their large motors emit interference that disturbs 2.4 GHz, and their startup surge makes routers reboot. Both are covered in Wi-Fi drops when the aircon or water pump starts.
• Fit a small UPS for the router, ONT, and till. In a laundry, machines cycling all day make power flickers routine rather than occasional. See a UPS for your router.

Waiting customers

Waits at laundries and courier agents are short, typically five to fifteen minutes, but long enough for people to open their phones. Simple guest Wi-Fi covers it: one QR code on the counter, a password changed periodically, and a per-device speed cap so one person can't take the whole line while the till is processing a payment.

More important than speed: the guest network must be separate from the till, printer, and cameras. Steps in separating a guest network, and the specific needs of payment terminals in networks for tills and card terminals.

Once there are branches

Laundries and courier agents often grow into several outlets. Two things start to matter then: a backup connection at each site, because one offline branch means no orders at all (backup internet for businesses), and a way to see devices remotely so you don't travel for every small complaint (seeing devices on your network).

What to do

Give the printer a fixed address via DHCP reservation, or better still, cable it. Put the router in the reception area, not the ironing room. Fit a UPS, because power flickers here are routine rather than occasional. Separate the guest network from the till and cameras. After that, a laundry or courier network needs practically no attention for years.

Frequently asked questions