Avahi Settings for an Epson ET-3850 Printer
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pfSense Plus
Version 24.11-RELEASE (amd64)
built on Thu Nov 21 23:34:00 EST 2024
FreeBSD 15.0-CURRENTThe system is on the latest version.
Version information updated at Mon Mar 31 18:14:14 EDT 2025Hello. Where to begin!?!?! I have a new iPhone 16 Pro Max with the latest and greatest iOS. My girlfriend decided she wanted my old iPhone 11 Pro so I reset it to factory defaults with the same iOS as my iPhone above. She restored her backup from her old iPhone with no issues. I have a LAN network and a WLAN network. Each of our iPhones have the same iOS, are on the same WLAN network/SSID, and we're able to get out and do what we need to do over the internet. I have an Epson ET-3850 printer attached to my LAN via ethernet with a pfSense DHCP reservation. I'm able to login to the printer via a web browser with no issues and the printer prints on the LAN with no issues. Here's the rub... I have a wireless print server sitting on the WLAN network with CUPS seeing the printer connected to the LAN and a WLAN rule to the printer's DHCP reservation IP address and port; the CUPS "Share printers connected to this system" is checkmarked. My iPhone sees the printer with no issues and I can print from my iPhone with no issues. However, my girlfriends iPhone will not see the printer and of course by extension, can't print from this printer either. I do not wish to connect this printer to my WLAN using the AirPrint feature.
I looked into Avahi and thought I would give it a try and installed it on my pfSense Plus. I noticed in the "Reflection Filtering" section a field for "Service". I'm not sure what I'm supposed to put in the "Service" field for this printer. I'm not even sure if Avahi will work. Please see below my Avahi settings.
Anyone have any ideas on what may be occurring with my girlfriends iPhone not being able to see the printer and my iPhone can? Thanks for any ideas. I appreciate your time.