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My old printer finally gave up the ghost and I've been desperately trying to find a printer that won't drive me crazy. My last one (that just died) was a Lexmark I bought about 4 years ago, and I was able to physically find the WLAN wireless chip and unplug it.
I called Brother (the company that makes printers) because their products are very highly rated. The lady there told me that the wireless on their printers is inactive until you set it up. I didn't believe her, because most people think that, but my experience has always been that wireless printers are always searching for a signal whether they are set up to or not.
I asked her if they had any printers that were not wireless. They actually had ONE, but it was very basic and did not do things like double-sided printing, which I need. (Sorry but doing it manually is a royal pain.)
I asked if there was any way I could special order a printer that is wireless and have it manually removed or unhooked, etc. She said they cannot do that. I begged, tried asking if there were anyone I could speak to that could help. She said no.
So I tried HP, and spoke to someone who was really smart and helpful, and knew his stuff, even if he wasn't really familiar with Electrosensitivity. He put me on hold so he could physically go and double check that a certain line of their printers (with touch screens) allow you to manually disable the wireless quite easily. He also pointed out that they have a 21-day return period, and they pay for return shipping. He helped find me a model that did what I needed, was highly rated, etc. and even gave me a discount (because I looked and found it on Amazon for WAY less...). I was extremely pleased with how I was treated.
So the machine arrived and we got it set up and got the wireless disabled, checked it with a meter, it checks out. Great.
BUT IT"S STILL DRIVING ME CRAZY.
And I'm pretty sure I've figured out why: nowadays HP (and others) have begun including RFID chips on their ink cartridges in order to keep you from refilling them or using counterfeit cartridges, etc. And I know that when my local library switched over to RFID technology for checking out items, I found that it went from being difficult to be at the library to being absolutely impossible. My symptoms when walking in became intolerable within moments, and if I stayed anyway, they continued to worsen until I would finally have to flee.
Now, I can imagine that the RFID readers would bother me like crazy. But my husband found that they do not show up on the RF meter he has. I also found that when I would check things out and bring them home, the effect would continue, even if not as bad. If those checked-out items were near me, I could still feel the tightness in my throat, the pain in my adrenal area, the shakiness, etc. Removing them to the garage helped quickly and noticeably.
How is this possible, if RFID chips are largely (at least in this case) passive? There is no power supply.
(I have often found, in the past. that GPS also is immediately debilitating for me, even though it is supposed to be passive...)
Does anyone know anything about this issue? Is there a realistic way of disabling it in this printer (doubt it)? Anybody know of any printer brands that work for their sensitivities and/or don't use this RFID stuff?
Thanks,
Lisa
PS> I've been trying to keep the unit unplugged, but it still bothers me...after 2 nights with it in this house, I can't sleep, my adrenals are hurting really badly, and I actually feel nauseous! Our RF meter detects no signal at all...
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