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How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

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Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#21
post #4
post #2

It has always annoyed me that "region settings" don't just take into account the realities of the situation; they're OBVIOUSLY designed to prevent people in "rich" countries from buying media designated for "poor" countries in a form of market segmentation; but that should mean the "rich media" should just work in all devices. Of course now things like the players are so cheap you can just buy multiple if you want to…

You are giving advice on how to circumvent region coding technology, which is probably illegal due to DMCA or some other act

The DMCA specifically acknowledges that it cannot limit free speech, and it specifically defines what is prohibited:

"No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part"

Mere advise is almost certainly safe.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#22
post #10

I went through a similar problem with an expensive wifi 6 cable modem router (Netgear Nighthawk CAX80). Spent too much money on it ($400 if I remember rightly) for better internet connectivity from xfinity. Worked well until I moved back to the UK, shipping it across in a container, only to discover that it's not only region locked but if it cannot detect an American-style cable connection, it gets stuck in a reboot…

With Wifi, there's different laws about strength of broadcasts etc. in various countries, so I can understand there being some kind of region control, but having it locked is very anti-consumer. Usually you can easily change the legislative region to bring you in line with local laws.

Gas equipment tends to be extremely controlled, so I can understand no-one wanting to connect to a different region's connector with possibly different regulatory standards.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#23
post #11
post #10

I went through a similar problem with an expensive wifi 6 cable modem router (Netgear Nighthawk CAX80). Spent too much money on it ($400 if I remember rightly) for better internet connectivity from xfinity. Worked well until I moved back to the UK, shipping it across in a container, only to discover that it's not only region locked but if it cannot detect an American-style cable connection, it gets stuck in a reboot…

Oh and don't even get me started on trying to change regions on online accounts and the inconsistencies involved in doing so. Airbnb and Etsy, easy to change. PayPal and PlayStation online account, had to create a new account.

This is so true. We moved to another country and changing everything from my location in the google play store (requires a form of payment from the new country) to opening a second PayPal account with another email was painful. I still think the change of cell phone numbers was the worst. It seems the assumption with all applications is that we will be born and die with the same number now. I will have to memorialize my cell number on my tombstone.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#24
post #19

This story tells me I made the right decision: Never ever buy a printer. I can print in the library. Since Covid started I needed to do that twice: The first time they had stopped accepting cash because of the infection risk(!). And I loaded 2 Euros on my library card for 10 pages but obviously did not use all of them. The second time they were surprised that I had money on my library card. To be fair I have printed…

For those of us who need to print a bit more often, my advice is to buy a black and white laser printer for ~$40 on Craigslist and you'll get years of cheap, reliable occasional printing in your own home while you use up the rest of the toner cartridge that came with it. When it breaks you can probably find another one in the same price range.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#25
post #19

This story tells me I made the right decision: Never ever buy a printer. I can print in the library. Since Covid started I needed to do that twice: The first time they had stopped accepting cash because of the infection risk(!). And I loaded 2 Euros on my library card for 10 pages but obviously did not use all of them. The second time they were surprised that I had money on my library card. To be fair I have printed…

>This story tells me I made the right decision: Never ever buy a printer.

If it's that easy for you, great.

Fact is that desktop printers offer a service that is so valuable to some people/professions that manufacturers can be as outwardly customer-hostile as they please and still ship plenty of product.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#26
post #10

I went through a similar problem with an expensive wifi 6 cable modem router (Netgear Nighthawk CAX80). Spent too much money on it ($400 if I remember rightly) for better internet connectivity from xfinity. Worked well until I moved back to the UK, shipping it across in a container, only to discover that it's not only region locked but if it cannot detect an American-style cable connection, it gets stuck in a reboot…

With Wifi, there's different laws about strength of broadcasts etc. in various countries, so I can understand there being some kind of region control, but having it locked is very anti-consumer. Usually you can easily change the legislative region to bring you in line with local laws. Gas equipment tends to be extremely controlled, so I can understand no-one wanting to connect to a different region's connector with p…

The box for my Weber grill is very clearly labelled with about 10 countries where the gas connection is compatible.

If the equivalent is "US, CA" I could see this label being a lot less obvious.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#27
post #10

I went through a similar problem with an expensive wifi 6 cable modem router (Netgear Nighthawk CAX80). Spent too much money on it ($400 if I remember rightly) for better internet connectivity from xfinity. Worked well until I moved back to the UK, shipping it across in a container, only to discover that it's not only region locked but if it cannot detect an American-style cable connection, it gets stuck in a reboot…

It might be that it's just the regulator that's different (the bit that connects to the cylinder). If you haven't already then it could be worth getting in touch with their support. I had a broken glass window on my oven, the replacement was never in stock, so they sent me a whole new door with glass for free.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#28
post #14

Brexit eBay forced me to create a new EU account, effectively nuking 15 years of reputation.

Same.

Their customer support agent started the conversation with something like "you've been our valued customer for 18 years, how can I help?" and two minutes later said there was no alternative but to open a new account.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#29
We bought a new Fuji Xerox recently and we were very happy with it. Everything so far seems very non-hostile.

Have also owned Brother printers, which were very good, but they tended to overheat and catastrophically fail if you print a lot on them in one sitting (i.e. 1000 flyers).

Owned Epson and always had driver issues.

Re: How to change the region on an HP OfficeJet printer in 57 easy steps

#30
post #2

It has always annoyed me that "region settings" don't just take into account the realities of the situation; they're OBVIOUSLY designed to prevent people in "rich" countries from buying media designated for "poor" countries in a form of market segmentation; but that should mean the "rich media" should just work in all devices. Of course now things like the players are so cheap you can just buy multiple if you want to…

> but that should mean the "rich media" should just work in all devices.

There's no simple business reason to do that. The most basic approach is to have the customer pay multiple times: they can afford to move regions or have the goods imported, blocking that route and have them pay for a whole new set is a simple strategy.

Arguing against that simpleness requires fuzzy touchy/feely brand image, consumer satisfaction, lifetime customer value calculations that most printer brands probably care very little about outside of the enterprise market.

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