Slingbox Exposure

So I was in the Best Buy today looking for a new wireless bridge with multiple network jacks. The first thing I discovered is that no one has any idea what a wireless bridge is… apparantly the vogue terms are wireless ethernet converter or wireless game adapter, despite the fact this project has nothing to do with my gaming console. (I’m probably also the only one using PCMCIA to describe my EVDO card.) The second thing I discovered that Buffalo pitches their wireless ethernet converter as a Slingbox networking solution which I thought was both interesting and pretty cool.

7 thoughts on “Slingbox Exposure”

  1. Many wireless routers and access points also provide bridge functionality, but it’s generally not obvious on the box. Best Buy did have a inexpensive Belkin router that supposedly works as a bridge once you update the firmware and ONLY if your have a compatible Belkin router (according to a Belkin PDF I Googled). While I doubted the limitation, I wasn’t willing to risk standing in Best Buy’s return line. One visit a month with their surly staff is about all I can handle.

  2. Dave, pick up a couple Linksys WRT54G and then flash them with 3rd party firmware. (I use Sveasoft’s Alchemy) You can easily make a WDS network this way. That gives you 4 ports on each router. :P

  3. Damn… you keep telling me and I keep forgetting. ;) My main router actually is a WRT54G… with stock firmware. I ended up getting this Buffalo bridge – the price was reasonable and it’s probably 50% smaller than my Linksys, which is important since I’m perching it behind my bedroom TV.

  4. I didn’t know the SqueezeBox would also act as a bridge… the power of Linux I presume! But $300 for a bridge is a bit much… ;) Most of my music comes via XM these days — though I’m getting irritated as advertising increases and channel formats evolve (or devolve in my case).

  5. I am not using my SB2 as a bridge. I love the internet radio piped into my house audio system plus they also teamed up with pandora.com .
    btw -I’m also a DC native

  6. The Belkins work great for me — I’ve bridged two of the F5D7231-4 “g” routers, and I get great coverage around the house. One is connected to a Replay box, which allows me to stream from the Replay to other computers.

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