Question - Connecting receiver to wireless home network...

[beantown]

In about a week I'm upgrading my painfully slow DSL connection to a considerably faster cable internet connection. I have a wireless bridge lying around (WET54G) and I'm wondering what advantages/features/options I would have if I connected one of my VIP622 receivers to my home network using the bridge? Is connecting via wireless the same thing as simply having the receiver connected to the phone jack?

Sorry for the newb question but in this regard I am what I am.

Thanks in advance

 

[gza808]

you will need a wifi adpater (net gear) which dish carries to run it wireless...or get a sling link, one end of ethernet cable goes to one of the ports in the router and the other in goes in to the sling link device, which plugs into the wall outlet. it sends internet connection through the wall outlet to your receiver..

 

[kwindrem]

I have a wireless bridge lying around (WET54G) and I'm wondering what advantages/features/options I would have if I connected one of my VIP622 receivers to my home network using the bridge?

A hard wired ethernet connection is best.

The WET54G should work as it presents ethernet to the receiver just like a wired connection would. Connection speed will be slower than a wired connection but shouldn't affect performance in this case.

Dish also sells a USB Wi-Fi adapter.

There is also Powerline BB Connector (aka Sling Link) that uses AC power wiring in the home to carry ethernet between a router and the receiver.

I'm wondering what advantages/features/options I would have if I connected one of my VIP622 receivers to my home network using the bridge? Is connecting via wireless the same thing as simply having the receiver connected to the phone jack?

Phone line and broadband connections have some unique and some common functionality:

Both network and phone connections provide access to some on-line services like billing access.

Phone line connection allows Caller ID to show on the TV output of the satellite receiver.

Broadband is required for On Demand movie rentals.

 

[KAB]

A warning about using a bridge. My 722 would connect just fine. My 722K saw it, but would not connect.

 

[beantown]

Thanks for the responses. So from what I gather so far the only real feature I would get for setting this up on my network is that I would have access to on demand movie rentals. Does that sound right? Is there anything else? Does dish offer any other type of on demand service? I always hear comcast subs talking about how they can watch "insert program name" from their on demand list. It seems quite extensive and it would be great to have something similar from Dish.

 

[TG2]

First... welcome!

Second .. no connecting wireless is not the same as having phone connection for the 622 and higher receivers. Currently the 211's can't make use of the broadband beyond what would normally be done by phone line (order / reconcile PPV, "call" home to dish, etc) but the receivers that are designed to do things like BBMP (612, 622, 722's, 922) these can use IPVOD in some form, or will be able to soon.

So.. Hooking broadband into your 622 will enable you to get additional options, including if not already, IPVOD (streaming of movies via IP / Internet Protocol - your milage may vary, as will the speed and classification of such "streaming")

Things to keep in mind ... if you already have a lot of wireless traffic, you may see additional benefit by upgrading to N devices, if that kind of upgrade is beyond what you want to pay, you might purchase an inexpensive router/bridge connect it within 10 feet of your main house router/gateway ... and then create a second wireless network *solely for use* with the wireless bridge to your WET54G and anything you'd decide to connect to that bridge adapter.

See this picture for a basic mock up...

​

Again the main reason to do something like that is to allow mixed networks to keep some traffic completely isolated and non-interfering with the *other* networks.

You don't want to try and send and receive an 8 meg video stream from your dish receivers while at the same time streaming from Hulu or some other high bandwidth demand ... if on one wireless network, it would mean 2 8 meg streams in the same airwaves or a combined 16 megs of traffic ... also if in the future you add a sling adapter or slingbox to your mix you have 8 megs from the dish receiever, and 8 megs to your laptop.

As for wireless equipment .. 54G in the best situation can handle 6 to 8 megs for a single device. If you add any Wireless B devices, G will slow down.

The only benefits of buying the wireless dongle (a usb single bridge device) at Dish would be its guaranteed to work with the respective receiver, and its backwards compatible. If you don't have a wireless N router (or N-Access Point), then you're not going to get the N speed improvement.

 

[beantown]

Thanks for all of the info.

In regards to Dish's "On Demand" offerings I have some additional questions. I think I understand the new Blockbuster features and video streaming options. What I'm more curious about is what does dish offer for On Demand services of television shows? I'm always hearing comcast subs talk about how they watch this and that On Demand and it seems it covers a very wide selection of shows and channels. Does Dish have anything similar?

I did find something on the dish site that sais they also offer all of these channels On Demand:

• A&E
• AMC
• BET
• BITV
• BRAVO
• CMT
• COMDY
• E!
• FOOD
• G4
• HDNET
• HGTV
• HIST
• LIFE
• LOGO
• MTV
• MTV2
• NICK
• NKJR
• Ovation
• STYLE
• SYFY
• SPMAN
• TWC
• TNICK
• TRV
• USA
• VERSUS
• VH1
• VH1CL
• WFN
• WETV

I've never seen anything on my receivers with On Demand offerings from these channels. Is that because I am only connected via phone line and not Broadband? Also, what about the rest of channels? I hear about people regularly watching HBO and Showtime original programming On Demand but none of the premium channels appear on the dish list. What about major network television shows? I don't see those either.

Thanks