# Why no built in wireless?????



## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

I can't believe I must setup a standalone wireless bridge to connect this new 722 to my home network. Most people do not setup their internet router next to their tv and don't want blue cables racing across the floor.  I am simply at a loss to understand why this receiver doesn't have a built in wireless card At the very least you should be able to plugin a wireless usb dongle to the 722. This bridge stuff is so old skoool. Does it need DOS too?


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## Knon2000 (Nov 20, 2006)

lee635 said:


> I can't believe I must setup a standalone wireless bridge to connect this new 722 to my home network. Most people do not setup their internet router next to their tv and don't want blue cables racing across the floor.  I am simply at a loss to understand why this receiver doesn't have a built in wireless card At the very least you should be able to plugin a wireless usb dongle to the 722. This bridge stuff is so old skoool. Does it need DOS too?


Alot of people have their house wired for ethernet. 
Wireless bridges are not that expensive, however, a hardwired connection is definitely a better option if it is available to use.
A wireless card is an option that wouldn't be heavily used, basicially making it an expensive option that really only serves a small percentage of the unit owners.


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## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

lee635 said:


> I can't believe I must setup a standalone wireless bridge to connect this new 722 to my home network. Most people do not setup their internet router next to their tv and don't want blue cables racing across the floor.  I am simply at a loss to understand why this receiver doesn't have a built in wireless card At the very least you should be able to plugin a wireless usb dongle to the 722. This bridge stuff is so old skoool. Does it need DOS too?


Your kidding right?

Do you have a telephone line there? If it's run on Cat5 you can use 2 pair for the ethernet.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

You can use the built-in homeplug instead of running cables.


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

lee635 said:


> I can't believe I must setup a standalone wireless bridge to connect this new 722 to my home network. Most people do not setup their internet router next to their tv and don't want blue cables racing across the floor.  I am simply at a loss to understand why this receiver doesn't have a built in wireless card At the very least you should be able to plugin a wireless usb dongle to the 722. This bridge stuff is so old skoool. Does it need DOS too?


Try using Pascal...

I still can't believe they expect me to have a TV and electricity...

Is there a government program to help me out?


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## liferules (Aug 14, 2005)

I have to agree, that for many people, having USB enabled to simply plug in a USB wireless card would be easy. This has been around for some time, even the TiVo2 series had ability to plug wireless via USB. 

Ethernet bridging is complicated and expensive, and homeplug is not viable for some people. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to enable usb to accept wireless applications but it would be nice...


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## Schizm (Jul 31, 2007)

yeah, the TiVo series 2 was only an 802.11b type network at first. You could get a G type adapter direct from TiVo a year or so later for a high price. The wireless B type network made streaming music cumbersome.

ftr, I ran a CAT5e cable with my TiVo and in our new house for our 622. It's winter time so attic work in Florida is actually possible.


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## desmo907 (Sep 6, 2007)

Same thought here. I suspect they will in the next version. The home network penetration is growing and many opt for it rather then run cat-5. I don't want to run cat-5 nor use the power option.


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## Miner (Oct 29, 2004)

I looked into the wireless bridges until I read through the posts about homeplug and went that route. Because I have 2 622s I would have needed 2 wireless bridges but only 1 homeplug.

So far the $20 I spent on the homeplug adapter has been money well spent. Now if one of my 622s would stop rebooting, I'd be happy.

Miner


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

What do you all do with your Network connection? Mine just sits there connected....


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## Schizm (Jul 31, 2007)

phrelin said:


> Mine just sits there connected....


ditto


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## Miner (Oct 29, 2004)

phrelin,

You mean y'all arn't able to stream videos from one ViP to another, seamlessly move copies from the DVR to computer and watch iMovies?

I'm sorry, I must have been thinking about something useful.

Mine does nothing but occupy an IP slot.

Miner


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

*Can you even buy a pc or laptop these days that DOESN'T come with a preinstalled wireless?????* Maybe, but when the boxes at ChinaMart all come with wireless included, and your alleged top-of-the-line 722 doesn't come with wireless preinstalled, that's a problem.

A built in wireless outlet, built into the 722, is what I'm talking about. That would be great. What would be nice is you turn on the 722 and in the setup screens is a screen to check your wireless connection.

To the contrary, most people do not have ethernet wired in their house. My 60 year old inlaws have wireless because the dsl came with wireless. Asking non-techies to run raceways or crawl through the attic to retrofit ethernet cables through the house or to configure a wireless bridge is simply not realistic.

It's a great product overall, but the designers of the 722 really dropped the ball on this feature.


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

No you must be kidding, right? Do you really expect seniors, renters, nontechies, and "people who want it work out of the box" to start rewiring their wall outlets? The point is that the industry has moved to wireless as the ubiquitous option. The only analogy I can think of is this would be like a telephone manufacturer that doesn't make cordless phones or a car radio company that only makes am radios.

Lee



ssmith10pn said:


> Your kidding right?
> 
> Do you have a telephone line there? If it's run on Cat5 you can use 2 pair for the ethernet.


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

:grin: Fry's has wireless cards and wireless usb for like $0 after rebate and often under ten bucks with no rebate. Building wireless connectivity into a 722 would have cost no more than the wired outlet they did put in?

Am I missing something here? Like I said earlier, you almost can't even buy a consumer pc or laptop without wireless already built in -- It's just standard on all models these days.



Knon2000 said:


> Alot of people have their house wired for ethernet.
> Wireless bridges are not that expensive, however, a hardwired connection is definitely a better option if it is available to use.
> A wireless card is an option that wouldn't be heavily used, basicially making it an expensive option that really only serves a small percentage of the unit owners.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I'm not sure "the industry" has "moved to wireless" as an exclusive thing. Wireless is still not as fast as wired, so people who want throughput do not use wireless. Wireless is generally used for convenience and on-the-go devices where throughput is less important than connectivity.

That said...

Talking computers is different than talking TVs. Folks that are heavy into computers may have wireless... I don't, but I never really liked wireless frankly. Always wanted the faster connection myself.

But folks with TVs... Dish Network's average consumer... is not enough into computers to probably have wireless networking for anything else.. so that customer would have to buy and configure a bunch of wireless stuff simply for the receiver.

For all the talk we do on these forums about the ethernet connection on these receivers, I suspect we are much in the minority in terms of what an average Dish customer knows about and uses.


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## koralis (Aug 10, 2005)

lee635 said:


> :grin: Fry's has wireless cards and wireless usb for like $0 after rebate and often under ten bucks with no rebate. Building wireless connectivity into a 722 would have cost no more than the wired outlet they did put in?
> 
> Am I missing something here? Like I said earlier, you almost can't even buy a consumer pc or laptop without wireless already built in -- It's just standard on all models these days.


The DVR basically uses a desktop motherboard. These rarely come with wireless built in, so it's not free.

Until just recently the network connectivity did absolutely nothing... now it does very little. For Dish to have added a feature that had no purpose would just be a waste of money.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

HDMe said:


> I'm not sure "the industry" has "moved to wireless" as an exclusive thing. Wireless is still not as fast as wired, so people who want throughput do not use wireless. Wireless is generally used for convenience and on-the-go devices where throughput is less important than connectivity.
> 
> That said...
> 
> ...


Agree. I finally had to add a wireless router to my system because when family and others visit, they always have their laptops in every room but the office, including the bathroom!:lol:

Fortunately it also gave me 3 more sockets for wired connections to more equipment, as my 722 took up the last wired connection on my main router.


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

I never said wireless was free, although free after rebate is pretty darned close.  . I noted the Fry's deals to simply point out that a wireless card that used to cost $100 just a couple years ago now costs less than $10 retail. Which means that the equipment manufacturer could buy them wholesale in volume, or more likely just get a motherboard with the chips and antenna jack built in, for just a couple bucks a piece, so the cost of wireless hardware is a non-issue. 

I note that Dish thought enough to add an ethernet outlet, so clearly that cost was justified somehow by the planned additional options. So the point is if you are going to put in a wired jack, why not wireless? That definately is the way everything is going and makes the point even sharper. In another year or so, wireless is going to be even more prevalent. Wireless is so darned much easier than running cables, in consumer electronics ethernet jacks are going to be like 8 track tapes.

A built in solution would have been sweet. A screen that scans and says I found your wireless network and your other dish receiver(s) and do you want to connect them.....That would have been sweet.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Well Lee I don't think anyone can answer why not... Not sure any DVR providers are wireless yet and my guess is that why they might not be going that route is because of issues relating to securing that line of communication and complexities that you would have to support in configuration. 

Wireless is by no means a screen that says I found your wireless network want to connect? If it is, I suggest taking some time to secure that network because you might have a few friends that took you up on the offer... 

Don't get me wrong.. Wireless is definitely a nice feature I would like to see added, but it does not come without its complications in terms of support and adds additional security concerns that if you offer it you need addressing specially given the content that might be floating over the air.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Ron Barry said:


> Wireless is by no means a screen that says I found your wireless network want to connect? If it is, I suggest taking some time to secure that network because you might have a few friends that took you up on the offer...


Funny thing about that...

A guy where I worked bought a wireless hub and hooked it up. He was having some speed problems (not getting what he expected to get from the wireless connection) and sometimes didn't connect at all.

Long story short... he found out he was not connecting to his wireless hub at all! But was connecting to a neighbor's hub... just barely... and that was why he was getting slow speed and frequent disconnects.

He did have a problem with his hub, hence why he was connecting to his neighbor's instead of his own... but there was no way of him preventing connecting to his neighbor until he had his own hub working properly so it was a stronger signal for his laptop to lock onto.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Well I recently tried to phone talk my brother into calibrating a new Wireless router. I then found out what was going on in his neighborhood in terms of wireless and I have since offered to come over and secure his network. Seems lots of people are tapping into others wireless. Scary situation in terms of security for sure.


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## gweempose (Jun 11, 2006)

There are plenty of other options available if you don't want to use a wireless bridge. For example, you could always go with a powerline solution such as this one from Netgear. Another option would be something that uses you your existing coaxial infrastructure such as the Motorola NIM100's. I don't think the NIM100's can be purchased retail, but you should have no problem finding them on eBay.


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## RLMesq (Mar 9, 2003)

liferules said:


> Ethernet bridging is complicated and expensive...


Actually, it's pretty inexpensive and easy. As I noted on this thread, you can update the firmware on a fifty-dollar Linksys wireless router and turn it into a wireless bridge. It took me about an hour to accomplish, and I now have a wireless bridge with integrated four-point switch, which allows me to connect both my 622 and Xbox 360 to my wireless router. Note that I consider myself fairly tech-savvy, but I am by no means an accomplished geek.

As noted by another poster in the same thread, the ZyXel P-330W also works as a bridge -- and it doesn't need new firmware like the Linksys WRT54G. The documentation is a little sparse, though, so you might need to look elsewhere for setup tutorials.


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## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

If there weren't other options out there I could see this being a bigger deal. But the receiver is Home Plug compatible, and there is always the wireless bridge option....



> I never said wireless was free, although free after rebate is pretty darned close. . I noted the Fry's deals to simply point out that a wireless card that used to cost $100 just a couple years ago now costs less than $10 retail.


I don't know how many of the receivers are out there, but the additional cost for a wireless card in it, even if its only $10.00 adds up after a few thousand of the units. And I imagine the cost of the ethernet port was negligible since it was probably on board the motherboard used for the receiver.

Also, the security issues brought up are valid.


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## russ9 (Jan 28, 2004)

phrelin said:


> What do you all do with your Network connection? Mine just sits there connected....


Nothing, but when I switched my phone to voip, it no longer would sync with dish, and despite the "permanent flag" on my account not to be charged the $5.00 no phone fee, they started charging me again. I figured it wasn't worth the hassle with dealing with them every month so I went wireless.


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