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Ruckus Wireless WiFIs Well For Streaming, HiDef A/B/G MIMO Router, Adapter Pump Up The Bandwidth
by Daniel P. Dern (dern@pair.com)
Vendor: Ruckus Wireless, Inc. Product Name: MediaFlex Router, MSRP $159
MediaFlex Adapter, MSRP $100
Availability: Now. Product URL: http://www.ruckuswireless.com/products/
The WiFI capabilities built into today’s affordably inexpensive — $30-ish to $150 — home broadband gateways are good enough for computer and possibly VoIP, but not necessarily good enough to send IPTV, or to move large files, e.g. from MovieLink to your PC, or from your media center (e.g. a Media Center PC, or a UPnP NAS). “Standard WiFi isn’t going to handle video well,” according to David Callisch, Marketing Director at Ruckus Wireless. “It doesn’t handle jitter or delay well.” The same problems can apply to streaming music, and VoIP.
Even opening or closing a door — or turning on the microwave — can whack WiFi performance, causing speckly stuff on your
TV, or burping that Xbox or Nintendo move.
You could try using a slightly better antenna.
Or, if you’re serious, consider Ruckus Wireless’s MediaFlex products,
which use MIMO-enhanced A/B/G WiFI for “video-grade, high-performance
wireless networking…to provide stutter-free, high quality video and music throughout a home.”
The smart antennae extend the signal so you won’t get dead spots, and directs the RF signal, by determining which of the device’s antenna to use, “steering around” interference. Ruckus claims they can extend 802.11b/g range and coverage
by up to 300 percent.
Ruckus’s MediaFlex Router connects to your broadband connection; your notebooks, handhelds, WiFi phones and other devices
work fine (probably better) with it. So will WiFI-equipped streaming media devices.
The MediaFlex Adapters are for use with set-tops and other devices
with Ethernet ports but no built-in WiFi … or if you want
best performance, e.g. for gaming, or to work on your PC farther from the router.
Showing alongside Ruckus at the recent Ziff-David Digital Life Expo in New York City was Slim Devices (just bought by Logitech) with their $249 Squeezebox wireless streaming audio player, able to
act as a source to your stereo, and the soon available $2K-ish Transporter
for feeding your digital or analog TV.