The Slingbox as Powerline's Savior?

If home networking technology were more like the Brady Bunch, Wireless would be Marcia (Oldest, prettiest, flashiest), Home Coax would be Cindy (youngest), and Powerline would be Jan (middle child, often ignored). But at least one company has some love for Jan – Sling Media, makers of the Slingbox device that lets users watch their TV content remotely.

The company today announced its SlingLink Powerline Ethernet Adapters, aimed at providing high-speed Ethernet connectivity via power lines within the home. The adapters allow Slingbox owners to connect their Slingbox and TV in one room of the house, while a home router can be located somewhere else. The adapters come in two flavors – for $149.99 you can buy the SlingLink Turbo 4 Port, which includes one 4-port adapter and one 1-port adapter; or the $99.99 SlingLink Turbo 1 Port package, which includes two 1-port adapters. Adapters are available for purchase at Sling Media's Web site, as well as retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, Amazon.com and Buy.com over the next few weeks.

The pair of adapters work like this – one adapter plugs into a home router via Ethernet cable, and plugs into an electrical outlet. The second adapter (whether it's the 4-port or the 1-port) plugs into the Slingbox and an electrical outlet in another room of the house. The additional three ports on the 4-port adapter could be used to connect other Ethernet-enabled devices situated near the Slingbox, such as a game console, digital video recorder (like a TiVo), networked media server, or even an old-fashioned computer.

The adapters feature Intellon Corp.'s INT5500 HomePlug 1.0 with TURBO chipset, an interesting choice given that newer HomePlug AV products from other companies are out on the market.

Still, I like the 4-port option, as the tech-savvy home is increasingly coming with Ethernet ports, and an adapter like this can put all of those devices onto a single powerline adapter instead of relying on another technology for connecting to the home router.

It's also interesting that Sling Media chose powerline (Jan) over wireless (Marcia), although it's not out of the question that the company down the road might provide a wireless technology option (and there's nothing preventing users from adding their own wireless adapter to their Slingbox). With a retail push like this with major retailers, powerline might finally get the respect it deserves, and we won't be hearing things like "Wireless! Wireless! Wireless!" all the time.

• Wireless / Mobile
• Brady Bunch
• gadgets
• home networking
• powerline networking
• Sling Media
• Slingbox
• wireless