Despite not having the necessary wiring in place in my new home theater, I decided to save $80 by buying a wired ethernet (vs. wireless) LG Blu-Ray player, and went off in search of an Ethernet-to-Wifi bridge to connect it to my home wireless network, figuring I could use the same device to add a retired Dell desktop PC to my media room. Trekked off to Microcenter to see what they had that would be less than $80.

I found two devices that had Ethernet-to-Wifi bridging for $50: A Zoom 4401 Wireless-G router that advertised on its box that it could act as a router, repeater, access point, or bridge. I don't even recall what the other brand was, but it was a dedicated bridge device. As is my custom at Microcenter, I had a sales associate look up the prices on their computer system, because their sale and clearance prices are often not marked on the shelves.

Sure enough, the Zoom was on the computer system at $25! Folks, that's a screaming deal for this little Swiss-army-knife networking device.

I had it set up and cofigured as an Ethernet-to-Wifi bridge within minutes of plugging in, using the setup wizard in the Zoom's onboard software. It even had meaningful help text on the screen, explaining the purpose of each field, and suggesting best choices if you don't know the answer to the wizard's setup question. The old PC wired-ethernet PC I was using for setup was browsing the web 30 seconds after I finished with the wizard.

While in the device's interface, I browsed the other features of device. Pretty standard fare for a budget router, with a couple of nice add-ons. The onboard firewall has tools for stopping Denial of Service attacks, which is uncommon for a budget router. WIsh I had known about this device before. Even at the marked $50 price, it's well worth it. Being able to bridge, repeat or use as an access point with one simple device is incredible.

Not much info out there on this model. This is a big YMMV because I can't find this device on the Microcenter web site, but they had several on the shelf in the store. If I can get back there, I'm going to pick up another as a spare for my network troubleshooting kit. Just too valuable not to have one handy.

More details on Zoom's wireless products web page:

http://www.zoom.com/products/glan_overview.html

And product features documentation:

http://www.zoom.com/graphics/datasheets/networking/0998_4401_AP4...

Out of curiosity, which location?

sparkymaster said:Out of curiosity, which location?

Duluth, GA.

BostonOne said:Confirmed this rang up for $24.99 + tax at the Cambridge, MA Microcenter. They had plenty in stock.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Interested to read how you will use it, and how it performs for you.

FYI: This unit is advertised in MC October specials. Price as quoted by OP.