AT&T and Cisco have WiFi on the cable box backwards

Adding WiFi to a cable set-top box is probably something every geek has thought would be a great idea, but we suspect you and AT&T aren't on the same page. You were probably thinking it'd be cool to stream viral internet videos to the big screen without switching inputs, or maybe you thought it'd be cool to ditch the cable modem and WiFi access point and feed your laptop internet via the same box you deliver your HD with. Nope, AT&T and Cisco obviously don't think those are worthy ideas, and instead, this new box simply works without a coax cable. We suppose there's a market for this as only like 90 percent of TVs have coax running to them already -- and no new house is built these days without 'em -- but we have tried to stream HD via WiFi and it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that it doesn't "just work." Of course the fact that U-Verse's H.264 streams are pitifully over-compressed should help, but even when you add that to the great performance of 802.11n, we suspect you'd still be better served by a good ol' copper wire.

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AT&T and Cisco have WiFi on the cable box backwards originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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