Sling Media SlingLink Ethernet Connection Bridge

by Sling Media

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000CS7RYM
• Item model number: SLINGLINK
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 11, 2005

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer A SlingLink is a convenient way to connect your Slingbox to the Internet. If you’re like most people, you don’t have an ethernet jack right next to your television. Rather than running long wires all around your house, or having an expensive technician re-wire your home, you can just purchase a pair of SlingLink adapters. Like an extension cord for the Internet, the SlingLink uses your home’s existing electrical wiring to transmit the ethernet signal from your router. Plug one SlingLink into the wall near your router, and plug in the other SlingLink wherever you have your Slingbox installed. Voila--your Slingbox is connected to the Internet! Best of all, the SlingLink does not impact the performance of your network. It simply placeshifts your home’s Internet connection from your office to another household room via your electrical wiring. Now wherever you have a wall socket, you can have the same broadband connection - without installing any new wires or outlets.

SlingLink Features

• Least expensive way to connect your Slingbox to your router without wires
• Optimized for use with the Slingbox
• Simple one-step installation
• High speed, supporting up to 14Mbps connection

Product Description

SlingLink Ethernet Connection Bridge. Network your Slingbox to your router without installing new wires. Use the wiring in your walls to transmit Internet signals throughout your homes numerous wall plugin sockets - direct to your SlingBox! Simply plug-in and you are connected.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Has minor limitations, but serves its purpose well, November 20, 2006

By 

sonytoao (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sling Media SlingLink Ethernet Connection Bridge (Personal Computers)

The SlingLink is an ethernet bridge which will allow you to connect ethernet-capable devices via your home electrical wiring. It uses the HomePlug Powerline 1.0 standard, which is well-established. (You can Google the term homeplug to learn more.) Note that this standard only provides a data throughput of 14Mbps even if your home LAN is 100Mbps-capable. But this is not necessarily a bad thing if you have multiple users sharing your home network - in addition to having the ability to cap the bandwidth utilization via the SlingPlayer software, the SlingLink itself will also be throttled so as not to hog your entire home internet access pipe.

As another reviewer has noted, you must also connect both SlingLink boxes to outlets on the same circuit. SlingMedia technical support confirms that this latter requirement is one of the more misunderstood issues involving the device.

So, check your home wiring first (i.e. which outlets are connected to which circuit breakers) before buying to ensure that you can place the SlingLink where you want it. (But this is good practice for homeowners anyway).

With those limitations in mind, most users will encounter no problems with the device. Setup is easy and with the above cautions in mind, it works as advertised.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars works, but not always needed, December 11, 2006

By 

Schomer (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sling Media SlingLink Ethernet Connection Bridge (Personal Computers)

This product works well. Just plug it in, and go. But if you have a large house like I do, your transfer speeds might not be suitable. Not an issue with the product as much as my house.

To get around this, I went another direction. I bought a wifi game adapter. It's targeted to getting your XBox or Playstation on your network, but works just the same for the Slingbox, and it's half the price - under $50. You plug your slingbox into the game adapter, and the adapter connects wirelessly to your existing wifi network. I think the one I picked up was from Linksys.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As easy to install as the SlingBox, February 16, 2006

By 

Network dude "ND" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sling Media SlingLink Ethernet Connection Bridge (Personal Computers)

The Slinglink arrived with the two boxes that plug into the electrical outlets, two cables, and little documentation. Having jumped through multiple hoops and pulled out a lot of hair in the process of setting up my wireless network, I was more than a little doubtful that it would work. However, it was up and running as quickly (2 minutes!) & easily as my slingbox. I had no problems at all getting a connection. I'm getting a second unit to help cover longer distances for my other devices rather than extending my wireless coverage.