No Wired Connection Behind Your TV?

by Lori Cunningham

In my last house, I did my due diligence and made sure that when it was built, it had a wired Ethernet connection in every bedroom.  As this was over 10 years ago, I never could have guessed the importance of having a wired Ethernet connection in the family room behind my TV.  When the emergence of SMART TV’s began, I couldn’t buy one because I didn’t have the set up for it.  Today, all Smart TV’s have built-in wireless but what if you have an older TV, Blue Ray player, XBOX, Wii, or PlayStation that don’t have built-in wireless?  You need a wired connection, right?

I have seen a number of products that help bring wireless signals to your wired electronics, in fact, we have reviewed a few of them on WellConnectedMom.  But I have never found a solution that is so turnkey and easy-to-use until now.  The Linksys AC 1300 is a wireless AC Universal Media Connector – which simply means it connects your wired electronics to your wireless router.  Whatever you plug into it will convert from 2.4GHZ, if that’s what it was previously, to 5 GHz wirelessly.  It is a really powerful connector, enabling the fastest available speeds and offers the flexibility to to work with most routers people have in their homes.  So streaming HD video, audio, and online gaming wirelessly through your house should not be an issue.

To take advantage of the Linksys Media Connector, plug in your TV, networked DVR Receiver, Blue-ray player, media player, Slingbox, Apple TV, Gaming console, or whatever else into it.  The Linksys Media Connector connects wirelessly to your router.  Once you’ve established a connection between the Linksys Media Connector and your router, security is enabled for this connection.  This means, whatever you plug into the Linksys Media Connector will have a secure connection and you will not need to go to each device to enter a password.

The Linksys AC 1300 Media Connector can hook up to 4 wired items to connected wirelessly to your router.  In the past, when I have connected my wireless devices to my router, I have had to hunt down the security password, which is often a long string of numbers and letters and I’d have to enter in this tiresome password into every device I’d connect to my wireless router.  That’s not the case with the Linksys Media Connector.  The Linksys Media Connector has a unique featured called WPS.  If your router supports WPS (many of the new routers have this), all you need to do is press the router’s WPS button and then press the WPS button on the side of the Linksys Medica Connector.  They will find each other wirelessly and automatically connect.  I couldn’t believe how simple it was.  Now again, this will only work if your router is WPS enabled.  I have a couple of routers in my house and the newest one I have is Linksys Smart WiFi Router AC 1750, which has WPS.

I placed the Linksys Media Center Connector below my Smart TV in my family room.  After connecting it to my router using WPS, I plugged in my Slingbox and my PlayStation 3 gaming console.  After the lights lit up, I tested the connections on these two devices.  Slingbox was up and running and I could connect to my TV live as well as recordings I had on my Verizon DVR.  Next up was my PlayStation 3.  It too connected and I was up and running playing online races with LittleBigPlanet Karting.  Slick.  I didn’t enter any codes, they just automatically connected to the Internet.

The Linksys Media Connector AC 1300 sells for $107.99 through Amazon.

A Mom’s Perspective

The LinksysAC 1300  Media Connector is the solution that a majority of people need, as most houses aren’t built with an Ethernet connection behind their family room TV’s.  Other options I’ve seen involve more technical work than the average mom or dad would be able to handle.  We all need more simplicity in our lives and the Media Connector delivers that.  I also like the fact that the Media Connector is also a hub, allowing you to connect up to 4 devices.  With all the devices our family rooms seem to be taking on, this is very helpful.

There are some great products out there to help you with common problems many people have, such as no wired connection near your TV.  Fortunately, these solutions are getting easier to install too.  Let us know of any technology issues you face and we will be happy to get back to you with solutions we know about.

*  I was given a Linksys Media Connecter AC 1300 in exchange for my honest opinion.  All opinions are my own.