SharkJumping

Due to my previous job at Listen.com, we listen to music exclusively through Rhapsody rather than on CDs, but it's piped through a variety of Digital Media Adapters (Linksys, SMC and Omnifi) into the stereo and home theater systems.  The issue I have run into over the past two years is that there is so much interference over Wifi that the music will pause or totally drop every hour or two - sometimes the DMA restarts itself and other times you have to go do it yourself.  This is a big issue for digital entertainment (and for VOIP) since minor packet dropping does not matter so much for email, but for any type of synchronous application such as media, it just kills the experience. 

I played with the antenna, tried different digital media adapters and wireless routers, and switched our wireless phones out of the 2.4Ghz range to reduce interference, but the problem became such a problem that I finally drilled new holes in the rooms to bring Ethernet to those areas, which solved the problem.  Interestingly, the biggest problem is when the microwave is being used - in a house filled with small children, we use the microwave a lot to heat up things, and that was what finally made the decision for me since it kills the WiFi signal within about a 15 ft range - it was either don't listen to music during dinnertime or switch to a wired alternative.  My question is why someone can't build a simple shielded microwave to eliminate this problem, which appears to be a big one based on what I'm seeing on the bulletin boards.

Going forward, homes will commonly receive both audio and video entertainment over IP.  We need to come up with alternatives to Ethernet (Home Plug, better Wifi) or it will limit the growth of this market segment since most adults want to consume entertainment content on their TV or through their stereo system, and they don't always have a wired Ethernet jack near by.  And a better microwave might help too...