A system comprising: a first set top box; a second set top box; a residential gateway having at least one service set identifier; a coaxial network; a structured wiring network; and a wired connection (135, 137, 212,214) wherein each set top box comprises: an application-specific integrated circuit comprising and integrating thereon: a first network bridge using one of the coaxial network or the structured wiring network to connect to the residential gateway of a local area network through the wired connection (135, 137, 212, 214); and a media player in communication with the first network bridge and having a computing processor executing instructions to format a signal received from the first network bridge for use by a media device; and at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) in communication with the first network bridge, the at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) configured as a WiFi access point having the same at least one service set identifier as the residential gateway, extending the local area network; wherein the residential gateway is also connectable to at least another set top box through the wired connection (135, 137, 212, 214) using the other one of the coaxial network or the structured wiring network, the coaxial network and the structured wiring network each executing a spanning tree protocol with the structured wiring network receiving a higher priority than the coaxial network. a first set top box; a second set top box; a residential gateway having at least one service set identifier; a coaxial network; a structured wiring network; and a wired connection (135, 137, 212,214) wherein each set top box comprises: an application-specific integrated circuit comprising and integrating thereon: a first network bridge using one of the coaxial network or the structured wiring network to connect to the residential gateway of a local area network through the wired connection (135, 137, 212, 214); and a media player in communication with the first network bridge and having a computing processor executing instructions to format a signal received from the first network bridge for use by a media device; and at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) in communication with the first network bridge, the at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) configured as a WiFi access point having the same at least one service set identifier as the residential gateway, extending the local area network; wherein the residential gateway is also connectable to at least another set top box through the wired connection (135, 137, 212, 214) using the other one of the coaxial network or the structured wiring network, the coaxial network and the structured wiring network each executing a spanning tree protocol with the structured wiring network receiving a higher priority than the coaxial network. an application-specific integrated circuit comprising and integrating thereon: a first network bridge using one of the coaxial network or the structured wiring network to connect to the residential gateway of a local area network through the wired connection (135, 137, 212, 214); and a media player in communication with the first network bridge and having a computing processor executing instructions to format a signal received from the first network bridge for use by a media device; and at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) in communication with the first network bridge, the at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) configured as a WiFi access point having the same at least one service set identifier as the residential gateway, extending the local area network; a first network bridge using one of the coaxial network or the structured wiring network to connect to the residential gateway of a local area network through the wired connection (135, 137, 212, 214); and a media player in communication with the first network bridge and having a computing processor executing instructions to format a signal received from the first network bridge for use by a media device; and at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) in communication with the first network bridge, the at least one wireless transceiver (230, 230a) configured as a WiFi access point having the same at least one service set identifier as the residential gateway, extending the local area network; wherein the residential gateway is also connectable to at least another set top box through the wired connection (135, 137, 212, 214) using the other one of the coaxial network or the structured wiring network, the coaxial network and the structured wiring network each executing a spanning tree protocol with the structured wiring network receiving a higher priority than the coaxial network.