The question is what would people be willing to pay Uniden for a wired Ethernet dongle??
Being as it should or could be based on very common chipsets used in many USB to Ethernet dongles that run up to USB3.0 speeds, I'd pay the same as you can purchase those simple dongles for. I'd guess you can probably get a common chipset ethernet dongle for about $10 bucks on eBay. Not that I'd buy a no name brand dongle though. I'd probably pay in the $30 range to at least get a name brand USB to Ethernet dongle
What would be nice is if Uniden released a new dongle that did both, dual band (2.4 + 5 GHz) wireless and hardwired ethernet with USB3 support in a single dongle.
I doubt the radio really needs USB 3 speed support but if it is a common chipset dongle, USB 3 support would allow it to run on other devices at USB3 speeds if you don't use it on the 536.
The dongle they included is very basic. I'm surprised it handles anything above the old WEP encryption to boot!
There is probably enough room in the existing dongle housing to add in an ethernet jack so they could almost use the same mold that makes the current dongles but with an RJ-45 jack opening.
Heck, I'd even go for an ethernet and wireless combined dongle where much of the dongles setup is done on a computer and the radio only allowed some radio specific features to be altered from the radio. That would reduce some of the radio's firmware code.
They could probably write some FW code right now that would work with some of the common chipsets used in ethernet USB dongles available off the shelf at MicroCenter or through many online computer parts suppliers.
I'd love to be able to write my WPA2 key via computer into the wireless dongle where I can actually use wireless!
The inclusion of the 5 GHz band would be very welcome but the addition of true ethernet would be even nicer. Adding both would be ideal and cover most users issues.
At work, I can't use wireless and at home (apartment), the 2.4 band is so overloaded that it does not work. I pretty much need to place the 536 dongle within a few inches of a WAP or wireless router antenna for it to work reliably.
I actually built a metal enclosure for my WAPs that have detachable antennas and mounted the WAPs antenna and 536 dongle both in the box to shield all the interference from the neighbors wireless devices in order to get a reliable signal that does not drop out.
I also pump that over a VPN into work so I can listen at work that way. It's crude but does work.
edit: I also tested some WAPs from work for dropouts at home due to the B/G 2.4 band congestion at home. They are Cisco Meraki WAPs with very good range. Especially if you use a Meraki MR72 with the directional antennas they offer as an option.
Even with these top of the line wireless WAPs, I still experienced signal drops between the 536 dongle and the Meraki units. In some instances, the 536 dongle would reestablish its wireless connection to the Meraki but it also dropped out where I needed to power cycle the 536 in order to get the signal established again. Basically, the Meraki WAPs did not do any better than any of my other wireless routers or WAPs regardless if they were quality commercial duty devices or name brand consumer devices or no name el-cheapo routers or WAPs. In my case at home, the main culprit is simply the overcrowded 2.4 GHz band used by every person living here in this complex.
I did a test with my 536 at work hooked through the Meraki network and was able to achieve a seamless connection across the entire footprint of the Meraki wireless network which covers a really large area. It's a shame we can't use the private side of the wireless network at work. I can but only on the public SSID which is highly rate regulated and runs at a very low power level. I can't get that signal onto a VPN either due to the public side using a totally different IP range than we use on the private side. If I could put a 536 on the private SSID, I could pump its signal back to home over the tunnel but that is not allowed. I have several much better antenna options at work and would love to place a 536 at work and listen and control from home. The Meraki network blacklists any rogue wireless devices it detects on the private LAN though so I could not even sneak in a private WAP in my office as it would be blacklisted and firewalled within a minute or so.