> net-misc/bcm4400 is a kernel driver built as an external package through
> portage. The codebase which this package use has been discontinued
> upstream. The upstream replacement (which is not in Portage directly) is
> simply a copy of the in-kernel b44 driver code.
> 
> For this reason we are suggesting everyone migrates to the b44 in-kernel
> driver (I guess net-misc/bcm4400 doesn't really have any users anyway...).

As i said in Bugzilla already:
I had problems with the in-kernel driver some kernel-versions ago (like
2.6.15) and since then, i'm using the bcm4400 which worked much much
better concerning details like getting an address via dhcp and such things.

Since yesterday, i'm now testing/using the in-kernel driver of 2.6.17.11
and as far as i can see, it works great. So hopefully no problems come
up again.