2 things that I found broken when trying 2 use the kernel driver bcm43xx.

1. If your router has wep, wpa, wpa2 enabled... you won't be able to use this driver.
2. dhcp, this is really important for wireless.

What security settings is your wireless router using?

Here is what bcm43xx looks like when working (in dmesg)
bcm43xx driver
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:04.0[A] -> Link [LNKE] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
bcm43xx: Chip ID 0x4306, rev 0x2
bcm43xx: Number of cores: 6
bcm43xx: Core 0: ID 0x800, rev 0x2, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 1: ID 0x812, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 2: ID 0x80d, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 3: ID 0x807, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 4: ID 0x804, rev 0x7, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 5: ID 0x812, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Ignoring additional 802.11 core.
bcm43xx: PHY connected
bcm43xx: Detected PHY: Version: 1, Type 2, Revision 1
bcm43xx: Detected Radio: ID: 2205017f (Manuf: 17f Ver: 2050 Rev: 2)
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
bcm43xx: Radio turned off

When you get the firmware part of this right...
it will look something close to that just above...
(Note: bcm43xx: Number of cores: 6)

There is still more to do once the firmware is correct.
Is yours correctly installed yet?