A basic rundown of my setup: I’m on AT&T DSL, and I’m using their standard DSL modem/router. It’s a 2Wire with 802.11g; my laptops, desktop, PS3, and Wii can see and connect just fine.
For my 360, I was actually using the old, MN-740 wifi adapter for the original Xbox. It recently got fried somehow (it turns on, my 360 sees that I have it plugged, but it cannot see any network at all; the antenna seems fucked), and my 360 is now offline.
So, before I head over to BestBuy or whatnot, was just wondering if there were any sensible suggestions for getting my 360 on wifi. I was just thinking of doing the path of least resistance by getting the official wifi adapter, but it’s still 100 bucks!
Would a router like a Linksys WRT54G work, even though I’m already using my ISP’s modem/router? Is there a specific wireless bridge (instead of router) that I should look for on retail shelves?
Dude, the way my house is, a wire is somewhat impractical. All my console/home theatre shit is in the living room, but my modem/router is in the office. A wire, at worst, would look really tacky running from my living room, cutting through my entryway, and down the hall to my office. And I don’t feel like drilling shit or stringing it through loops on the ceiling or whatnot.
it goes on sale every other month for 79.99. for that much, if you didn’t mind the bulk, you could just ether your 360 to a wrt54gl in bridge mode or something.
Fair enough. I ran 100ft of cable from my upstairs office to the living room downstairs and was only partially successful in concealing it for the entire length, but the minor eyesore factor is more than worth the massive online performance increase I now get on all three consoles.
Maybe look into those plug-in adapters that allow you to extend your wired network through your existing power outlets?
Don’t buy the Microsoft custom adapter for the 360. It works (more or less), but the encryption support is very uneven. WEP works OK (but of course WEP sucks), but only a few of the WPA various modes are supported. Much better to go with wire or add on another brand of wifi to ethernet adapter.
The powerline adapters that Whitta suggested are a good compromise.
If you’re only trying to get one device connected, the SlingLink Turbo kit is available at Best Buy for $80. Although it’s branded for the Slingboxes, it will work with any ethernet device, and it supports the HomePlug 1.0 Turbo standard, making it faster than many more expensive powerline adapters.
There are other powerline solutions available, with the biggest difference for your purposes being how many ethernet ports the device provides on the end near the consoles.
I use the Slingbox Turbo for my xbox and gaming PC in my media room, and it’s rock solid. Better pings and throughput than the wireless N that I had before.
The powerline stuff sounds intriguing, and that Slinglink Turbo dealio sounds quite spot-on as well. Yesterday, I’m discovered the budget method of using my work laptop as an ethernet bridge, so I can at least get on XBL while I check out the powerline/Slinglink stuff.
You might also look into the old phone line connection kits – they are often quite cheap. Techbargains listed a nice powerline set up for about $45 a week or two ago, but I can’t put my fingers on it now.
I’ve mentioned this in another thread somewhere already but I recently set up powerline networking (using Linksys PLE200 adapters) to replace my wireless LAN for my 2 HTCPs, 2 Xbox 360s, 1 original Xbox, etc. I kept the wireless router active for laptop web browsing/light task use and for the Wii but everything else is powerline now because wireless for intensive things like video streaming was getting increasingly spotty as more and more neighbors joined the wonderful world of wireless.
The sustained transfer network speeds I get over powerline are way better than I ever got over wireless (overkill for a lot of uses, but helpful for streaming high bitrate video over LAN), even when I first set it up here years ago and everything just worked right out of the box. Highly recommended, though YMMV if you live in an old house with shitty wiring.
The Linksys adapters I use only have one ethernet port per adapter but I just bought an 8 port Rosewill ethernet switch off newegg for like 8 bucks to go with it.
In my experience, the newer ones that have come out in the last year are great for situations in which you need a higher-speed connection over a distance that wireless cannot provide or conditions it cannot operate in. The SlingLinks in particular are designed to handle heavy video network traffic.
Stupid question about the slinglink/powerline stuff (mostly because I’m not an electrician): do these things need to plug directly into the outlet, or can they go into a surge protector?
Straight to the outlet: if you hook them to a surge protector (or UPS), it doesn’t work. Also, if you use a UPS and you have problems with your Powerline adapter when using the same wall outlet as your UPS, try hooking them to separate wall outlets; I found that somehow the UPS interfered with the Powerline signal.
I’ve been using the Netgear XE103 for several months: no complaints. Previously I used the Netgear XE102: only trouble with them is they were fairly slow; good enough when I had DSL, but once I stepped up to FIOS, I decided to upgrade my Powerline networking too.
