xbox 360 live question

[steveked]

Hey guys,

I know alot of you play xbox 360 live and i want in ....but i dont fancy paying out £50 to get the wireless usb doobry and i've heard its possible to hard wire via a cat 5 to your router/modem. i was wondering if anyone has done this and what is involved

cheers

[Duncan]

First thing - the wireless USB thing is excellent. Installs with no hassles and is all controllable from the console. Yes, it's a bit pricey but it is totally plug and play. You can get wireless bridges as well which will cost the same, and they can be used with any device that has an ethernet socket. They usually also require a power supply so one more cable/socket to have to deal with and you'll need to configure them through a PC initially and not directly from the console.

As for hard-wiring - yep, dead easy. Simply run an ethernet cable from the console to your router exactly the same way as you would another PC. It should then get an IP address from the router and be online straight away.

Were you meaning you have a cable modem BTW as that may be a bit trickier - you will need some sort of router device or plug it into a network card on your PC and use the Internet Connection Sharing. If the cable modem is using an ethernet connection then you'll need an additional network card to be able to use ICS.

If you have normal Broadband through the phone line (i.e. not cable) and the cable run to your router is going to be a bit long/inconvenient (if the router is upstairs for example) then I think you can plug the 360 straight into the phone socket.

The 360 has the ability to type in the PPeE settings into the console to access the broadband directly. You need to connect the console into the phone socket with an ethernet cable using one of the DSL filters on the phone socket. Then type in the PPoE settings in the Network Settings on the console to match whatever you have on the router i.e the username and password.

I've never tested that option, as I'm using wireless, but I'm going to have a look now out of sheer curiosity.

HTH

D

[steveked]

hi duncan ,

mine is a cable modem , and i have a wireless router so just plugging my console into the router via ehternet cable should have it up and running (console is right next to my router) hopefully it should be as straight forward as that by the sounds of it, for some reason i thought it may have been more complicated.

cheers m8

[Duncan]

Yep, if you've got a router plugged into your cable modem, then simply plugging the console into the router will have you up and running. Then just do the Network Tests on the console to make sure it's all fine.

BTW - on the last of the tests it does (NAT), if it comes up with Strict or Moderate rather than Open let me know (in this thread) as you'll need to make a couple of tweaks in your router (if it has the facility) - otherwise you may find that you have trouble joining in some online sessions.

D

[steveked]

Yep, if you've got a router plugged into your cable modem, then simply plugging the console into the router will have you up and running. Then just do the Network Tests on the console to make sure it's all fine.

BTW - on the last of the tests it does (NAT), if it comes up with Strict or Moderate rather than Open let me know (in this thread) as you'll need to make a couple of tweaks in your router (if it has the facility) - otherwise you may find that you have trouble joining in some online sessions.

D

will do thanks for your help duncan , looking forward to getting home and trying it out !