Hey guys I have a question regarding my wireless network at home and I figured this would be the best place to ask because there are a lot of guys who work in the tech. industry, so here it goes…
I currently have a Linksys wireless router connected to our main computer in the upstairs of the house. It sends our Verison DSL connection to the rest of the wireless laptops in the house. Now, I want to get an XBOX 360 and wire it up for XBOX live, but what would be the best way to do this if the XBOX is downstairs? I was considering getting a second wireless router thinking that I might be able to receive the signal from the main router upstairs on the second one downstairs and then plug the XBOX into that second router, but I didn’t even know if this is possible. My next option would be to drill a hole in the wall in our computer room and send an ethernet cord down through the wall and make an outlet by the TV since it is directly below the computer in the house. Then I would just plug the cable into the router upstairs and then into the XBOX downstairs. Finally, my last choice is to get the wireless card for the XBOX, but it costs like 100 bucks and I have a feeling the speed would suffer.
Now I have no experience with networking besides installing our current wireless router, so any help that you guys can give me would be great. Thanks in advance.
How would I set up the second router to pickup the router that has the DSL plugged into it? I just want to make sure that it is possible to have the DSL plugged into the upstairs router which sends out the wireless signal. This signal will then be wirelessly received by the downstairs router. I will connect the XBOX to the downstairs router and be connected to the internet.
I know that when I bought my Linksys router it cost like 60 bucks or so and the XBOX wireless card is 100 bucks so if I can do it this way and save 40 or 50 bucks (another 60 dollar router instead of the 100 dollar wireless card), I would be pretty happy. Would it be complicated to get this set up or should I just be able to call tech services and have them walk me through it?
I would love to put the wire in the wall from the upstairs router, I am just not sure that it will be as simple as drilling a hole and dropping a wire down, there may be supports along the floor that are horizontal and keep me from being able to just drop it down. And I don’t want to have to pay an electrician to fish a line either (we already had to do that once in this house).
Also, is DSL fast enough for XBOX live? I have the standard Verizon DSL that is like 20 or 25 bucks a month, but I am not sure what the exact speed is. I just don’t want to be lagging when I am playing. I don’t care about hosting games, I just want to be able to join other games without lagging.
agreed. most cost effective/reliable would be straight ethernet from upstairs to xbox but no longer than 100ft of cable. go more than that and the data signal will become much weaker and lag and would require an amplifier. setting up a second router would be a hassle so the xbox wireless adapter would be my second choice.
Verizon’s $20-25 DSL is 768k and will work for XBOX, but you will more than likely experience delays and lagging, especially when running it through a router.
Thanks for all the help everyone. Now I just need to convince the wife to buy me an XBOX for my birthday or just go buy one myself. I just want to get the standard package that comes with the 20 GB hard drive and then I will buy the component or HDMI cables separate. I will probably just pick up last year’s madden (since it’s dirt cheap and not much different), Call of Duty, and Forza 2. Any other suggestions?
Connecting 2 routers together to ‘share’ wireless data is called WDS. Linksys routers with oem firmware DO NOT support this. They expect you to buy their wireless repeaters for $100 that is really similar equipment. With a hacked/modified firmware, they support it just fine though. I use 3 in my home network to spread my signal to my sister and cousins house (they’re next door and across the street from my main router). You don’t really need to go this route.
Running a cable will be the best and cheapest route as mentioned above. It could be the biggest head ache though. 100 foot length limitations mentioned above are quite conservative. You can go a bit over 300 ft if you are not running into alot of interference. If you make your own you will also need the ends/crimper and a wiring chart. If you buy your own pre-terminated cable you will obviously have to account the length correctly and will be harder to run through the walls.
The quickest and easiest route would be the wireless adapter for the Xbox. It will be faster than your DSL unless you have a really poor signal. It would also be a lot more convenient if you ever want to move your Xbox to another room or re-arrange the room it’s in.
The lag will vary from game to game. I have the upgraded DSL package and some games could of had 16 people and run smooth. Other games lagged like crazy with only 2. Its a toss up as to who you are connecting with and the coding of the game. It never bothered me enough to gripe about it tho. Even my sister who connects her Wii through about 8 hops before it hits the internet can go online without noticeable lag.
Awesome! So it sounds like I will just go with the wireless card because it will be simple.
I was thinking that it would be difficult to drop a line because there may be floor supports in the wall that prevent me from just simply dropping the line down the wall, so instead of drilling through stuff and making holes that need to be filled, I will just spend the 100 bucks on the wireless card. THANKS!
Here’s my 2 cents… I have a Linksys Wireless ‘G’ Router along with Comcast’s tier 2 cable. Now, there’s nothing hooked up directly to the router, just the cable runs into the router and broadcasts the signal through the house. That can run all 5 (well 6, when my cuz brings the laptop) at once. I’ve tried and I can’t get the damn thing to slow down at all. On to the Xbox 360. Mine is running a wireless network adapter. The one built for 360s. No lag/slow down/dropped games whatsoever unless I have someone surf and I play. I barely slow down then. But if you have questions for me feel free to ask.