How do I get my X-Box online wirelessly?

M

Mason

Member
I have a wireless router in my house. I want to finally take the plunge and get X-Box Live but there's no way I'm running cables all over the house. I know they have those "wireless game adapters" for anywhere from $70-100 and that MS even makes their own. But couldn't I just buy a wireless access point for half the price and use that? What does the "wireless game adapter" or whatever do differently from an access point? An access point would also double as a repeater so my PC in the basement would get better reception.

Of course, I don't know anything about this and that's why I'm asking. What's the cheapest way to get my X-Box online wirelessly and can I just use an access point?

EDIT: I asked the guys at Best Buy and Circuit City, and nobody could tell me if this would work or not.
 
If a WAP can be configured as a wireless bridge, then it should work fine.

Might be safer if you have the same brand of WAP as wireless router.
 
NohWun said:
If a WAP can be configured as a wireless bridge, then it should work fine.

Might be safer if you have the same brand of WAP as wireless router.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was going to get the same brand because I've heard most access points only function as a repeater if the signal is coming from a router of the same brand. But what do you mean "configured as a wireless bridge?" This is the kind of stuff I don't understand.
 
I bought a wireless bridge, plugged it in and it worked great.

I'd been trying to configure a WAP I have around the house to act as a bridge and had no luck.
 
So what is the difference? I thought an access point was a bridge. On newegg.com, they're even listed as "Network - Wireless AP/Bridge"
 
Just because it's in the "AP/Bridge" category doesn't mean it's got bridge functionality.

Something with AP functionality only will be able to take an ethernet (wired) connection and make it wireless, and/or take a wireless signal and repeat it for extended range. A bridge takes in the wireless signal and converts it to ethernet for wired devices.

Be sure the bridge you get can go as fast as your network, or that your router can talk to slower devices while not decreasing the speed of the network overall.
 
Sorry for the double post, I found some more info.

The Asus WL-330G will do what you want. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-320-003&depa=5

Asus's page: http://usa.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-330g/overview.HTM

The Apple Airport Express may do what you want also, but you'll have to talk to Apple to find out. Their documentation doesn't really cover it. Also, don't use that MS adapter if you have a router that goes higher than 802.11b and downgrades the speed of the entire network if a slower device is put on it. That thing is slow.
 
I have a D-Link X-Treme G Wireless Router. Wouldn't the device receiving the signal with the slower bridge (in this case, the X-Box) get a slower connection? Why would it slow down the whole network?
 
It depends on your device. I don't have the technical details, but some of the consumer-grade wireless routers out there can't handle multiple devices using multiple speeds.
 
I'm pretty sure it says it's backwards compatible with B. I guess maybe that means it just works with it and slows down for it, not necessarily that it can recognize a G and B device on the same network.
 
An access point is a device that lets any wireless device talk to it. A bridge links two wired networks together. If you hook up an access point, it won't do anything but let wireless devices try to access it. You need to switch it to bridge mode if you have that option. I personally just ended up with a real bridge since I couldn't get the access point to work as a bridge from Linksys. It was far less of a headache to use their bridge.
 
it is a pain in the arse, and expensive. You buy one WAP and all your wireless devices can access your network, but you need one wireless bridge per wired device.

I guess if you have several wired things nearby you can switch them all through the bridge, but I ended up with two bridges, as the point of wireless is keeping things where you want them, which meant far apart :/
 
I'm in a similar predicament, my XBox is now downstairs, and the thought of cabling all the way upstairs to my Belkin 54G Wireless Router doesn't sound fun. So I was thinking, my laptop is always in the same room as my XBox pretty much, connected wirelessly to the router.

Could I turn on ICS on the laptop, and then ethernet to the XBox to share the connection?
 
I love it and it works great for console gaming. In the back room I have a wireless D-Link DI-514 router, which is connected to my cable modem. From the router, I have a hard line feeding my PC in the same room.

The wireless router broadcasts to the front room, where I have a D-Link wireless bridge that receives the internet signal and an ethernet cable runs from it to my consoles. I just swap the cable from Xbox to PS2 whenever I want to play one or the other since they're right next to each other. I recommend a bridge and not a wireless access point, which would require more configuration for this purpose.

Setup was very easy and is all browser-based from the PC that is hard-line connected to the router. The hardest part was getting my laptop to recognize the wireless signal... Both PS2 and Xbox worked just fine with auto-setup when plugged into my wireless bridge (since I have cable internet, DSL takes a little more configuring).

It helps to get a router and bridge that are the same brand, D-Link in this case. Less trouble making sure they communicate. All in all, the total cost was $40 for the router and $70 for the bridge, so a little over $100. Totally worth it, considering that I can now surf the web anywhere around home on my laptop too. You don't need the official Xbox wireless adaptor to go wireless, it's a bit expensive.
 
I'm 'b' at the moment, and will soon put a new desktop PC in the spare room (about 10ft away from my router, but through 2 walls.

So I'm torn between upgrading to 'turbo g' just to get a good connection from my desktop PC to xboxes, or try and get cable through two walls with a gap between, or make do with a shitty 'b' connection for streaming to my xbox.
 
Are you transferring large files between the PC and Xbox? Otherwise, for gaming purposes, b is more than enough bandwidth.
 
b is plenty for my ADSL, but when I set up the spare room, I'll be streaming between two xboxes and a Tivo. eg, music from PC to XBMC, Video from Tivo to XBMC. Both streams would need to go across the bridge, and Tivo is pretty bandwidth heavy.

Guess I'll suck and see for a while.
 
Ah, you have a local wireless network going as well as shared internet access, and some pretty heavy hitters on the network. I can see why you might want to upgrade.
 
Teddman: Why not buy a switch so you don't have to swap cables? I have my bridge hooked up to a switch which then lets me add everything in that area to the network easily.

MrKlaw: How do you get Tivo and XBMC working together? I want to do that but haven't taken the time to learn how yet.
 
Great King Bowser said:
I'm in a similar predicament, my XBox is now downstairs, and the thought of cabling all the way upstairs to my Belkin 54G Wireless Router doesn't sound fun. So I was thinking, my laptop is always in the same room as my XBox pretty much, connected wirelessly to the router.

Could I turn on ICS on the laptop, and then ethernet to the XBox to share the connection?
Click to expand...

Yes you can, I do that for my PS2. Works fine. Just make sure your router doesn't give out the same ip address as ICS. I think they both give out by default IP addresses for the 192.168.0.0 network. Change your router to the 192.168.1.0 network, you can't change the ICS address range in XP.
 
Good info guys. I was lazy and bought the MN740, Mircosoft's wireless accesspoint specifically for the XBox. It works great. I use my Nyko wireless Net Extender for my PS2 or modded XBox now. I would post some details feedback and impressions but I'm just wasting time before a meeting (here at work). If nayody is interested I'll give my impressions later.........
 
Apharmd Battler said:
Good info guys. I was lazy and bought the MN740, Mircosoft's wireless accesspoint specifically for the XBox. It works great. I use my Nyko wireless Net Extender for my PS2 or modded XBox now. I would post some details feedback and impressions but I'm just wasting time before a meeting (here at work). If nayody is interested I'll give my impressions later.........
Click to expand...
Interested.
 
Marty Chinn said:
MrKlaw: How do you get Tivo and XBMC working together? I want to do that but haven't taken the time to learn how yet.
Click to expand...

Its scarily easy, but you need a modded Tivo with ethernet. There is a CCXStream server available for Tivo (it is a linux box after all). You just run that, and then you can set up a server link in 'my videos' direct to the Tivo. It brings up your current now playing list, and you can stream directly from there.

My Tivo (series 1 UK, so the most basic) has enough bandwidth to stream one program to XBMC while watching another on the TV connected to the Tivo, and record something too.
 
mrklaw said:
Its scarily easy, but you need a modded Tivo with ethernet. There is a CCXStream server available for Tivo (it is a linux box after all). You just run that, and then you can set up a server link in 'my videos' direct to the Tivo. It brings up your current now playing list, and you can stream directly from there.

My Tivo (series 1 UK, so the most basic) has enough bandwidth to stream one program to XBMC while watching another on the TV connected to the Tivo, and record something too.
Click to expand...

Well my Tivo is modded but I don't think I've enabled the telnet access. I did that on my last directivo but that's at my parents now. This new DirecTivo i just popped in two HDDs. I guess I need to activate the usb ports so I can plug in a usb ethernet adaptor. Is there a step by step guide anywhere to guide me through it? I just recently bought a networked HDD to act as my media server now instead of my PC. Works great. This would be one of the next steps to making my Xbox the ultimate media center =) I still need an X3 w/ the new front panel so I can power it on by remote. Damn shame there isn't anything else like a modded xbox w/ XBMC out there =)
 
dealdatabase.com or tivocommunity.com

Dealdatabase has lots of good stuff

You said you bought a networked HDD. Do they work directly with XBMC? do they use samba or something for access?

That would be a perfect solution for me. I'm looking at buying a new PC, but don't fancy leaving it on 24/7 just to feed music / vids through XBMC. If I could pop a 250GB HDD on the network, then just upload all the music to it, and any videos etc, it would be grand.
 
Marty Chinn said:
Teddman: Why not buy a switch so you don't have to swap cables? I have my bridge hooked up to a switch which then lets me add everything in that area to the network easily.
Click to expand...
Good advice, I am just too lazy/cheap at the moment. I know that switches don't cost much, but I haven't pulled the cable out of the Xbox in awhile. :)
 
mrklaw said:
dealdatabase.com or tivocommunity.com

Dealdatabase has lots of good stuff

You said you bought a networked HDD. Do they work directly with XBMC? do they use samba or something for access?

That would be a perfect solution for me. I'm looking at buying a new PC, but don't fancy leaving it on 24/7 just to feed music / vids through XBMC. If I could pop a 250GB HDD on the network, then just upload all the music to it, and any videos etc, it would be grand.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did. The cheapest solution is probably the linksys route:

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=35&scid=43&prid=640

That should cost you about $80 to $100. It lets you hook up any external USB 2.0 HDD to it. In fact it lets you hook up two HDDs if you want. It uses samba shares and is very easy to set up once you pull it out of the box. I was up and running in 10 min. There's even a hacked firmware out there that lets you take advantage of it being an actual Linux fileserver in the hardware. Telnet, itunes, NFS share, etc. Right now I basically transfer anything I want directly to it and just leave it on to serve to the Xbox. Works great.

I already had a 250 gig HDD laying around that I was going to throw into my Xbox until the new Live banning scheme happened. So I just popped it in an external case, and plugged it into that adaptor. Here's the case I got too:

713200464826PMKH350UBKLARGE2.jpg

616200433743PMKH350UBKlarge1.jpg


The drive looks great in person. Blue light is power, orange light only turns on/blinks for HDD access.

Other possible routes you can go is looking into a Buffalo LinkStation which can be had for about $210. That's a 120 gig external HDD with the networking hardware built into it in one device. You can also add another external HDD to it as well. Buffalo also makes something based on the LinkStation but without the HDD for $160.

Like you can guess, it's way better than just leaving your PC on to simply feed the Xbox music or videos. Much quieter too. Let me know if you need any more info on it. Mine is literally just a day old so I'm still fooling around with it. Oh ya it's hoooked up a wireless router and my Xbox is across the apartment hooked up to a wireless bridge, so there's no direct cable between the setup and it still works great.
 
Tried going wireless this weekend and a had a HELL of a time getting my BEFW11S4 to talk to this Game Adapter. I have 64-Bit WEP enabled and I think that might have something to do with it. Either that, or the range on the GA is shit.

I'd get it to recognize XBL for a split second and then it would drop out. Pinging the IP assigned to the the GA verified that indeed it would drop out after about a minute of connectivity. Completely lost as what to do here :(.
 
Sorry to here that PhatSaqs. That's the reason I just went with te MN740. It's by M$ so it should work with no hassles. Installation took all of 30 seconds. Plug in the RJ-45, plug in the power, place the setup DVD in your XBox and voila...you're connected wirelessly to your network. Can even send over mp3 via XBox Music mixer without a hassle. I would check out your router to see if it on the list. There are some router that are known to have issues with XBL (especially in regards to older version of firmware). The list can be found here:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/connect/routerlanding.htm
 
Yeah i've been looking all over for the MN-740 but it looks like its discontinued. Currently searching ebay auctions now.
 
Marty Chinn said:
That's exactly what I did. The cheapest solution is probably the linksys route:

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=35&scid=43&prid=640

That should cost you about $80 to $100. It lets you hook up any external USB 2.0 HDD to it. In fact it lets you hook up two HDDs if you want. It uses samba shares and is very easy to set up once you pull it out of the box. I was up and running in 10 min. There's even a hacked firmware out there that lets you take advantage of it being an actual Linux fileserver in the hardware. Telnet, itunes, NFS share, etc. Right now I basically transfer anything I want directly to it and just leave it on to serve to the Xbox. Works great.

I already had a 250 gig HDD laying around that I was going to throw into my Xbox until the new Live banning scheme happened. So I just popped it in an external case, and plugged it into that adaptor. Here's the case I got too:

713200464826PMKH350UBKLARGE2.jpg

616200433743PMKH350UBKlarge1.jpg


The drive looks great in person. Blue light is power, orange light only turns on/blinks for HDD access.

Other possible routes you can go is looking into a Buffalo LinkStation which can be had for about $210. That's a 120 gig external HDD with the networking hardware built into it in one device. You can also add another external HDD to it as well. Buffalo also makes something based on the LinkStation but without the HDD for $160.

Like you can guess, it's way better than just leaving your PC on to simply feed the Xbox music or videos. Much quieter too. Let me know if you need any more info on it. Mine is literally just a day old so I'm still fooling around with it. Oh ya it's hoooked up a wireless router and my Xbox is across the apartment hooked up to a wireless bridge, so there's no direct cable between the setup and it still works great.
Click to expand...


Marty, sounds perfect. I guess you can also access it on the network from your PC to drop files to it? Can you save/download stuff directly to it from the PC, as if it were another drive?

I'd appreciate it if you could let me know your comments in a month or so, once its bedded down and you are used to it a little more. Maybe PM if this thread is dead, but I'll subscribe just in case.

And let me know if you get your Tivo sorted!

Cheers.
 
mrklaw said:
Marty, sounds perfect. I guess you can also access it on the network from your PC to drop files to it? Can you save/download stuff directly to it from the PC, as if it were another drive?

I'd appreciate it if you could let me know your comments in a month or so, once its bedded down and you are used to it a little more. Maybe PM if this thread is dead, but I'll subscribe just in case.

And let me know if you get your Tivo sorted!

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Yep you can save stuff directly to it. The easiest way is to map it as a network drive. This will actually give it a drive letter so that anything in windows thinks it's a local drive. I now download and bittorrent everything to the network storage drive. You can also set it up so there are public and private sections of the drive access. Each person can have their own private folders that only they can access. The only thing I haven't tried yet is scheduled backups. Its working out great so far though and a really nice way to share files on the network without adding a new pc for that purpose.

As for Tivo, heh haven't had time to look into it. I will soon. Maybe over the Thanksgiving weekend.
 
PhatSaqs said:
Yeah i've been looking all over for the MN-740 but it looks like its discontinued. Currently searching ebay auctions now.
Click to expand...


I was in Best Buy last week and they had over a dozen of them. I'm in there just about every Tuesday grabbing something on DVD and they have them ad sell out pretty quickly. And far as I know it's a pretty common thing to get your hands on. They rotate through the store pretty quickly. But here's a link to Best Buy's site and the item in question. You could order it online and even pick it up at your local store if need be:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1075583597958&skuId=6319888&type=product

If this doesn't work try calling 1-800-4MYXBOX and put M$ to work for you.
 
Apharmd Battler said:
I was in Best Buy last week and they had over a dozen of them. I'm in there just about every Tuesday grabbing something on DVD and they have them ad sell out pretty quickly. And far as I know it's a pretty common thing to get your hands on. They rotate through the store pretty quickly. But here's a link to Best Buy's site and the item in question. You could order it online and even pick it up at your local store if need be:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1075583597958&skuId=6319888&type=product

If this doesn't work try calling 1-800-4MYXBOX and put M$ to work for you.
Click to expand...
Sweet. I've checked 2 CC's but no Best Buys yet. Thanks alot.
 
I took back the other one and got this pup:

WGA54G
wga54g.jpg


Updated the firmware and configured it via XBOX dashboard.

FLAWLESS VICTORY :D.

And the signal strength is awesome.
 
I got a bunch of goodies for my home network this Christmas. On my wireless network, I now have my Xbox, TiVo, Laptop, Desktop, and VoIP (via Vonage).

I'm definitely interested in figuring out how to stream programs from my TiVo to my Xbox via XBMC. Any more info you can provide mrklaw would be greatly appreciated. It would basically save me the cost of buying another TiVo plus another wireless adapter and subscription. Thanks in advance. I'm also going to look into getting the networked drive Marty has.

1. Can you provide the information necessary to mod the TiVo? I found plenty of information on adding more space, but none of the really good stuff. ;)

2. Do you have to mod your Xbox? Mine has been modded before, I would just have to throw the Xenium back in.

3. Where do you get the XBMC client? I've heard of it, but I've never seen it for sale.

4. Is it possible to stream media files from a networked drive (like Marty has) to TiVo and/or Xbox?
 
Isn't there an XBox-branded wireless bridge available for this kind of stuff? I could swear I've seen (tripped over) it at Best Buy.
 
xsarien said:
Isn't there an XBox-branded wireless bridge available for this kind of stuff? I could swear I've seen (tripped over) it at Best Buy.
Click to expand...


Yes, you can get the official adapter from bestbuy, but any WEB will work and are probably much cheaper.

This one is $100

 
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