HOW TO: Cheap Wireless For Your Xbox 360

My Son got an Xbox360 from his Mom(the Ex)for Christmas. And needs a wireless connection to tag onto their home network. We went by BestBuy today. I was shocked to see what he needed was $99. That is criminal to charge that much for a router.

(another reason he should have gotten a PS3. Other than I have one at my house.).

So I was looking for a cheap way to reconfigure a wireless router, like the ones Microsoft sells.

I stumbled on this website. Hopefully it helps others, so you don't take a stiff one up the a@@ from Bill Gates.

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2007/10/02/how-to-cheap-wireless-for-your-xbox-360/

 

I like Tomato better - it's a bit easier firmware.


It's getting harder to find routers that will accept other firmware, though

 

My Son found another way to connect without a router. You can bridge a connection with your laptop (wifi).

Go to start > Control Panel > Network Connections

His laptop had two adapters highlight both, then right click
and bridge connections.

Then plug ethernet from XBOX360 to your laptop. Laptop must be on.

 

That does work, but sometimes produces varying results for packet resolution since Windows doesn't do the greatest job without guidance. As a result, you usually introduce some speed concerns. Just sayin'.


If you have an old computer, you can make it into a router/wireless adapter by obtaining the right Unix operating system. Just google, "turn old computer into router", etc., and there should be step-by-step guides. I should mention that Unix used to have problems with wireless adapters in the past, but I imagine that HAS to be improved by now.

 

Their(his Mom, my ex) laptop is brand new with windows 7. He has been running this way for a week & it has been flawless. No slowness, no disconnect issues, nada. Every time I call he is playing Halo3 online. 12 years old & already an online junky.

 

I ran a cat five cable under the house and thru the floor to where my cpu is. 100' of cable got it off ebay for cheap

 

Hope you aren't taking offense to my pessimism - I'm just letting you know in case there's any troubleshooting issues that come up. Back in college we tried a similar setup with an XP Pro box with a shared connection and 4 client computers connected up - trying to get just two guys on CounterStrike led to imminent fail. Haven't tried it with win7, and you may not experience any issues since your network is smaller.

BTW, check out Media Center. I poked around and it looked like you might be able to do some cool things.

 

Not taking offense. Just giving feedback on what I learned.

 

Microsoft should have included wifi in the system or not charge $100 for a $10 router.