I ask for help - Xbox live, the 360 and my house

[Anthony1]

ok, here is my issue. I haven't had XBOX Live for a long, long time. It's funny, cause when I got into Retrogaming heavily, I stopped playing current gen stuff. I let my XBOX Live subscription expire. I haven't had XBOX Live in a long, long, long time.


I even got rid of broadband internet and just lived with dial-up.


Well, the deal is that I need to get something going for the arrival of my 360. I need to get some high speed internet up and running, and I need to get things up to par to be playing XBOX Live on my 360.

My biggest problem is my house. You see, I need to be able to play my 360 on live all the way in my Garage, and in my living room, and in my bedroom/computer room. Normally, I would have a router in my computer room, and I would run a wire to my HDTV in there, but I didn't have any hookup in my living room or Garage. Actually I didn't even have a Garage Theater back then, so I wouldn't have needed it.


Here is what I need: I need to get high speed access for my Garage. And I need it to be totally fast. I can't have it losing speed from going with a wireless thing. So I'm thinking that the Garage setup, needs to have a wire running all the way to the router. Now, the living room and computer room, maybe I could go with a wireless option? So I'm guessing I would get a router that does both wired and wireless, and I run the wire to the Garage, and use wireless for the living room, 360, bedroom computer or 360 and my laptop.

Can I do this?


Basically I know that this is a bunch of boring technobable, but I have no idea what I'm doing and I don't know who to ask.


Any suggestions would be appreciated

[Sylentwulf]

Why can't you have the wireless going to the garage, it's just for the xbox live right? 80211.g is MORE than fast enough for that.

I think ALL wireless routers have 4 wired ports in them as well. So get a wireless router, wire it where you can/want to, use wireless for the rest.

Frnakly, if you have one 360 you're going to use in three different places, I see NO reason to even ATTEMPT wiring it up, just stick with wireless.

[njiska]

I hate wireless so i'll back you up on wireingit the old fashioned way. if i were you i'd actually place your broadband and you're router in won centralized place and then run the eithernet through the walls and actually wire outlet's everywhere you need it. That way everything looks nice and is reliable.

Cheap too.

[petewhitley]

Why can't you have the wireless going to the garage, it's just for the xbox live right? 80211.g is MORE than fast enough for that.

I think ALL wireless routers have 4 wired ports in them as well. So get a wireless router, wire it where you can/want to, use wireless for the rest.

Frnakly, if you have one 360 you're going to use in three different places, I see NO reason to even ATTEMPT wiring it up, just stick with wireless.

I agree. Today's (hell, even yesterdays) wireless routers are equipped to handle far more speed than you'll possibly have right now or in the near future on a home connection. With a little bit of research and careful setup you shouldn't be at risk for losing speed any significant amount more than you would with your wired setup. Go wireless man; it's cheap and damn effective in the right hands.

[njiska]

I'm starting to wonder, am i the only having Wi-Fi drop out problems? I've never had a network that didn't experience dropouts.

[petewhitley]

I'm starting to wonder, am i the only having Wi-Fi drop out problems? I've never had a network that didn't experience dropouts.

I use a Belkin setup with matching components, for what it's worth. I also made sure my cordless phone wouldn't interfere with the signal.

[boatofcar]

Why can't you have the wireless going to the garage, it's just for the xbox live right? 80211.g is MORE than fast enough for that.


This is true. So is 802.11b.

[smokehouse]

Run Cat 6 to your garage. Add a box on each end with a faceplate and jack, 2 patch cords and your ready for up to gigabit Ethernet. Running 100BaseTX should not be a problem. It will be safe, reliable and fast.

Do you have a Graybar in your area? If so pick up a box of either AVAYA Gigaspeed 1071(now 1081) cable and some MGS400 Cat 6 jacks. The also sell easy to use faceplates. Add a few patch cables and you’re ready to go.

[Anthony1]

Run Cat 6 to your garage. Add a box on each end with a faceplate and jack, 2 patch cords and your ready for up to gigabit Ethernet. Running 100BaseTX should not be a problem. It will be safe, reliable and fast.

Do you have a Graybar in your area? If so pick up a box of either AVAYA Gigaspeed 1071(now 1081) cable and some MGS400 Cat 6 jacks. The also sell easy to use faceplates. Add a few patch cables and you’re ready to go.


Ok, let me take this step by step.


1. Run Cat 6 to your Garage - I'm assuming I should buy some Cat 6 cable and run it to my Garage?

2. Add a box on each end with a faceplate and jack - Ok, what is the "box" that you speak of? I know what the faceplate is, and I'm assuming the jack is the thing on the front of the faceplate that I hook the Cat 6 to. But what is the box again? Also, how do I hook the bare cable to the faceplate + jack thing?

3. 2 patch cords - huh?

4. 100BaseTX - ?

5. Graybar?

6. AVAYA Gigaspeed 1071 (now 1081) cable - I'm assuming this is the best cable I can get.

7. MGS400 Cat 6 Jacks - Guess I use these with the Gigaspeed cable.

8. faceplate - I know what that is.

9. patch cords - what are these patch cords again?



Look, I'm sorry for being totally clueless about this, but when I had broadband internet, I only had it for about a year, and I just used a wired router, and only had it connected to three locations, all via wire.


In my area, I'm going to have to go with Comcast broadband. The modem that I have is a D-Link DCM-200. But if it's necessary, I could buy a different modem. I used it before with their service and it seemed to work fine. The router that I was using was a D-Link DI-604. It has 4 ports on the back.


I do need to do some kind of wireless thing, because I do have a laptop, and I might as well be able to use it wirelessly in my house. Also, it would be very difficult for me to run a cable from my router to my living room setup, there isn't any good place to hide it.


But I could have the cable from Comcast come into my computer room, where I will have a wireless router. Which one, I don't know, maybe somebody could check a best buy ad and see which one is the right one to go with. Anyways, I run a wire to my PC in that room. I run a wire to a TV where I might use my 360 in that room. I run another wire, that is going to be a pretty long run, all the way to the Garage. The living room setup is going to have to get the signal wirelessly. And the laptop of course.


I would use wireless for everything, if I knew that there wasn't any loss of speed. I'm worried about the upload speed. I remember when I had XBOX live way back when it first came out, the games that you played, it mattered alot how fast the connection was. I don't want to lose any speed.

[smokehouse]

Run Cat 6 to your garage. Add a box on each end with a faceplate and jack, 2 patch cords and your ready for up to gigabit Ethernet. Running 100BaseTX should not be a problem. It will be safe, reliable and fast.

Do you have a Graybar in your area? If so pick up a box of either AVAYA Gigaspeed 1071(now 1081) cable and some MGS400 Cat 6 jacks. The also sell easy to use faceplates. Add a few patch cables and you’re ready to go.


Ok, let me take this step by step.


1. Run Cat 6 to your Garage - I'm assuming I should buy some Cat 6 cable and run it to my Garage?
Yep, in the enviroment you live in you will not need direct burial. If you have a way to run it aerial (seperate garage) or direct line (attached garage) you will be fine.

2. Add a box on each end with a faceplate and jack - Ok, what is the "box" that you speak of? I know what the faceplate is, and I'm assuming the jack is the thing on the front of the faceplate that I hook the Cat 6 to. But what is the box again? Also, how do I hook the bare cable to the faceplate + jack thing?
Either a cut it (drywall) ring or an exterior Wiremold box will work. As for terminating the cable it is rather easy on AVAYA jacks, I could send you some step by step pictures. The only tools required are some scissors and a pair of ChannelLocks.

3. 2 patch cords - huh?
This is how you get from you new wall jacks to your computer and switch/router. It's a common cable with a 8 pin RJ45 on each end.

4. 100BaseTX - ?
You can either run 10BaseT (common in many businesses) or 100BaseTX faster than 10baseT)

5. Graybar?
A local electrical supply house that carries AVAYA products an does cash-n-carry

6. AVAYA Gigaspeed 1071 (now 1081) cable - I'm assuming this is the best cable I can get.
Within reason, yes. This is currently some of the fastest cable on the planet. AVAYA (now Systimax does make a X10D cable that will pass Cat 6e or level 7 (if such a standard existed)

7. MGS400 Cat 6 Jacks - Guess I use these with the Gigaspeed cable.
Yep, MGS400 jack maay not be available anymore, it may now be MGS500. Same difference though.

8. faceplate - I know what that is.

9. patch cords - what are these patch cords again?
Look above.





But I could have the cable from Comcast come into my computer room, where I will have a wireless router. Which one, I don't know, maybe somebody could check a best buy ad and see which one is the right one to go with. Anyways, I run a wire to my PC in that room. I run a wire to a TV where I might use my 360 in that room. I run another wire, that is going to be a pretty long run, all the way to the Garage. The living room setup is going to have to get the signal wirelessly. And the laptop of course.


I would use wireless for everything, if I knew that there wasn't any loss of speed. I'm worried about the upload speed. I remember when I had XBOX live way back when it first came out, the games that you played, it mattered alot how fast the connection was. I don't want to lose any speed.

You can still go wireless for everything else. Running a line to your garage will ensure that you have a rock solid transmission line.

[Sylentwulf]

Run Cat 6 to your garage. Add a box on each end with a faceplate and jack, 2 patch cords and your ready for up to gigabit Ethernet. Running 100BaseTX should not be a problem. It will be safe, reliable and fast.

Do you have a Graybar in your area? If so pick up a box of either AVAYA Gigaspeed 1071(now 1081) cable and some MGS400 Cat 6 jacks. The also sell easy to use faceplates. Add a few patch cables and you’re ready to go.

This is the most ungodly overkill for a videogame system setup I've ever heard in my life. This is like electrically wiring your entire house to have your xbox 360 hooked up to it's own 20 amp circuit breaker, when you simply need to plug it into the wall.

[smokehouse]

This is the most ungodly overkill for a videogame system setup I've ever heard in my life. This is like electrically wiring your entire house to have your xbox 360 hooked up to it's own 20 amp circuit breaker, when you simply need to plug it into the wall.

Thanks for the critique. I take it you do networking for a living? Ever heard of a designated, secure line? I guess not. A copper line is secure, stable and easy to run. Would you prefer I recommended overpriced Cat 5e cabling for Lowes? I’m trying to help him out, take it easy.

[Sylentwulf]

Thanks for the critique. I take it you do networking for a living? Ever heard of a designated, secure line? I guess not. A copper line is secure, stable and easy to run. Would you prefer I recommended overpriced Cat 5e cabling for Lowes? I’m trying to help him out, take it easy.

If you were suggesting a setup for a secure online store server, then this would be excellent advise. But I really don't see the need for this much protection and "prettifying" for a videogame system. Didn't mean to sound like a jerk about it, I just don't get it, I can't see anyone haxing their way into some random persons xbox 360 setup as opposed to their computer, or someone elses computer, with actual valuable information on it.

[smokehouse]

I’m more worried about someone hacking his wireless. It happens all the time, many of my friends do it on a daily basis.