Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter / Bridge Reviews?

projectego · 09-08-2008, 12:59 PM

Hi guys,

Seems I'm going to have to invest in one of those wireless internet adapter thingies for the Xbox 360 since having ethernet cables running through your house isn't trendy any more. I'm reluctant to buy one because the one and only time I borrowed one of these things from my cousin to see how it performed, I think I experienced some noticable lag whilst playing Call of Duty 4. And I hate lag so I immediately removed the unit from my 360 and went back to using my old CAT-6 ethernet cable.

Well, turns out I might need to have to start using a wireless network adapter whether I like it or not. However, I wouldn't mind hearing what you guys think of 'em. I'm sure there's at least a handful of us here who uses them and it would be nice to know if you'd recommend 'em - or if you've had nothing but bad lag from them.

Just to clarify: I only recall thinking I experienced lag during my brief wireless gaming session. I could be wrong.

My router is located in the first room at the top of the stairs (door always left wide open) and my 360 is located in the living room downstairs in a non-enclosed TV stand. I'd say my router is situated about 10-12 meters from my 360.

I'll give 100 rep points to each and every reply which has to do with giving opinions on why I should or shouldn't buy one.

Arseface · 09-08-2008, 01:08 PM

I don't know how much you're willing to spend, but when I looked at buying one I was immediately turned off by the price. It was like $160 for one. Thats around 75 GBP if I remember correctly.

Wolfie · 09-08-2008, 01:21 PM

I use one and it takes ages to download stuff off the arcade, although my xbox is in a cabinet thing so that probably has a significant impact, lol. I would assume online games would be a little worse than the cable but I think it all depends on how strong your signal thingy watsit is. (love the technical term I know

). Maybe test how good it is with another wireless device if you have one?

Having everything cable-free is very nice!

Oh and just thought I would mention that I heard from someone it was possible to buy a cheapo router (and connect to your home network) and just plug that into the xbox. Would probably work out a fair bit cheaper but once again would take up more room that the network adapter.

Guess it depends how much you are willing to pay to be wire free.

projectego · 09-08-2008, 03:29 PM

Arseface: The cheapest UK price I've seen so far is about £44 with shipping included (I think). But I totally agree that the price is a massive turn off. I brought a CAT-6 connection cable for like £8 and get absolutely flawless, uninterrupted internet access using that. Shame I have to cough up anywhere up to 4-5 times as much just to go wireless (which apparently might not even transmit as strong a signal what with the distance between my 360 and router)

TW: 100 rep points to you.

I connect to the internet wireless using my laptop (usually whilst I'm in the living room - the same room my 360 is in) and the reception is perfect. According to every bandwidth / internet speed test I've run recently, I get virtually no lag from my router (upstairs) to my laptop (usually quite far from my router). I would just like to know if I could get that kind of reception with the Xbox 360 wireless adapter thingy before I decide whether to drill holes through my ceiling an feed a cable through there or decide to buy one of those gizmos.

At the moment I just have my ethernet cable from the back of my router (upstairs) all the way through the hallway, down the stairs and into my living room. Have done for about a year or so now. I like it that way and never even notice it but Sharon (Angel) tells me that people trip over it. The fact that we had our living room done up recently makes me want to go wireless, though.

And the money isn't really a problem. I'd happily cough up the dough for the wireless adapter if I knew it would do the job. But if not then I'd rather put the £45 towards something a bit more useful like a game or biscuits or something.

Keep those opinions coming, chaps! I'm still giving out 100 rep for every for-or-against post that comes in! I want this to reach 1,000+ pages!

Albion Knight · 09-08-2008, 04:28 PM

I've used the Xbox Wireless adapter for a while and it works only OK as far as I'm concerned. If you have to use it I would definately go with the 802.11a band because it is much less used than 802.11g.

I used to have my xbox in a different room than my computer but now that it is in the same room I'm using a wired connection and getting better results. I will add I only noticed it when I was streaming video using Windows Media Center. Hard wired is fantastic while wireless had occasional lags probably because I was using 802.11g.

Online connections didn't cause me any problems nor did I experience lag even downloading movies.

I hope that helps

projectego · 09-08-2008, 10:22 PM

That's fantastic! Thanks for the review, Todd! I wasn't aware that there was a wireless adapter that used the 802.11g band, though, I was under the impression that all units used the 802.11a range. I'm probably wrong, though! I'm not an expert in that area.

I'm still very eager to hear more positive/negative comments about the wireless adapter, folks, so keep 'em coming!

Man · 09-08-2008, 10:36 PM

ive been wanting to get one too. i think it might be possible to get lag from it because its wireless. the farther it is from the router, the weaker its signal gets, especially when objects are in the way. ill get one because it saves space and im already used to playing with lag so it wont be a problem if i do experience it.

Albion Knight · 09-09-2008, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by projectego

That's fantastic! Thanks for the review, Todd! I wasn't aware that there was a wireless adapter that used the 802.11g band, though, I was under the impression that all units used the 802.11a range. I'm probably wrong, though! I'm not an expert in that area.

I'm still very eager to hear more positive/negative comments about the wireless adapter, folks, so keep 'em coming!

Here are the Specs
Compatible with dual band 5GHz and 2.4GHz Wireless A/B/G home networks
There are revies there too

Quote:

Originally Posted by Man

ive been wanting to get one too. i think it might be possible to get lag from it because its wireless. the farther it is from the router, the weaker its signal gets, especially when objects are in the way. ill get one because it saves space and im already used to playing with lag so it wont be a problem if i do experience it.

Thats a really god point about the distance. Mine was directly below the router one floor down.