XBOX Wireless Setup FREE with a Wireless Laptop...

[Schnieds]

Hey All,

Like many of you, I have a broadband (DSL) connection at home with an internal wireless network. The the wireless network is great because my office and DSL modem are upstairs and the wireless network allows me to work on my laptop when I am in the living room downstairs. My XBox is also downstairs with the rest of my home entertainment equip. The problem is that I want to connect into XBConnect, Gamespy, or XBox Live! with my XBox and do it over my wireless connection.

One way that I have found to achieve a wireless XBox connection would be to purchase a Linksys WET11 that would act at a gateway between my XBox ethernet port and my WAP. However this solution costs about $100.00. While it would be nice, an extra $100.00 seems like a lot of cash-ola.

I have been racking my brain to figure out a free way to do this, and I think I have it. However, you will need a laptop with a wireless card installed and a open standard ethernet port.

Here is how to get a Free Wireless XBox connection:

-Connect a crossover ethernet cable between your laptop and your XBox.
-Enable and configure Internet Connection Sharing(ICS) on your laptop ethernet port that your XBox is connected to.
-Route the incoming packets from your laptop XBox port to your wireless connection.
-Enjoy!

Here is some usefull information when setting up the ICS connection:
-ICS DHCP assigns 192.168.0.x addresses (the ICS box as 192.168.0.1) so your XBox will be an address from that pool. If your wireless network is using the same subnet you might have some conflict problems.
-Make sure that you allow the XBox to connect out of your firewall (if you have one.) Does anyone know the ports in use for the XBox online services?

I will try to test this soon and post full instructions for setting up ICS in Windows2000 to handle the wireless XBox gateway connection.

The following are some Microsoft KnowledgeBase articles that are very helpful:

How to Enable Internet Connection Sharing on a Network Connection in Windows 2000
HOW TO: Set Up Internet Connection Sharing in Windows 2000
Internet Connection Sharing Description

 

[Tallgeese]

Originally posted by: SchniedsOne way...to achieve a wireless XBox connection would be...a Linksys WET11 that would...gateway between my XBox ethernet port and my WAP. However this solution costs about $100.00. While it would be nice, an extra $100.00 seems like a lot of cash-ola.

I have been racking my brain to figure out a free way to do this, and I think I have it. However, you will need a laptop with a wireless card installed and a open standard ethernet port.

Ummmm...how can you consider a wireless equipped laptop "free" in any sense of the word?

Seems to me $100 is chickenfeed compared to $1200 for a laptop + $75 for wireless card.

 

[Schnieds]

This setup is assuming that you have a wireless laptop already.... There are many people out there that have a wireless laptop as part of their wireless network, and for those that have the equipment already this is a free solution.... Notice the subject thread that states "with a Wireless laptop."

I am of course not suggesting people go out and purchase a laptop to wirelessly network their XBox....

 

[rw120555]

I assume you already have a router that acts as a dhcp server, right? So I'm not sure what will happen when you toss ICS into the mix. In effect, you'll have a double-router setup, and that can be problematic. Maybe it will work, but I think router instructions generally tell you to get rid of ICS if you have it.

IF you had WinXP on the laptop (and unfortunately it sounds like you don't) I would do it a little differently. Hook up the Xbox and the laptop by crossover cable, as you describe. Then, on the laptop, go into Network Connections. Choose both the ethernet and the wireless networks. Then, right-click, and choose "bridge connections." This will connect your wireless and ethernet networks, making them behave as a single network.

Somebody asked a while back if bridging can also be done in Win2k, but nobody responded. But if you can get network bridging to work, I think that is better than what you are proposing. The laptop would then be serving the exact same function the Wet11 would be.

Incidentally, I used a similar bridging approach for a while for a different purpose, but got tired of having to have an always-on pc to make it work (especially when that PCs HD crashed). So, I bought a separate hardware bridge. Assuming you can get it to work one way or another, you can try your laptop setup for a while, but keep your eyes open for good deals on Wet11s or else on WAPs that can be configured as clients.

 

[rw120555]

Incidentally, in one of its knowledge base articles, Microsoft says "You should not use this feature [ICS] in an existing network with Windows 2000 Server domain controllers, DNS servers, gateways, DHCP servers, or systems configured for static IP addresses. "

 

[Schnieds]

rw120555:

Good call on the WinXP bridging... if I had XP on my laptop that would definately be the way to go (unfortuantely it is a corporate laptop and I can't upgrade the OS.) However for everyone using Win98, WinME, or Win2K I think that the ICS route is the way to go.

If I understand the ICS documentation, the ICS DHCP, DNS, WINS, etc mini-services will act as a server only to the computer(s) plugged into the port that ICS is assigned to. So if you have your wireless port configured at the upstream or WAN port and the standard eithernet jack on your laptop that the XBox is plugged into is the ICS port that is serving the mini-services, it should only provide the mini-services to your XBox.

I need to test this theory when I get a chance and make sure that ICS does indeed function as I understand it to. It only make sense that it would only server the mini-services to the ICS port. If this were a "normal" ICS setup, the ICS computer would have one NIC connected to the Internet and one connected to the LAN. ICS would only offer the mini-services to the LAN port, as offering them to the internet port would screw things up royally.

I would definately go with WET11 if I had an extra $100.00 to blow. It will be a much nicer setup because it would be always on, with no laptop to startup and dink with. However, I personally would take a little extra config headache and a running laptop and use the $100.00 for some more games....

 

[rw120555]

Good luck, let us know how it goes. I mostly wonder about the laptop being both a client of your router and a server to your xbox, and everything I have read about ICS talks about dialup, dsl or cable connections for the server machine. But, maybe it will fly, and it won't cost much besides time to try. Too bad network bridging didn't come along sooner, it can be a very useful feature sometime.

 

[stash]

-Connect a crossover ethernet cable between your laptop and your XBox.
-Enable and configure Internet Connection Sharing(ICS) on your laptop ethernet port that your XBox is connected to.
-Route the incoming packets from your laptop XBox port to your wireless connection.
-Enjoy!

Maybe its just me, but doesnt this take away from the whole point of wireless? Now you are tethered to your laptop every time you want to play Xbox. You might as well just run cat-5 through the house.