Legend

Just want to make sure if what the guy at the local EB told me was true since you know how half of those salesman don't really know what they are talking about. So anyways here are my two questions:

Got two xbox, wanna connect the two for Halo purposes and what not. Problem is one xbox's upstairs and other one's downstairs, so using a cable would be very very unwise. On top of that the ones Microsoft provides are not long enough. And according to the EB sales guy he said your regular LAN cables won't cut it and has to get this "special" cable that looks to me exactly like an ordinary CABLE.

Question #1: Do I raelly need that "special" network cable?
Question #2: I know there are wireless routers out there, but how are they in terms of cost and how do they work??

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LEGEND IS: UP TO SOMETHING, GOOD FOR NOTHING.

maverickvns

question 1 is lies.
question 2 is costly, but it mostly depends on how much obstruction there is between the router and the device with the wireless adapter on it. if the router is connected to one wireless device [the xbox only, and not say a laptop] then i don't see any latency problems, however having quite a few wireless devices running simultaneously can make latency unbearable.

BFmastermind

1: yes, believe me, I've tried(in multiple ways) to find a way to use a regular cable for connectivity, you need a special one.

2: Wireless routers will run you 50-100 dollars depending on how good of a wireless connection you want. I bought one for 70 dollars. Do yourself a favor and go to the microsoft website to read the list of compatible wireless routers that work with the xbox and those that don't. It will save you time and money.

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LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble

1: For peer to peer ethernet connections without a router, you need what is called a 'cross-over' connection. This can be done with a 'special' cross-over cable (with slightly different wiring), or with a 'cross-over' adaptor, which is used to join two 'normal' cables together (a female to female splicer dongle with special wiring). Any computer/electronics store should stock both...

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Legend

So for this "cross-over" adaptor, how does that work??

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LEGEND IS: UP TO SOMETHING, GOOD FOR NOTHING.

Raven Omega

Not an Adaptor, but a cable, it's a CAT5 cable, if one box is upstairs and the other is down you'll need a pretty long one. This is for a DIRECT CONNECTION, as in, Xbox to Xbox, no Hubs or Routers, no LAN equipment whatsoever. You just get a CAT5 cable and run it from one Xbox to the other, now keep in mind if this is for an xbox party you can't have more than just those two xboxes, and there's no online play.

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LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Basically, in a 'Cross-Over' cable, the send and receive lines in the CAT5 cable are 'crossed-over' with send wired to receive, receive wired to send... (Anyone with a ethernet wiring diagram and a patch box adaptor can do this, or if you have the equipment to cut and make your own ethernet patch cables...) Another way of thinking of it is that a 'Cross-Over' adaptor is essentially a two port passive ethernet hub...

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