Page 1 of XBOX Live - Whats the COST?

Good to hear Microsoft`s XBOX Live is doing very well. Its a SOLID machine and the 1st batch of games on-line seem very cool. Thing is I`m not the most technical bod in the universe and after looking on XBOX`s official website it sounds tricky to actually get the thing on line.

I`ve got a BTOpenworld Broadband connection but I won`t be playing my XBOX next to my PC, and THIS is where the problem lies. Their official website says they recommend some THOMPSON ADSL Router, but its *AHEM* £99! WTF!

ADSL Router - £99.99 + XBOX Live Starter Pack £39.99 = £140(give or take a penny)! Holy ****

How can MICROSOFT EXPECT people to shell out almost £100 for a ROUTER, and *THEN* another £40 for the starter pack? And whats the point of having a STARTER PACK when you *NEED* a Router if you`re not playing it through the PC.

What happened to "XBOX - Broadband ENABLED!"

Don`t worry m8, you don`t have to get that particular router.
The trouble is that there`s lots of different flavour of broadband, you may have the crappy one, which is a USB modem. BT`s favourite....

What hardware do you have now?

You need an ethernet connection from the xbox to the internet, so if you have an ADSL router with a spare port just stuff the x-box into it as well.

If you`ve got a USB modem then you may have a problem, but they are generally crap anyway, maybe worth upgrading. Look at the Vigor2200 USB, which would use you existing USB modem, but route it out to your PCs and Xbox, and BT can`t complain because you are still using their original equipment to connect to the net.

I have a Vigor2600 and it just worked, without any fiddling :-)

Otherwise, someone here may know if Internet Sharing work with Xbox, and windoze, ISC I think it`s called.

X-Box, GC, N64, DC, Macs, Broadband, Power Kites.

This item was edited on Saturday, 22nd March 2003, 22:45

I use internet sharing connection, you need minimum win 98 second edition. Very easy to setup, need a network card and a crossover cable and that is all. Only downside is wires in the house so I have mine going outside the window (upstairs to downstairs). The total cost of this setup is about £25-30. I got the belkin starter pack from pcworld which gives you 2 network cards and a 25m crossover cable for £30. Don`t need 2 network cards but needed the 25m crossover cable which at that length I found hard to find.

Of course you need to have your PC switched on to use the Xbox, yes?

look at this for a cheap router:
http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=174747




X-Box, GC, N64, DC, Macs, Broadband, Power Kites.

Yeah your pc has to be on and connected to the internet while using Xbox live

"Your PC has to be on to play XBOX Live!"

This is getting STUPID! Does EVERY XBOX Live gamer;

1st - Switch on their PC,
2nd - Switch on their XBOX
3rd - Fire up XBOX Live

This means that in order to play XBOX live you need 2, YES *2* machine s turned on. How *PATHETIC*. And this Router, Ethernet mumbo jumbo is hardly your PLUG & PLAY which is what XBOX Live I thought was all about.

SONY Would NEVER do anything like this. Maybe SONY was RIGHT to wait a little longer.

"SONY Would NEVER do anything like this. Maybe SONY was RIGHT to wait a little longer."

Muwahaha! Sony`s system is *WORSE* mate! Wait till you have a gander at that and nope not every XBox owner needs to have it hooked up thru the pc, you can get ethernet cable/adsl modems for about £60 or a router for £10 upwards if you`re really that fussed! Quite simply tho as most ISP`s will flog you a USB Cable/ADSL modem so this is what the majority of us use. I have my XBox connected to the pc using windows ICS via a crossover cable (£5) and an NIC card (£10 or free from my work) Total cost - £15. And my pc`s almost always on anyway so its no skin off my nose to have it on while using the XBox. The problem isn`t anything to do with XBox live but YOUR broadband connection.

/me wonders if this thread was nothing more than a thinly veiled dig at xbox live...hmmmm! P.S. Love Sony`s user figures for their online system - 600,000 users yay! But considering only 200,000 are registered for the main games what are the other 400,000 doing with theirs? Making a nice door stop out of them?