I found a GREAT deal on a router, is it any good?

[split511]

Circuit City has a Siemens 2-port ethernet cable/dls router for $20. Its usually $70 but they are giving $50 in discounts. So have any of you had any experience with this router. Will it get me connected to xbox live easily?

[Zion]

If two ports is enough for you, then it should be fine. As long as you never ever want to hook anything else up to it, it will work.

[split511]

well i also have a 4 port hub right now that i used for xbox connect but with xbox live i need the router so anyways if i every want to expand i can use the hub then I assume. But I will probably just sell it on ebay to cover the cost of the router

[TegSkywalker]

If I were you, go with the 4 port router. It will come in handy down the road when you have to network 3 more computers for a LAN party or whatever and you dont have to worry about unpluggin your XBOX to do so.

[Zion]

Originally posted by split511
well i also have a 4 port hub right now that i used for xbox connect but with xbox live i need the router so anyways if i every want to expand i can use the hub then I assume. But I will probably just sell it on ebay to cover the cost of the router

Yes, get rid of the hub regardless. You don't want that on your network.

[jschelm]

Originally posted by split511
well i also have a 4 port hub right now that i used for xbox connect but with xbox live i need the router so anyways if i every want to expand i can use the hub then I assume. But I will probably just sell it on ebay to cover the cost of the router

I just looked on the XBL pages and I couldn't find where you have to have a router. Are you sure about this?

[split511]

yeah I'm pretty sure about it. Lives requires it own ip address and so does you pc so unless your isp gives you 2 or more ip's then you need a router to split one into a couple. The other option is to simply unplug your pc from your modem and plug the xbox in its place but I want to have the pc and xbox hooked up at the same time so that other people can use the computer and I won't have to always be switching wires

[unit01]

If I were you I would toss the hub in the trash and go buy a 4 port router. I have a 4 port Linksys router and I couldn't be happier.

[Zion]

Originally posted by jschelm


I just looked on the XBL pages and I couldn't find where you have to have a router. Are you sure about this?

You don't HAVE to have a router for Xbox live..the router just allows you to keep your PC's hooked to your internet line.

You could always just unplug the cable from your computer and plug in into the Xbox every time you want to go Live if you don't want to get a router.

[jschelm]

Originally posted by split511
yeah I'm pretty sure about it. Lives requires it own ip address and so does you pc so unless your isp gives you 2 or more ip's then you need a router to split one into a couple. The other option is to simply unplug your pc from your modem and plug the xbox in its place but I want to have the pc and xbox hooked up at the same time so that other people can use the computer and I won't have to always be switching wires

Ok, that is what I kinda thought, but in the past there was a lot of discussion on whether the XBox had DHCP built in or how it handled network traffic. From what you guys are saying that is the case.

[AmpedRider]

no.........u dont need to have a router a hub will work just fine. my beta friend has a hub and it works

[Zion]

Originally posted by Monky
no.........u dont need to have a router a hub will work just fine. my beta friend has a hub and it works

Well a hub CAN work, but it's not the right thing to do.

You CAN eat dirt also, but it's not the right thing to do.

A hub will give you lots of extra traffic on your network, therefore slowing you down and causing lag. It also has zero security and zero routing capabilities.

Using a hub is like removing all the traffic lights from a 4 way intersection. Yes, some cars will make it through fine, but others won't make it at all and some will be destroyed. Using a router is like putting the traffic lights back...cars come through as needed and everybody is happy and there are no collisions and nothing is left out.

[split511]

well put zion

[pnrgi]

wow! :eek: the hub seems to work just fine with my four computers. a hub will work fine you dont need a router unless you running 200 feet between you and you modem. if you have a hub just use that it will work fine. if you want to go over board go right ahead! in xboxconnect i seem to get a fine connection. and im sharing with 4 comps. yeah maybe its not the right thing to do if you have 18 computers all runing cs trying to get the most amount of bandwith each. well most of us are going to jsut turn on our xbox and play and not worry about the network.;)

[jschelm]

Ok, that is kinda what I figured. For anyone else that might be a little confused on hubs/switches/routers.

Hubs - The cheapest way to go. They are single duplex (which means while one computer talks the others listen and when it is done talking the lines open up for everyone else to try and talk) That is the reason that they are the slowest and that the collision rates can be high. If more than one computer tries to talk at once that will cause collisions. They also broadcast each packet to every single node on the hub, so even though computer A is only talking to computer B the other computers on the network have to have the traffic coming to them. However they are still 100MB/s and I highly doubt that your internet connection will run anywhere near that, so for one or two computers and your XBox you will probably be fine as far as speed. IP addresses will be a little different (see routers below)

Switches - These are the middle of the road and are very similar to hubs however they are full duplex, so a computer can talk and listen at the same time, and they tag traffic so if computer A is talking to computer B they are the only 2 that get the messages. This enables them to be significantly faster and better at handling traffic, especially on large networks. These also do not handle IP addresses

Routers - Routers are the high end of the spectrum. They are basically a switch with a firewall (sometimes) and a DHCP type networking manager. This allows multiple computers to have a single IP on the internet. If your ISP only allows you to have one computer and one IP address then this is a workaround so that the IP gets assigned to the router instead of a computer and you can hook as many computers as you want up to your single broadband connection. The XBox however does not need its own IP address, so if the only thing you are trying to do is get your XBox hooked up then this may not be necessary. It depends on how badly you want your XBox behind a firewall and how much you want to spend.

Zion - I do not disagree with you that a router is a good way to go for many people, but I have seen a TON of threads where you tell people that they have to get a router and this is simply not the case. They are not only expensive (for one that is worth buying) they are overkill for what many people on this board need.

[Zion]

Originally posted by jschelm


Zion - I do not disagree with you that a router is a good way to go for many people, but I have seen a TON of threads where you tell people that they have to get a router and this is simply not the case. They are not only expensive (for one that is worth buying) they are overkill for what many people on this board need.

Well I never said that anyone HAD to get a router, but by your own admission the router is the very best way to do it.

According to your post, a hub is rather useless. Who wants collisions and extra traffic on their lan?????? This causes packet loss, and major lag for online games.

As far as a router being expensive, I don't think $20-$50 is too much to pay for a proper connection. Broadband internet costs that much PER MONTH. Why not do it right?

[jschelm]

Originally posted by Zion


Well I never said that anyone HAD to get a router, but by your own admission the router is the very best way to do it.

According to your post, a hub is rather useless. Who wants collisions and extra traffic on their lan?????? This causes packet loss, and major lag for online games.

As far as a router being expensive, I don't think $20-$50 is too much to pay for a proper connection. Broadband internet costs that much PER MONTH. Why not do it right?

Maybe I read too much into your posts, but I remember one a while back where someone was excited to get a new switch and you posted that you hope they bought a router too.

And the hub isn't useless on a 1 computer 1 Xbox network. That is not enough traffic to cause any kind of packet loss issues, at least from what I have been able to see. I had 4 Xboxes hooked up a while ago through a linksys hub and switch and saw zero difference in game speed.

[mrmp3]

Since this has to do with networking I decided to reply in this topic. You guys were talkin about the BB provider allowing more than one IP address. Do you know if RoadRunner or Earthlink allows more than 1 IP address? If you don't know, where can I find out? Also, if it does allow more than one IP address, I can use a switch instead of a router right? Signing off...

[jschelm]

You can call them and ask. The various ISP's go from not letting you have more than one IP, to paying for another, to letting you have 3 or 4 for free...It just depends on your area. Also, the only reason you need more than one IP is for multiple computers, not for 1 computer and your XBox. Lastly, yes, you can use your switch. Another quick note, if you are wanting to use your switch with more than one computer and are running a new version of windows you can let one of your computers handle your internet traffic in the same way a router would.

[Mael]

Best Buy has a 4 port D-Link DI-604 router on sale for $30 (after $10 rebate). It's gotten great reviews and would do fine.

That two port router would do fine, and you can plug that hub into it to expand it. However, for $10 more, I'd go with a 4 port router and simplify the setup.

--Mael

[split511]

alright i realize that you don't need 2 ip if you are using xbox and the computer with say xbox connect but are you sure the same is true for xbox live? So far everything that I have heard suggests that xbox requires its very own ip address aside from your computer. I may be wrong about this but thats just what I heard.

My current set-up is just cable modem to uplink input of hub and then hub to xbox and to my pc. I got the hub to use for xbox connect because i have no other need for it yet since I only have one computer. Most likely it will stay that way for a while too so I don't need to worry about too much traffic or needing an internet connect for 2 pcs. But once again I want to clarify that you are positive that xbox doesn't need its own ip and a hub will work fine for xbox live. If you are right then thank you so unbelievably much because I will be so happy if I can have them both connected and don't have to buy anything new. On the other hand if you are wrong....... i won't mind toooo much everyone screws up every once in a while.

[split511]

mael....I didn't see that router on sale anymore at best buy. I was looking over the weekend to see if they still had it but the cheapest one was like $50.

[jschelm]

Originally posted by split511
alright i realize that you don't need 2 ip if you are using xbox and the computer with say xbox connect but are you sure the same is true for xbox live? So far everything that I have heard suggests that xbox requires its very own ip address aside from your computer. I may be wrong about this but thats just what I heard.

My current set-up is just cable modem to uplink input of hub and then hub to xbox and to my pc. I got the hub to use for xbox connect because i have no other need for it yet since I only have one computer. Most likely it will stay that way for a while too so I don't need to worry about too much traffic or needing an internet connect for 2 pcs. But once again I want to clarify that you are positive that xbox doesn't need its own ip and a hub will work fine for xbox live. If you are right then thank you so unbelievably much because I will be so happy if I can have them both connected and don't have to buy anything new. On the other hand if you are wrong....... i won't mind toooo much everyone screws up every once in a while.

I don't have XBL, but from what others have said that are in the beta test then you will be fine with your current setup. I would PM some of the guys that have XBL already and ask them the question. That way you won't get all the tons of conflicting info that you have gotten on this thread.

[Mael]

Split,

It's in the weekly ad here in Oklahoma City, it may not be on sale in the stores where you live. However, the BB website has it on sale as well (with free shipping!).

http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11161711&m=488&cat=540&scat=1574

Everything I have heard, including from Microsoft itself (1-800 4MY-XBOX, call them and ask), indicates that XBL WILL require it's own IP. For most this means a router or some sort of proxy setup. Not many ISP's allow extra IP's for free, but by all means call your ISP and ask.

--Mael