• Guide to Home Networking
  How to set up your own home network quickly and painlessly.
• Routers and Xbox Live
  Everything you need to know about routers on Xbox Live.
• Diagnosing Xbox Live Connections
  Use the Xbox Dashboard to solveICMP, MTU, and NAT issues.
• Lose the Lag
  We've got a few pointers to help you avoid laggy games and host lag-free ones

Guide to Home Networking

A brief introduction to quickly and easily setting up a home network.

The Basics| Preparation |Step-by-Step

Preparation

Getting ready to set upyour home network.

What do I need to do?

1. Make a Plan
   You need to have a plan. Think about where in your house or flat each device lives. Do you play Xbox in the living room, but use your PC in the study? Sometimes it's helpful to draw a map of all the devices you want to be linked on your home network. You may want to move some stuff around, but one of the advantages of a home network is that your connected devices can all be in different areas of the house and still work together.
   
   
   
2. Gather the Essentials
   You probably have a PC—unless you're perusing this website at the library—but to set up your network you'll also need to acquire a little additional hardware.
   
   If you don't already have a broadband Internet service provider, that should be first on your list of things to get!
   
   
3. Put it All Together
   Pick a lazy Saturday, stick the tunes on, and go to work. If you're going to be drilling holes to run cables through walls or floors, make sure you've got your tools handy. You should have all your hardware and instruction manuals nearby as well.
   
   
   
4. Power Up and Play!
   Once you've got it all hooked up, fire up your Xbox console, pop in your Starter Disk, and experience the world's premier online gaming arena!

What do I need to buy?

We're going to assume that you already have a PC, an Xbox console, an Xbox Live Starter Kit, and broadband Internet service. So here's the rest of the stuff you'll need.

If you're using a router connection, you'll need:

• A router or hub
  A hub is a little device that lets you plug a bunch of different Ethernet cables into it. Think of it as a kind of Ethernet extension cord.
  
  A router (sometimes referred to as a residential gateway) is a hub with a brain. It can determine which device you want which signal to go to. For ease of use, routers are the way to go.
  
  If your Xbox console is in the living room and your computer is inyour bedroom, you can run an Ethernet cable from your PC to the router (or hub), and then another Ethernet cable from the router (or hub) to your Xbox.
  
  
  
• Three Ethernet cables
  An Ethernet cable is used to transmit data at high speeds over a local area network (LAN). What's important here is that Ethernet cable is fast and accurate. Get long lengths of it if your Xbox console is far away from your computer. If you plan on hiding cables by running them behind walls or drilling through floors, you'll want to take careful measurements and do some planning beforehand.
  

If you're using Internet Connection Sharing, you'll need:

• An Ethernet cable (see description above)
  
  
  
• A USB cable
  A USB cable is identifiable by its connectors. On one end is a somewhat square-shaped connector; on the other is a flattened, rectangular-shaped connector.
  
  
  
• Network Interface Card
  If you've already got broadband Internet service, you've probably got a Network Interface Card (NIC) already installed on your computer. If your Internet service uses a USB modem instead of an Ethernet modem, you'll need to use a NIC with your shared PC connection.