1. Make a Plan You need to have a plan. Think about where in your house or apartment each device lives. Do you play Xbox games in the living room, but use your PC in the kitchen? 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 Web site 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 cable or DSL high-speed Internet service provider, that should be first on your list of things to get! Don't bother with dial-up, ISDN, or satellite; they aren't supported by Xbox Live. You will need a PC to get your Internet connection initially configured; after that you can either hook up your high-speed connection directlyto your Xbox or build your own home network.
3. Put It All Together Pick a lazy Saturday, crank up some music, 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 Disc, 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 XboxLive Starter Kit, and high-speed Internet service. So here's the rest of the stuff you'll need.
A cable/DSL router A router (sometimes referred to as a residential gateway) can let multiple devices (PCs, Xbox consoles) use one Internet connection. For ease of use, routers are the way to go. Make sure you use a router that works with Xbox Live.
If your Xbox console is in the living room and your computer is in your den or bedroom, you can run an Ethernet cable from your PC to the router, and then another Ethernet cable from the router to your Xbox console.
Many routers today have wireless functionality as well as multiple Ethernet ports. These routers are a great choice if you want to connect your PCs viawireless. You can simply plug your Xbox into oneof the Ethernet ports, and use wireless adapters to connect to your PCs.
3 (or more) Ethernet cables An Ethernet cable looks like a telephone cable, but it's not. The plug at the end looks a lot like a telephone cable plug, but it's slightly fatter. The Ethernet plug is called an RJ-45 connector; the plug for the phone is called an RJ-11 connector. But you don't really need to know that. What's important here is that Ethernet is fast and has a cool name. Get long lengths ofcable if your Xbox console is far away from your high speed modem and/or 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.
Note You will need more than three Ethernet cables if you have more than one PC in your home network.
1 (or more) crossover Ethernet cables Looks likethe standard Ethernet cable described above, except special. What's special is that inside it, some wires are crossed over. Make sure you don't use a standard Ethernet when you instead need a crossover. Here's a secret: the Xbox System Link cableis an Ethernet crossover cable. Other crossover cables work too, but they don't say "Xbox" on them.
1 USB cable (Assuming you have a USB-based modem.) 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. This cable probably came with the USB cable or DSL modem. If you don't have a USB cable or DSL modem, you won't need this cable, but you will need an additional Ethernet cable. You might want to consider using the router connection instead of this one.
Network Interface Card Ifyour modem is USB or internal PCI, you'll needNIC to connect to your Xbox console. If you already have a NIC connected to your modem, well, you'll need a second NIC to connect to your Xbox console. But, take our advice, if your modem is Ethernet-based, you'll like a router connection better than Windows ICS; a router is easier to set up and witha router you don't need toturn on your PC to play Xbox Live games.
An Ethernet hub or switch (optional) If you want to connect more than one PC, you will need to get an Ethernet hub or switch. In this case you can usea hub or switch instead of a router because the PC running Internet Connection Sharing has the smarts to share the Internet connection that a router has.
You've decided on a plan, made careful measurements and gone shopping. See our step-by-step directions for getting your network put together.
