I haven't tried it myself, so it's just second hand info, but perhaps worth reading up on before you go for it.

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I realize there are tons of security risks with wireless routers if you don't configure them properly. My big problem will be going through a bunch of walls with as little signal loss as possible.

Edited by - oatmeal on 1/28/2005 1:36:24 PM

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I meant his ping times. Isn't that what the lag rating is called in the server list of 1st person shooters?

The wireless hardware introduced a noticeable lag.

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You can get some brutal network speeds (ping rates) using wireless. I've tried it a couple of times (using Dlink and Microsoft routers) and found it unacceptable. There are some newer routers that have promise.

I live in a high-rise condo with lots of walls, concrete, microwaves and 2.4 GHz phones to screw with the signal strength.

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Here's a page that lists varies wireless protocols available for home use. Read up on this and you'll be able to make a good decision.

PS - Wireless also tends to be very unsecure, so I wouldn't recommend it if you're doing anything you wouldn't want the neighbors to know about, or if you've got a potential script kiddie living next door.

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i don't actually own an xbox, so i can't make a recommendation for a specific adapter but i'd go for a good wds-enabled bridge so you'd have something with an internal radio that you could plug into any computer and use it as a wireless client adapter in the future.

for a cheap router nothing comes close to the hardware on the linksys wrt54gs(broadcom 200mhz/32mb) and it's running a linux kernel and can be flashed to adjust the tx/rx power on the antennas by grabbing the hyperwrt.org firmwares. you can safely get double the dbm as any other consumer-grade router.
you also can get the linksys wrt54g/gs to work in client mode, though it might be bulky.

for over 100, MIMO is the way to go. the stuff out there isn't going to be real -N compliant, but it's going to be a year and a half before it's finalized. basically, the linksys, belkin, dlink stuff out there are b/g-compliant routers with wildly better antenna-technology. i've been playing around with a belkin pre-n got on sale for 90 bucks and i get better range without needing a pre-n client card than with the juiced-up linksys and the big antennas i put on it. i'd consider getting a couple of the 5+dbm antennas, i've had the best luck with the 15dbm corner antennas. the one on the router will work best placed up high and obviously away from obstructions. directional ones can work better than omnis if you're going to be able to manage to point them at each other's direction. it's basically flashlight versus candle in terms of width of pattern, really long runs need directionals, most people will be fine with omnis and not surveying and adjusting too much.

there must be a gaming adapter with PoE, if you want to get rid of cords.

about the xbox-router connection i'm pretty sure you want to forward a port in the 3000's and 88. it should be explained on the router's web-based config as well as exactly what you want for mac, subnet, etc values. it should probably be in infrastructure by default to be online, but i'd assume you can set it to adhoc for your comp.

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It was a combo kit (router and notebook adapter) that was cheap... thankfully they had a good return policy.

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I'll look into the client mode on that linksys to see if it's what I need.

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802.11b/g channels overlap. You need to be at least five channels away to be interference-free. If you have a neighbor with a strong signal on channel 11 then you should choose channel 6 or below.

If your microwave or cordless phones interfere then there's nothing to do but wait for them to turn off.

802.11a channels do not overlap and do not suffer from interference from most consumer electronics (except that 5 GHz cordless phone interfere with some channels). A drawback is that the power output on the standard 802.11a bands is strictly limited, and the FCC generally prohibits detachable antennae on the standard band (there are two other 802.11a bands without these limitations but I know of no hardware for them yet). Even so I try to put clients on 802.11a: the RF pollution problems in 802.11b/g often make 802.11a's real-world range better than b/g.

Reviews I've seen of the Linksys MIMO radio say it does work as advertised. Moreover it has working QoS features for media playback. http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/60067 has links to a couple of reviews.

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i thought very little of belkin's hardware, but on the belkin forum on jrv's link their pre-n stuff has gotten almost no negative comments and i just use the AP function for the mimo but it's a definite improvement over an already tweaked linksys wrt54gs and high-gain 14db antenna

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