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Reader Comments (91)

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:12PM (Unverified) said

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Whoops - forgot to mention, the AE is the same price as the Xbox 360 adapter. Even if you just bought this, you could use the ethernet cable and have 802.11n for your Xbox right now. It's nice. Netflix streams SO much better now.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:12PM ArchiGamer said

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You know what would be really nice; if the 360 had built in Wifi.


Ah, people can dream....

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:13PM (Unverified) said

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Piece of crap. I just bought the regular one a couple months ago. They better have a trade-in deal. That's the last thing I'll need to switch over my wireless router into 5Ghz mode.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 9:26PM RunnyRiver said

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They will not. It's Microsoft.

Someone mentioned an Airport express will probably be cheaper (and more useful) than the new adapter.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:18PM guttertalk said

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I've actually been eyeing the Cisco-Linksys 802.11n game adapter, which will probably much cheaper and can be used with any game console.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:19PM Killimus2188 said

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Kinda makes me wish I had a PS3 to watch stuff from my PC wirelessly downstairs. $300 bucks vs $435 for a 360 with the HD cables and a wifi adaptor,

If this adapter is as horrible and the original model for picking up signals, I'll pass.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:59PM CaramelZappa said

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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:20PM booticon said

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I kinda know the answer to this question already, but why the hell aren't they building in a wireless radio in their consoles at this point? Even the fucking Wii has wifi.

Again: even the Wii has wifi.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:27PM (Unverified) said

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Because Nintendo knows how to make a console.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:36PM Co said

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booticon, you must be new to this corporation called Microsoft
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:47PM (Unverified) said

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Because wifi based home/cellphone/etc based networking is standard in Japan, the Wii's main market. The majority fthe rest of the world still uses LAN, so it's a good way fr MS to capitalise by saving on production on the 360 then selling the wireless separately.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:52PM DeepFriedSushi said

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and 360 came out a year before both consoles. considering how inconsistent wifi can, i think it was a good choice for ms to try to make wired standard.

plus gaming though wifi is just bad. an atheros wifi chip would cost ms couple bucks to put inside the console its that they choose not to so that people resort to wired connections for better stability, no weak signals, no interference.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:07PM (Unverified) said

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But Deep Fried Sushi.

That doesn't answer the question why can't it have both then? Like the PS3 for instance (as an example). Also not everyone has had a bad experience with wireless such as yourself
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:15PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said

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Because contrary to popular belief, wireless networking of laptops/computers were not significant enough for Microsoft to incorporate wifi into the 360. The went by the information gathered from XBL 1.0 which proved that a majority of XBL subscribers were hooked up via ethernet/phoneline to ethernet adapters.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Uncloaked-Microsofts-Next-Generation/dp/0977784215

Good read for anyone trying to get into the game industry.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:22PM (Unverified) said

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Huh...
Well thanks for clearing that up Captain.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:45PM CaramelZappa said

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In a weird way, I think it'd good the 360 didn't include wifi. Wifi isn't always a bad choice for gaming, but I've run into more than a few hosts who have horrible signal and because they neglected to run a cord gameplay suffers. This isn't that big of a deal on say, the PSN, where one persons lag isn't as likely to bog down the whole server, but when the users are the hosts a wifi connection could easily break the gameplay.

Wifi is nice, and can be used for gaming, but most people use it because the router is 4 walls away or downstairs so they can't be bothered to run a cord, in which case the shoddy wireless signal ends up ruining online gameplay.


Then again, when the PS3 has wifi and blu-ray at the same price, and the wii has wifi at their other price point, microsoft is really ripping of their customers to not include it.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 10:09PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said

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It just depends on the individual circumstance. I've been gaming on wireless since the 360 first came out and I've never had any connection issues with the PS3, 360 or Wii. I game exclusively on WiFi and I always have a perfect signal online. Options are a good thing and people should be given them because it's not some huge extra expense considering what price the consoles start at to begin with.

Besides, how can you say with certainty that people with substandard connections are disproportionately using WiFi?
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 10:35PM CaramelZappa said

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Of course it's up to each persons situation. Like I said if your wifi is within a decent range then it's usually not that big of a deal, but I delt with plenty of situations before on live when the lag is caused by someone who's using wifi, and it's not because wifi is bad, but because the're simply too far away from their router (or have a bad one)
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:25PM (Unverified) said

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I'm sure if you look for a deal you can get an access point the supports N for less than 100$. Microsoft sure takes a risk with this decision of not offering wi-fi in the box, the money they make on these adapters has to be a lot to offset the potential costumers they lose to Sony or the ones that never connect to live because of it.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:29PM (Unverified) said

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double the antennas=double the price

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:31PM kosmic2021 said

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I bought the Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter WGA600N a long time ago and it works perfect for the same price as the Microsoft G adapter.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:35PM Co said

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I'm still partially shocked that people on this site actually give Microsoft proper hell for the crap they pull.

For a few months there i swore xbox.joystiq.com commenters had replaced the main page.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:47PM Mr F said

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I don't really get the big deal with this.
I'm sure a large percentage are still using routers with the 802.11g, so this'll do nothing for them. And besides, how many people have internet speeds over 54 Mbit/s? Very few. And even if you do, there is no need for speeds that high when it comes to any online gaming.
And when it comes to streaming on the local network, the combined max bitrate of audio + video on a BluRay movie is 48 Mbit/s (Excluding the small buffer), but most work at about 30-35 Mbit/s (Though I'm really not sure if the bitrate of a movie is directly transferable to streaming it over a network. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can shine a light on this).

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:08PM (Unverified) said

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It's unlikely you'll get anywhere near 54 mbps.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:54PM CaramelZappa said

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The more important change between G and N is range, not speed.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 6:48PM revsoul said

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It's still bogus we have to pony up for wireless access anyway.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:08PM (Unverified) said

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As many versions of the 360 they went through they should have had it built in by now.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:40PM kmcroc said

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want one no matter what ,must keep supporting MS.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:41PM makimak22 said

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"...another choice for the consumer." Good spin.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 7:58PM revsoul said

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@caramelzappa, uh, no.... "N" routers are definitely faster, it's definitely about the speed

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 8:31PM CaramelZappa said

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Yea, but a good G connection can max out your internet speed. As far as gaming goes, the speed isn't really that much of an issue, but the range is. For over the network file transfers and streaming from your PC the speed is a huge difference, but for internet it's mostly range unless you're lucky enough to have Fios.
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Posted: Sep 21st 2009 8:36PM shimrra74 said

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I can stomach 100 dollar price tag but anything higher I can wait for a price drop.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 9:22PM (Unverified) said

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I like the Xbox 360 but Microsoft needs to be better with their pricing schemes. $100 for a proprietary albeit run of the mill 802.11g wifi adapter is insane. The current one should come down to $50 and the new one should be priced at $80 at the most.

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 9:41PM aaronharmon said

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My guess is that this will fill the $99.99 spot and the A/B/G device will drop to $59.99

Posted: Sep 21st 2009 11:00PM (Unverified) said

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MS rep " hey we got this new wireless adapter its a GREAT VALUE...."
Consumer "cool how much does it cost?"
MS rep "since this has double the antennas of the original wireless adapter we feel as though it gives consumers double the value... "
consumer "sooooo...price?"
MS Rep "well double the antennas double the price...... right? RIGHT? hello?"

Posted: Sep 22nd 2009 2:50AM (Unverified) said

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If you're going to pay a 300% markup for an Apple computer, why not a 200% markup for a wireless adapter?

Posted: Sep 22nd 2009 2:52AM Otimus said

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The people acting like using Wifi is some great sin to gaming really need to be hurt for being that blatantly stupid.

Someone's awful connection causes them to be a bad host, not them using wifi.

What I'm REALLY getting out of you people, to be honest is this:
"I for one am glad with anything Microsoft does, because Microsoft did it! Yay Microsoft!"


I swear, some of you people... I bet some of you own macs.

Posted: Sep 22nd 2009 2:59AM CaramelZappa said

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You think microsoft fanboys own macs?
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Posted: Sep 22nd 2009 9:28AM makattack said

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Anyone who thinks streaming video and playing online over WiFi is superior to an ethernet connection is on crack. You've obviously never experienced streaming from a local LAN setup as I have: a slingbox video feed to a wireless 802.11g laptop -- it sucks so bad, especially when someone turns on the microwave oven, that I need to bring the laptop to the room where the router is and plug it in.

Any gaming I do is directly connected from PCs and consoles to the router with a CAT5 cable.

Posted: Oct 24th 2009 8:19PM (Unverified) said

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im only gonna buy this one if the old adapter doesnt work on the new n or N+ router

Posted: Nov 1st 2009 4:26PM (Unverified) said

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does anyone that have linksys adapter play halo 3 if you do, do you ever lag on it?

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