HELP - Need Xbox Live compatible router suggestions

[NRP]

Friggin wireless router (Linksys WRT-54G) died last night, so I need a new one in a hurry. I can get my hands on the following:

D Link DIR-655
Linksys WRT-320N

Which is best? I've heard good things about the D Link, and I've had good experiences with Linksys.

I need an open NAT without too much hassle. Which is easier to set up?

 

[AlNom]

hm... my only experience with d-link was some wireless usb adapter. I've found that the Linksys software is pretty similar with the newer models in terms of overall layout, so if you could port forward with your 54G, it's hard to go wrong.

Do you dabble with DD-WRT? I believe the 320N is flashable.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I have a DIR-625 and it seems to be working well for me. I have my 360 prioritized under the QoS rules. Seems good.

 

[Grall]

The Dlink 655 unit seems to be getting very high regards prettty much every time I see it mentioned. I've never used a great Dlink router myself (mine have either been crap, or meh, but also a lot cheaper than this one...)

I have a Netgear WNR 3500 and it's alright. It needs a soft reboot or the power plug pulled every couple months or else it simply stops routing packets to/from the internet, but other than that it's just fine. If I were to buy a new router today, I'd go with something that has dual-band radios however. This one can only do either standard (2.1GHz?) OR 5GHz; not both at once...

 

[NRP]

Thanks everyone. Went with a Linksys WRT400N. Got it for nearly the same price and the (hawt) saleswoman assured me it's a good, easy to configure router. Will see when I get home later today.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I can VERY highly recommend the Dlink Dir-655, it has performed flawlessly for me ever since I got it. Most bulletproof consumer router I've ever owned. And for the price it beats out quite a few routers that costs hundreds of USD more. I've had to power cycle my DSL modem about 8 times in the past year, have had to power cycle the Router - Zero times despite heavy transfers and large number of concurrent connections.

Good luck on the Linksys, they are usually on sale because they are usually...not so good.

Regards,
SB

 

[AzBat]

Although I didn't get here soon enough, I'll post my router for posterity. I'm using a Netgear WGR614v7. The only setting I ever had to setup for Live was change the NAT Filtering to Open. Halo 3 wouldn't wouldn't work till I did. Other than that it has always worked like a champ. BTW, my dad has the older WGR614v5. And I had to walk him through manually opening some ports for his to work. This wasn't required on my version.

BTW, my non-Xbox experience with Linksys routers has been great. Quality has been a lot better since Cisco bought them. I wouldn't worry about the quality anymore. All the consumer routers like D-Link, Netgear & Linksys are all about the same quality. Sometimes you might get a lemon on any one of them.

Tommy McClain

 

[corduroygt]

Look for a good openwrt/dd-wrt compatible router, buy it and then reflash. Stock wifi router OS's are beyond awful.

 

[Mize]

I have the 655 & it was great until I flashed the latest (non downgradeable) firmware. Since then it drop wlan connections & needs daily reboots. Finally set it up as an AP only & bought a new router. I'd go dd-wrt in the future, but the 655 can't run it.

 

[Rangers]

Wouldn't all routers be compatible with the 360??

I mean, I never gave it a second thought. My setup is the cable modem sits by the TV, then is plugged into the router which feeds wireless to the rest of the house including the main PC..., while the 360 is ethernet cabled to the router (Linksys WRT-54G) but why would a router not work with 360?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I have the 655 & it was great until I flashed the latest (non downgradeable) firmware. Since then it drop wlan connections & needs daily reboots. Finally set it up as an AP only & bought a new router. I'd go dd-wrt in the future, but the 655 can't run it.

I haven't had a reason to upgrade the firmware since I got it, but this is good info. Do you know which version of the firmware that was? If I ever do need to upgrade it, I'll definitely avoid that version and up.

Regards,
SB

 

[Mize]

Just note that there is a version that cannot be downgraded and at least one above that. I'm running 1.32NA but I think the first non-downgradeable is lower than that. I wouldn't do ANYthing that cannot be downgraded.

What's more the older version worked great with the Untangle re-router windows-based firewall/filter (it depends on IP spoofing) but the newer version prevents LAN based ip-spoofing so no more Untangle

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Think I'll just keep my current firmware (1.21) unless I run into problems. So far it's been flawless. Weird, just checked through the router just for the heck of it, and it's saying I have the latest...heh.

Had to go to the site. Yeah 1.31 doesn't allow downgrading. And don't need any of the features/fixes in the newer ones.

Regards,
SB

 

[homerdog]

Wouldn't all routers be compatible with the 360??

I mean, I never gave it a second thought. My setup is the cable modem sits by the TV, then is plugged into the router which feeds wireless to the rest of the house including the main PC..., while the 360 is ethernet cabled to the router (Linksys WRT-54G) but why would a router not work with 360?

All routers should work with the 360, but some may require manual port forwarding if they don't handle UPnP correctly.

Also, I've heard some routers can do some fancy stuff to allow two Xboxes to be connected at the same time and both report an "Open" NAT setting. Never seen this work myself though so I don't know if it's true.

 

[NRP]

The WRT400N seems to be working fine, although one of my 360s is connected wirelessly. The connection test shows everything is fine and I can download demos, but when I tried to play the BC2 demo it couldn't connect to EA's servers. So far, no online multiplayer even though the rest of Live seems fine. I'm only having this issue with the wireless 360. My main 360 connects directly to the router via Ethernet, and it works flawlessly.

Could it be a port forwarding issue for my wireless 360?

Edit:
I was able to play some online MW2 matches on the wireless 360, so the problem must be with EA's crap servers.

Oh yeah, my NAT's wide open baby!

 

[homerdog]

NRP, can you confirm that both 360s report an Open NAT at the same time?

If so I must put the venerable WRT54GL out to pasture.

 

[NRP]

@homerdog
Will check it out and let you know. MW2 tells you the status of your NAT directly in the mp menu, but I only have one copy. Therefore, I'll gave to check some other way.

I assume that if all bars are green in the 360's network configuration menu there are no NAT restrictions? Or is there another way to check?

 

[homerdog]

If you have a copy of Halo 3 it should tell you what your NAT setting is in matchmaking.

 

[NRP]

Alright, I rounded up two copies of MW2. Two 360s connected to the WRT400N (one via Ethernet, the other via wireless adapter), and MW2 reported an open NAT on both. Was able to play online mp on both 360s simultaneously. Pretty cool. New router is sexy.

Edit:
Tried Halo 3 this morning. Simultaneous games of BTB without issue. I could talk to teammates and hear them talking just fine on both 360s. Although Halo 3 doesn't specifically tell you the status of the NAT (as far as I know), it never complained about it.

This might be your router, homerdog.

 

[homerdog]

That's good to hear.

It's not just my router, I've tried about 4 different others and never found a situation where both Xboxes reported open NAT settings. Even had friends come to me with this issue and I had to inform them they were SOL unless they could find one of those magical routers that it would work on. It appears you have found this magic. :smile: