Making a reliable XBOX live connection

BACKGROUND

XBOX Live is a service that is indispensible for those people who have tried it and are hooked. In my case, I use it with my Forza Motorsport racing simulator to let out some aggression on the track, where there is no expense, no travel time, no damage and no injury involved.

Fantastic. When it works.

When it doesn't work I become a cranky gamer, and my XBOX evangelist tendancies rapidly wane. The problem, it turns out, is not to do with the XBOX live service, or even the software routines it uses. Instead, it's more of a concept of pushing yesterday's technology into performing today's miracles.

IN A NUTSHELL

To make XBOX live a service that you will use, enjoy, and stay subscribed to, you will need the following ingredients:

• A good connection to the internet
• A supported router (see Microsoft's list of XBOX Live approved routers)
• A good ethernet cable

That's all it takes. If it could be any simpler, they would have made it so. What qualifies as a good connection? Any connection with high speed and low latency will do:

• Cable
• Digital Subscriber Link / DSL
• commercial T1/Frame Relay

These connections will likely provide a good pipe for Live gaming.  Following are examples of internet connections that will not give you a reliable experience:

• Satellite internet
• Your neighbor's wireless connection

If you decide to use wireless for your own connection to XBOX Live, do so with care. The added complexity and inherent "iffiness" of wireless is the key reason people avoid it for XBOX Live. It only takes a few 1/10ths of a second of lag (latency) to change your whole game experience for the worse.

Resources:

• Microsoft's Diagnosing XBOX Live Connections page, with a particularly good section on so-called NAT conflicts. To quote, "If the players you want to play with are using strict NATs, you will likely experience problems. You may not be able to hear them and they may not be able to hear you. You may not be able to see those players at all."
• Russ Smith offers further insight on NAT as it relates to XBOX Live
• Shopping for compatible products with the Xbox Live compatible logo
• Official XBOX Live Technical Issues forum