How do I connect to xbox live when my xbox is in the basement and my computer is upstairs? I want to connect to Xbox live but my xbox 360 is in the basement and my computer is upstairs so I cant directly hook it up to the router. Is there anything I can do or do I have to buy that $100 wireless thing?
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market samurai ~ marketsamurai ~ marketsamurai.com

I suppose you could theoretically get a bunch of extension cables and run your ethernet cable throughout the house, but that's probably not desirable. Making holes in the house to run the cable probably isn't either.

Unfortunately it looks like your best option is to either get the Wireless N adapter OR get a new Xbox 360 slim (which has the wireless built in). For the Slim route, you can try seeing how much you'd get for your old 360 towards the new one, and see if it would be a more desirable purchase than the adapter.

I have the exact same setup.

1.) Hook the ethernet cable to the xbox and the PC. Duh.

2.) Make sure your xbox is set to wired connection, again, Duh.

3.) Go into Control Panel>Network and Internet>Adapter settings. Right click the wireless connection your laptop uses and head into the properties. Go to the second tab where there will be an option for "Allow other users to connect to the internet through this connection" Click that, and then click "Allow other users to enable or disable the connection". I'm not exactly sure how, but that will make the connection a little more stable.

Alternatively, you can highlight the wireless connection your laptop uses and the ethernet connection your Xbox uses and right click, then click "Bridge connections". Do this if the first option doesn't work.

Then just go to your xbox network settings, select wired and all the default or automatic options. Don't worry about needing a router password or any fancy networking stuff, since for all intents and purposes any commands coming from the console to communicate with the internet will be coming through your computer.

And then you're done.