Does Xbox live really suck this bad?

[danth]

I just got Xbox Live today. It sucked bad enough that I had to buy it for a whole year not even knowing if it would be worth it. It sucked bad enough that, even though I paid a whole year in advance, I was forced to give them my credit card information and address before I could play, and I didn't know I'd have to do this until after I bought the subscription.

But the after all that bullshit, the Xbox live service is ridiculously shitty. I spent the last 5 hours trying to play, and I got in a total of about 8 games, because the vast majority of my time was spent trying over and over to connect, or when I finally did connect getting disconnected before I could play. When I finally did get to play, I'd get disconnected before another game could start.

Now, I know my internet service works fine because I've never had a problem getting online. I know the cables are fine because I use the same one for my computer. I know the Xbox is fine because I use it to play system link games with no problem. But XBox live doesn't freaking work.

Am I the only one for whom Xbox live doesn't work?

[zeo-mare]

My younger brother Shawn seemed to speak highly of XBox live, I am not sure if it might be the games you are playing I heard some games work way better then others.

[Poonman]

never had any problems here- i got the free trial subscription w/ a few games and when i didn't cancel in time and microsoft charged my credit card they were cool about paying me back. even offered me a free game if i stayed online.

never had any problem w/ getting online either- always smooth and fun.

[danth]

FUUUCK! It really is just me.

By the way, it's Halo 2 I've been trying to play. I'm disconnected constantly, or not even able to connect at all.

Edited October 29, 2005 by danth

[isamu]

FUUUCK! It really is just me.

By the way, it's Halo 2 I've been trying to play. I'm disconnected constantly, or not even able to connect at all.

340618[/snapback]

it's just you, tard.

[yellowlightman]

You can get 3-month cards if you buy the headset, which is pretty necessary for online play.

Anyways, if you keep getting disconnected it's a problem on your side, not Xbox Live. I play almost every day and the only time it ever gets disconnected is when I have a router or modem issue. I'd look into that... once you get everything hooked up correctly it's great.

[NERV]

my friend has xboxlive and he hasnt had any problem but one tihng i noticed that sucks in halo 2 live is that when some gets disconnected for the game everythign shuts down and the wholegame resets eveyrone back to spawn points

[Chowser]

usually, i get just get waiting screen if someone disconnects, then we pick up where we left off.

danth, what router are you using for your Xbox? or do you hook up your broadband modem right to the xbox?

I don't think that would be the problem if you've been able to play a few games, but are you doing anything else with the internet in the background while you're on Xbox live? my router for some reason lets the Xbox suck up all the bandwidth and slows the computer(s) down if the computer(s) are trying to access the internet.

haven't had any lag issues at all.

I only have 1.5Mbps-D/384kbps-U DSL.

using a Netgear WGR614 wireless router. but the xbox is hooked up via Ethernet.

haven't had any problems either when someone is on the PS2 playing Socom or Xbox playing Halo 2, I just notice the slow down on the computers.

Edited October 29, 2005 by Chowser

[mikeszekely]

Nothing useful to add, just wanted to chime in with the group that hasn't had any problems with Xbox Live. Looking forward to going on Live with the 360.

[big F]

There are some isues with certain service providers. I am not exactly sure what it is but some I.S.Ps do a sort of status check on your connection every little while. This can have problems with the Xbox where as your P.C would just ignore it.

Halo 2 can have some connection issues mostly when you play against large groups.

The only issues I had with live is that ----

1. after not renewing my subscription for a few months ( I was away ) They wouldnt let me use my old gamer tag even though I could connect to live and it just asked me to renew my contract.

2. now I have renewed it I cant get my Credit Card details off of it (they recently charged me for another year).

3. as the Live servers ar all connecting back to the servers in the U.S.A everyone in Europe is slightly dissadvantaged as there is a lag for us when playing gamers in the U.S

This has led to some Clans banning U.S players.

overall its not bad i just wish they could polish it up a bit and get rid of that voice mask thing I hate playing little kids who insist on using the heilum voice mask.

Do you connect using a router or is it just straight into the phone socket.

Using a router you may find its a little better (works for me)

also what speed it your DSL If its bellow 512 then you may be getting issues with your speed vs other players speed (not to be confused with lag)

The Xbox can be really funny about some connections to DSL. Neither of my XBoxes will connect straight to the phone socket but are quit happy to do so if I put a simple hub in the way. the hub has no software on it and costs about £10.

Running through our house network with 4 pc`s and two Xboxes is no poblem.

Like everting made by Microsoft its Querky.

You could always try Xbox Connect its free and just as good you can also play link games over it.

Edited October 29, 2005 by big F

[Hikuro]

I can't even connect on LIVE, but I don't need to worry about it now cause I don't have my Xbox anymore, and I can wait till 360 comes out where its already set up to be LIVE. Something about my DNS couldn't be detected or something.

Similar problem occured when I started putting my PS2 online thru my DSL....its rather odd......I've got two ways of connecting, one is like a dial up deal where I gotta hit "Connect" to start it up, or I go thru a website thru my ISP guys and hit "Connect" thru that website and it'll push me up.

On the dial up version I can access all and download anything, thru the website version I can't get on AIM or download thru Bitorrent.

[danth]

Alright, it's a router issue. Everything is fine if I plug into the modem directly. The router is Xbox live compatible and everything seems to be configured right. I've called Xbox and they've run out of suggestions.

I don't suppose anyone out there goes on Xbox live through a DLink di-624?

[big F]

I use a D-Link DSL-504T if thats any help

I will be happy to give you some pointers if you need them.

[Stamen0083]

The D-link routers have always been problematic. The biggest thing is the DI-524 dropping wired and wireless connections every few hours. The fix? Change the device IP to something different from the modem.

As for gaming, I believe you need to open certain ports to allow X-Box live to connect. My roommate was using the DI-524 for Battle.net, and he had to configure it to allow the games to connect. Probably the same deal with the DI-624 and XBox Live.

Google DI-624 and XBox Live to see if anyone else has posted specific solutions.

Edited October 30, 2005 by Stamen0083

[big F]

Yes there is certain problems with ports on some routers basicllay I have switched off port forwarding and this seems to work better.

there are issues with D-Link router modems locking after 500= hours of connection.

They will still appear to be connected if you browse them the control pannel says connected but if you call a web page you get not found in your browser.

The simple solution is click reboot on the routers control page.

I think before anyone can help you with your problem we need to know some basic info.

who is your isp.

how do you normally connect on your pc

the current setings on the D-Link and any other network hardware you have.

all of these questions can help us to workout whats happening/not happening.

Edited October 30, 2005 by big F

[Chowser]

i just rehooked my buddy up,

he had Adelphia Cable Broadband service, I set him up with a DLink DI624, no problems.

he didn't pay his cable bill and got it cut off,

I just rehooked him up yesterday with SBC DSL service and the DLink is still working fine.

basic settings.

i just enabled secure wireless for his girlfriend, but the xbox is still hooked up via ethernet.

[jwinges]

Actually, Xbox did their massive 360 update this week thereby making xbox live pure hell for all of us original xbox users. Until monday when they started Everything ran great. They sent out an e-mail saying their update would take 1 day to complete but as of Friday they still hadn't finished. Basically xbox isn't offering squat for support. All they care about is the 360.

If I hadn't already paid for a year I would quit after all the bullshit their customer service dept has said this week.

As far as dropping out in halo...when somebody drops out it does sometimes casue a problem if the guy running the game has a lower speed connection.

Funny think with halo and lag...lag is your friend! Having some lag makes it harder than hell for others to hit you. There are some people on there (they have really high ranks) that intentianally lower their connection near or below the minimum to make it harder for people to hit them. Sometimes you can even escape a grenade attact by doing this.

Personally I think the best game is Crimson Skies. Its hella fun and the lag and dropout issues don't occur as much.

[TheLoneWolf]

How's this supposed to work? Whenever I'm lagging, sure it's hard for others to hit me, but it's damn near impossible for me to hit them too. If I'm lagging, what I do is throw grenades in someone's general direction and pray.

Funny think with halo and lag...lag is your friend!  Having some lag makes it harder than hell for others to hit you.  There are some people on there (they have really high ranks) that intentianally lower their connection near or below the minimum to make it harder for people to hit them.  Sometimes you can even escape a grenade attact by doing this. 

edit: oh yeah, I'm using a Linksys wireless router (though the xboxes are using cat5 to the router) and have never had any problems with it.

Edited October 31, 2005 by TheLoneWolf

[danth]

Well, my Xbox Live suddenly started working fine. There were some ports I had to open for the Xbox's IP, and after that it still didn't seem to work, but after a bit it stopped kicking me off. Now everything's good.

Really though, it wasn't obvious or easy to find out that I had to open those ports. I had to call support and scour DLink's website for the info.

Thanks for the help, all (except isamu )

[jwinges]

If your lagging on halo (which I typically don't with a 256 DSL via a linksys wireless router and linksys wireless game adaptor) you need to throw lots of grenades, use torrents, or drive vehicles.

I find that the easiest way to get a really high kill rate is to play big team battles in an open map and run enemies down with a vehicle. Warthogs and ghosts work great. With a vehicle I can usually achieve a kill to death rate of about 5:1. Plus its loads of fun splattering the enemy.

Funniest Halo moment: I'm in a warthog running a cannon torrent and their is a driver and a passenger. A 4th guy decides to ride on the hood and as I'm shooting at the enemy I just happen to shoot him in the back. His body must have flown a good hundred and fifty yards before it his a wall ass over teakettle.

[mikeszekely]

Funniest Halo moment: I'm in a warthog running a cannon torrent and their is a driver and a passenger. A 4th guy decides to ride on the hood and as I'm shooting at the enemy I just happen to shoot him in the back. His body must have flown a good hundred and fifty yards before it his a wall ass over teakettle.

Speaking of fun with vehicles, I actually got a Warthog stuck in the fan on Zanzibar. It kinda grinded near the top for a bit before exploding...

[Hoptimus]

The D-link routers have always been problematic. The biggest thing is the DI-524 dropping wired and wireless connections every few hours. The fix? Change the device IP to something different from the modem.

As for gaming, I believe you need to open certain ports to allow X-Box live to connect. My roommate was using the DI-524 for Battle.net, and he had to configure it to allow the games to connect. Probably the same deal with the DI-624 and XBox Live.

Google DI-624 and XBox Live to see if anyone else has posted specific solutions.

340792[/snapback]

I have I 524 and I never get dropped. I also gave my Xbox a static IP and put it in the DMZ on the router. My XBL is stable and fast this way. My ISP is Cox Cable.

Try setting your Xbox to a static IP and put that IP in the DMZ port.