Question: Can connect to XBox live using my iPhone’s data-plan?
Answer: Yes. (If you don’t want to read my schmaltzy backstory, skip to “Directions” below).
For the record, I’m a geek. Not a nerd. Geeks make more money than nerds.
My biggest tech woe is that I live in the sticks. For those geeks not familiar with living on a one-lane dirt road 20 minutes from civilization, it means wire will never be run to your home for internet unless you’re willing to pay a $26,000+ install fee (my most recent quote from a mega-ISP).
As a result, we’ve tried everything under the sun. And I mean that. Satellites are the most common solution. But their weather-related finickiness combined with their outrageously low bandwidth allowances make it only slightly better than an internet dial-up connection. And for 100 times the money. Then there was Verizon’s nice USB stick option, which we tried. Until my first bill came back at $400 for exceeding the 4Gb monthly allowance.
Enter the iPhone.
While I wasn’t as open with discussing jailbreaking the iPhone before it became legal, I now see it as a more than viable option for bringing home internet capabilities to those of us “less-fortunate” in the sticks. A recent boost by AT&T to our local tower now feeds me a steady full-bar stream of 3G anywhere in my house. MyWi has become arguably my second most favored app (right after HeyTell). Now our little home in the middle of nowhere has beautiful wifi for all of our computers.
Except one. The only PC I own: XBox.
Before we moved to northern NY I had a sweet wireless router that I used for my Xbox. But now that my internet is provided by my iPhone, how do I get them to talk? The first trick is that you need a computer to act as a router. My directions are all for Macs, but the same principle will work for you PC users. (A big thanks to MacCheeta3 who’s 2007 directions I’ve modified below).
Directions:
While plugging in an XBox to your Mac’s ethernet port and pointing it to “share” your AirPort or USB internet connection might seem easy enough, the XBox 360 won’t dynamically take an IP from a Mac using Internet Sharing, so it must be static (Manual).
Any IP ranges using the 10.0.x.x or 192.168.x.x ranges will work. It’s best if you don’t use the same IP range as your router. If your router has an IP of 192.168.1.1 use a 10.0.x.x range and vice versa. I’ll use the 10.0.0.x range for example.
Mac OS X
1) Apple>System Preferences>Network>Ethernet>Advanced>TCP/IP
2) Set Configure IPv4: to Manually
- Set IP Address: to 10.0.0.1
- Set Subnet Mask: to 255.255.255.0
3) Apple>System Preferences>Sharing>Internet Sharing (don’t toggle on the field yet, just highlight the region)
4) Set: Share your connection from: to Airport
- Set: To computers using: to Ethernet
- Now click toggle on the Internet Sharing field, and click Start when prompted
XBox 360
1) While in the Dashboard, navigate to the System blade
2) Network Settings>Edit Settings>IP Settings>Manual
3) Set IP Address to 10.0.0.2 – The first three segments (ie 10.0.0) will need to match what you set in step #2 of the Mac OS X section
- Set Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.0
- Set Gateway to 10.0.0.1 – what you set in step #2 under the Mac OS X section
- Click Done
4) Go to DNS Settings
- Set Primary to your router (iPhone). You can find your router’s IP by going to your MacBook and to: Apple>System Preferences>Network>Airport>TCP/IP.
-Leave the Secondary blank.
-Click “B” for back. Everything will save automatically. Now “Test Your Connection” to XBox Live.
Hope that helped! If you’re a PC user and want to list or link instructions below, I’ll gladly approve your comment.
Happy gaming fellow geeks! ch:
