By: Blake

If you have an XBox and you like to play online then you will want an (open) Internet connection. This type of connection will make playing online much more enjoyable than if your connection is on (moderate) or (severe). Having an open connection will let you play with any one and will not restrictwho you can play with like the other connection types. It will also make finding a match in games like Halo, Call of Duty and other shooters quicker because you are not limited to who you can connect with.

I have always had problems with my connection to XBox live. I would normally play online with one of my friends that live down the street and certain games would not let us play together online. This was the case when Halo 3 came out. We could not connect with each other because my connection was set to moderate instead of open. I decided to call XBox live support to see if they could help me. The person told me that I had to change the port forwarding on my router to allow the necessary ports to be open to the XBox live server. He asked me what type of router I have and I told them, Verizon ActionTec. He told me that he didn’t know how to change the port forwarding for the model I had, but he did for a different model -_-. Long story short he told me that he couldn’t help me and that I should call Verizon to see if they could help. I called them and the person I talked to had no idea what I was talking about, so I figured that I would figure it out myself.

The first thing I found out is that the universal plug and play should be enabled. This is the easiest fix if you have a problem so try this first. To enable this option you have to log in to your router from the Internet. Just type in your ip address into the address bar (ex. 192.168.1.1). After you do that you have to enter a user name and password. These are universal unless you change them. Your user name should be (admin) and your password should be either (password) or (password1). After you log in you should see a control panel. At the top click (Advanced) and then click yes when it asks if you want to proceed. Then click (universal plug and play) and make sure that the (Allow Other Network Users to Control Wireless Broadband Router’s Network Features) check box is checked. Once you do that click apply and your finished. Turn on your XBox and run a test to see if your connection type is now open, if not there is something else to try.

Open the necessary ports that XBox live requires to work properly. I found a site that explains in detal how to do this. This site also has a guide for many routers so all you have to do is find your router and select the game you want to open ports for.  Click here to check out this site.

If you are tired of waiting forever to get a match in Halo or not being able to hear certain people online, then fix the problem. After I did the port forwarding I was able to play with my friend and I am able to find matches in Halo 3 much faster. If you are going to play games online it is worth while to open your ports.

 

Here is a router made specifically for gaming.