Xbox 360 sending out disruptive 2.4GHz vibes?
By Paul Miller 
posted December 16th 2007 3:15AM
posted December 16th 2007 3:15AM
Details are sketchy at the moment, but some IT folks at Morrisville State College have tracked down a strong and disruptive signal being emitted from Xbox 360s, which messes with WiFi and possibly other 2.4GHz radios such as Bluetooth headsets. The signal is put out even when the console is turned off, as long as it's plugged in, since the 360 is continually looking for controllers to hook up with. Research is ongoing as to how much interference the 360 is actually causing, but apparently the signal is jumping all over the 2.4GHz band. Of course, 2.4GHz devices have always had a bit trouble with interference, but further research will tell if the 360 is taking things too far.[Via Joystiq]
Could this be the reason me any many other ppl have for losing a connection with the ps3 controller? DAMN!
Good thinking! I have disconnect problems and also have a Xbox360. This warrants some experiments and more investigation.
Change the channel on your 802.11 device and see if things improve.
Do the same thing with the video extenders, but I think they have a lot of overlap, so you may not be able to clear it up.
Is there a way (I don't own an xbox) to shut down the wireless radio and go with wired connections? I would think the reason the xbox causes so much interference is because they need to push a lot of timely data from the controllers, so they do. The narrowband power limits are higher than the spread spectrum, but are kept at the bottom of the band to minimize interference.
What ever happened to the 900MHz ISM band? 26MHz of bandwidth, much more potential for working through walls and over some distance (or lower power to get the same effect).
Or should I keep quiet about that?
I can also attest to this problem with the 360. I have a MS Wireless Notebook Mouse 4000, which has been working great ever since I got it. I usually have my Core 360 hooked up to my monitor, but I recently switched to a Halo 3 console.
Whenever the Halo 3 console is plugged in, the mouse hardly works. It bounces around the screen, won't click, and the mouse software thinks the battery is dead. As soon as the console is unplugged, no more problems.
The interesting thing is that I never had problems with my Core system, so there must be something different between the radios in the older Core console and the newer Halo 3 console.
Another reason why I'm glad I use 802.11a for my network, that 5 Ghz band is crystal clear.
Now that I think about it, I was having some problems with my wifi dropping out at random intervals, very annoying, I switched wifi channels and it fixed it, I suppose I might be able to atribute this to my 360...
I use wifi and bluetooth near my 360 every day, no issues noticed
No photchops of the 360 in a tinfoil hat?! You guys are slipping!
I think a worse problem which people don't notice is the high pitched whining noise that it makes...
You don't hear it if in front of the thing or playing games on it, but try being behind a wall that just so happens to have an XBox 360 on the other side. Painful :(
I usually hear the whinning coming from the user instead...
The 360 wireless controller uses the 2.4 band. There 802.11 wireless adapter conntected to the 360 needed some additional information on when the 360 controller interface was going to transmit so it could avoid transmitting at the same time. Several years ago I worked for a 802.11 vendor who was trying to get that business and we had a discussion about their protocol and avoiding interfering with the 360 wireless controllers... I wondered at the time whether they would interfere with other 802.11 networks given that their protocol would just send without a care about other transmitters.
802.11 networks try to do a "listen" before sending to avoid collisions but the wireless controllers sent on their alloted slots without listening... the result is going to be a collision that probably also affects the 360 wireless controller to some extent as well as the 802.11 network.
I have an XBox 360 and a Wii sitting uncomfortably next to each other. The Wifi on the Wii cuts out so bad I had to get the USB Ethernet connector for the Wii.
Who should I blame -- Microsoft for its interference or Nintendo for its inferior WiFi antennne? Or should I just let the conspiracy theorist at Morrisville State College decide?
That's interesting, I have two wireless laptops, a PSP, and a PDA running on my Dlink DIR 655, and not once have I dropped a connection on either devices while the 360 was off or on.
THIS JUST IN, Something might be wrong, but we really don't know if it is yet. SO we thought we'd yell FIRE before we really know.
next...
OMG, Word on the streets, is a recall, certainly in the US, and perhaps globally.
Man as if the RROD fund was not deep enough....
I'll add myself to the list of people with tons of devices and no problems. Xbox360, Wii, 2 bluetooth phones one with wifi, wireless router, computer. I've never even had a problem when the microwave was running. Guess I'm just lucky.
I'll add myself to the list of people with tons of devices and tons of problems. I have a 360, Wii, PS3, computer, laptop and all kinds of issues between them. I've given up on making the 360 and ps3 wireless working correctly and have a line going into the room with them and then a hub. Luckily the Wii only needs its wireless once in a while. When Super Smash Bros Brawl comes out though I have a feeling I'll be purchasing the lan adapter.
The other night I was playing on my 360 and my ps3 would randomly power on, after the 360 was off the ps3 didnt power on for the rest of the night. I recently rearranged the systems to where they are next to each other too. After reading this, I think its related as it has never happened before I placed them together (11+ months).
Wow, this is a late article. I noticed this problem months ago when my laptop dropped it's wireless connection every time I put a controller next to it. its just a little bit of a problem...
I hear the Xbox 360 has a secret built-in camera that feeds live video to the secret underground Microsoft lair. The reason people get the red ring of death is because their 360 caught them masturbating and Microsoft sent the self-destruct sequence to kill the xbox. The initial plan Microsoft had was to make the 360 explode like a fireball and kill it's user in the process, but the FCC discovered found the napalm cartridges in the case and politely asked them to be removed. Once again, the FCC has foiled another one of Microsoft's world domination schemes.
As with many comments on Engadget, some are true, some are BS and others are just made to put down one product or another with the person making the comments not even owning the device in the article or the fanboy of another product. I have the xb360 in a game room in the cellar with a Wii and cordless phone that runs in the same range and have never had a problem. One niche out of the blue story and the boo-berries come out to play. Where were the complaints before? How do we know it is not the other device that is not compliance instead of the Xb360 -- blah! useless story
You have a point there. The 360's been out since 2005, and now is when an article like this surfaces?
I've never had any trouble with my 360 and I'm playing it right ...CARRIER LOST....
Most likely it's a wireless router going bad, or something in that vein since we seem to have reports of issues and reports of no issues. That or people need to learn how to configure their devices better.
So you're saying that if I unplugged my brother-in-law's 360, it would have taken less time to update my sister's Wii? I wish I would have know this yesterday!
well i've actually did a simple experiment with the aid of guinea pigs. you too can try this at home. place the rodent between your wireless controller and the xbox 360. pop in some halo 3 and start playing ranked slayer. it has too be ranked or it wont work. get 20 frags using only your melee attack and watch what happens to the guinea pig. I guarantee that you will see the rat explode instantly before your eyes.
alright, my question is will the fcc do anything when they find out that the xbox 360 violates their rules about ommitting and excepting interference? Well, what exactly can they do? Millions of people probably have them world wide, so theres not much they could do as far as I can see...
I've noticed this too. My wireless router just loses all wireless connection when my 360 is on or has been on. I never had the problem before I got my 360 but since, I have had to constantly reset my router.
well then i guess it was a good idea that I always unplug my 360 when I'm done using it. If the problem gets really serious MS might secretly put a fix in newer 360's like that whole "falcon chip" solution to fix the overheating, that caused everyone to check back in the summer if their 360's had hdmi ports.
Don't worry, it is just E.T. That is phoneing home.
would switching to an N router help at all?
No problems here. I have three 360s in my condo that are always connected to A/C power.. Several bluetooth devices, several wireless G devices, a wireless router, a wireless access point, 2.4Ghhz phone. I have zero problems with anything at 2.4Ghz.
...can we get a "duh!"??
having said that, my ps3, wii, and laptop have no problems with the 360 on/off and all are in the same room. i could imagine it interfering with 2.4gh phones, but that's why i upgraded to Dect 6.0 telephones = no interference on the phone line anymore.
Ive never had any problem with my 360 interfering with any 2.4ghz wireless device in my house...
I could be wrong here, but wouldn't this clearly violate the FCC requirements of non-interference with other devices?
I have problems since December Update. My Znazio Net Media HD that connect to the my home Wifi Network now is not working well, the movies have glitches and stop and run with intervals. I couldnt understand why, now i can understand that is my XBox