GameStop listing points to November 3rd launch, $100 price for 802.11n Xbox 360 adapter
By Donald Melanson 
posted Oct 5th 2009 4:53PM
posted Oct 5th 2009 4:53PM
We already had some indication that Microsoft's new Wireless N adapter for the Xbox 360 would pack the same $100 MSRP as its predecessor, but it looks like a new GameStop listing has now all but confirmed it, and the other big remaining detail: a release date. Unless someone seriously got their wires crossed, it looks like the adapter will start shipping on November 3rd, which we presume is also the date that the MSRP of the previous generation WiFi adapter will officially drop (to $80, last we heard), 'cause GameStop sure isn't going to be moving many of them at the $100 it's asking right now.
[Via Joystiq]
[Via Joystiq]
Just get a damn $3 cable?
Ethernet Cable doesn't solve every situation. What about WiFi Lan parties? What about taking your 360 to a friend's house and not being able to always adapt to ethernet?
WiFi should be BUILT IN. It shouldn't even require an attachment.
If computers can add WiFi built in for $30 why not Microsoft?
They are ripping us off and this report proves it:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Microsoft_Wireless_Adapter_for_Xbox_360/content_481952239236
man that sure is a good "report" aka a review of a product on epinions. that is just funny to me.......
So ballmer, is this the Microsoft tax ?
"Just get a damn $3 cable"
Damn, I never would have thought of that//
You're right, by this point in time the wifi adapter should be built in, but then again it shouldn't. When the 360 was first released it was reasonable that the wifi adapter was seperate for those who wanted it in order to keep the price down. Yes, the Wii and ps3 have it built in, but they were also released a year later. To begin adding wifi doesn't really make sense. It could bring in too much differentiation between the non-wifi systems and the wifi systems and could cause confusion. "What I thought 360s had wifi, mine doesn't have it?!?, Fu** Microsoft!!"
At this point in time Microsoft should wait until their next system to build wifi into the system.
On the other hand, Microsoft charges too much for the wifi adapters. These should be brought down in price. The 802.11g adapters shold be $30 while the 802.11n adapters should be $50.
While I technically could get a cable (it would need to be about 20 or 30 feet long though and i suspect that would be more than 3$) to run from my living room to my computer room where the wireless router is. However first i don't want the cable all over the ground also I don't want to go to the hassle of running it through the walls in my house. Some people in a similar position to me don't even have the option of running it through the walls (I.E. Someone in a apartment or some condos) So I would rather just shell out the no wire fuss tax of $100.00 and get a wireless adapter. But thats just me.
"Report"? Seriously? Apple fanboys are certianly delusional if they think that they can run around calling themselves reporters. Next you will see them running around with fedoras with a little card tucked into the brim with PRESS written on it, trying to make them look like their word is the absolute truth, while anyone disputing them are hate-mongers and trying to destroy the country (hmmm, where have I heard that before?).
Cheap solution:
Get an N WiFi router. Flash with DD-WRT. Set mode from "AP" to "Client". Enter credentials. Plug in 360 to one port using Ethernet Cable. Plug in router. DD-WRT Router connects to the SSID then relays internet to 360. Then you got 360 N wifi without MS N adaptor.
Ok, so I don't have a 360. But I wired a desktop computer that way. So it should work. Ports are forwarded too.
I got Linksys' wireless N gaming adapter the other day on Woot for $35 and it works like a charm. Microsoft can suck it.
"You're right, by this point in time the wifi adapter should be built in, but then again it shouldn't. When the 360 was first released it was reasonable that the wifi adapter was seperate for those who wanted it in order to keep the price down. Yes, the Wii and ps3 have it built in, but they were also released a year later. To begin adding wifi doesn't really make sense. It could bring in too much differentiation between the non-wifi systems and the wifi systems and could cause confusion. "What I thought 360s had wifi, mine doesn't have it?!?, Fu** Microsoft!!"
At this point in time Microsoft should wait until their next system to build wifi into the system.
On the other hand, Microsoft charges too much for the wifi adapters. These should be brought down in price. The 802.11g adapters shold be $30 while the 802.11n adapters should be $50."
That's only true if you believe that individuals can't understand very basic market segmentation or the differences between revised products. If Microsoft bundles Wifi into the Top-shelf model, people will generally understand that one will have built in wifi and one will not. And people will certainly understand that when buying used models, they need to check which model they are getting. According to you, Microsoft shouldn't be selling consoles with different HDD sizes because it will "confuse" customers.
"That's only true if you believe that individuals can't understand very basic market segmentation or the differences between revised products. If Microsoft bundles Wifi into the Top-shelf model, people will generally understand that one will have built in wifi and one will not. And people will certainly understand that when buying used models, they need to check which model they are getting. According to you, Microsoft shouldn't be selling consoles with different HDD sizes because it will "confuse" customers."
You, most assuredly, are wrong. The majority of consumers don't really care about the size of the hard drive, most of them don't store content on their system. All they know is any xbox they buy will play their games. Now consider wifi. Most consumers don't know the difference between g/n. Most consumers don't know to look. You need to think beyond the scope of us here nerds on the Internet reading up on all this stuff. The average consumer walks into a store to buy a system. They see price differences, they buy the cheaper one. We're what, 4 years into the 360s life. Think of all the used systems being sold, do you think the person buying a used system (most likely buying used because it's cheap) is going to look for wifi? Hard drives on the 360 have always been interchangeable, it was designed that way. To change the internal hardware of the system now to a degree that would make that much of a difference to a consumer does not make sense, ecspecially if it's going to keep the price up at a time when we all want price cuts.
Companies DO need to expect consumers not to understand marketing. In fact, that's what marketing is based on.
@Aguiluz
That's the right idea. Anyone who buys Microsoft wifi adapters deserve to be overcharged. There is no reason to buy them when you can buy fully functional routers for a fraction of the price. And Wireless bridges are even cheaper and smaller than routers too. I have a Linksys b/g wireless bridge that ran me around $30 when I bought it. I can use it for other things besides xbox if I wanted to as well.
@Phil
$3.06 for a 30' cable:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10208
cable.
Microsoft is full of crap. Why sell the lower model at 80 dollars. Why not discontinue it and just sell the wireless N adapter white and black then call it a day.
Because most people still use G?
I don't own an XBox 360, but just had the urge to say, "Nice!"
how about build it into your console next time.
If by "Nice!" you mean "Nicely overpriced, like all Microsoft's accessories!", then yes, I agree with you.
at least the hdds are cheap for the 360s...oh...wait...
If you think Microsoft accessories are expensive, then you haven't bought Apple accessories.
Quick question: When was the last time you paid $100.00 for a CONSOLE accessory?
how about a computer accessory?
He's right... Apple and their freakin' Mini-Display Port sells DVI and D-SUB converters for $30 a pop. Not to mention the glorious $70 Mighty Mouse. Thats ridiculous... but at least it's bearable compared to this crap.
I don't get it... couldn't they have made this thing ANY less expensive?! Seriously, I'm sure people won't mind if its not small and looks flush with the console if you can BUMP THE PRICE DOWN. They can't even make the original crap one go down more than $80!?
wow, what a rip,
off
!
I want to take his face... off.
Atleast this one comes in black to match my Elite. I have the original WifiG adapter and it's horrible.. My wifi router is 1 room away and I rarely get half-bars of signal and Netflix HD streaming always goes from max quality to non-HD all the time. I'm expecting this N adapter to fix all wifi quality issues for me.
Well, the N standard is better, not just for speed, but for reliability, so yeah, I assume this will work better, but I would hope for the price, that the older wireless adaptor would work perfectly. I would add some snark about the XBOX brand's reliability, but that's too easy a target.
I'm amazed this kind of thing is so expensive. A wii is only $200... a PS3 is $300 I think. I just can't buy that three of these costs the same to produce as a PS3.
80? i think not. Drop the price down to 30 and then we will talk but i refuse to give MS 70+ dollars in profit on a 80 dollar product. I can buy Windows 7 Pro, an entire OS, upgrade as a student for 30 dollars. Then need to compare that same money and see what else we could be spending it on and then decide how to price it.
Wow, so after all the complaints about the price of the FIRST adapter, Microsoft STILL prices this way more expensive than it should be?
LOL, way to listen to the consumers!
Bargain!!! i will take 5. How on earth do they figure it's worth that. Why not make it built in like everyone else!
Because they can charge 100$ on their proprietary shite only when normal usb-dongles wont work.
BULLSH!T
100-f*cking-dollars??!!
Go die, Microsoft.
hmm might get this. I need an N adapter and was going to get a bridge.. but frankly I'd prefer a plugin version which doesn't need another plug. However the 54G one I had previously was crap. Hopefully the N version will be better?
$100? Surely that is a typo and an extra $0 was mistakenly added. Who the hell does Microsoft think it is... Apple?
or you could buy a linksys wrt54g install tomato or ddwrt on it and turn it into a wifi receiver for 40 dollars. Works like a charm on my 360, most people don't want to put their cable modems in the living room. Any reason why MS didn't build one of these into the elite versions?
except your average user probably doesnt know how to do all of that
Microsoft can think of about 100 reasons not to build this into their game machines.
Exactly.
Why do complain and then run out to their nearest electronics store to buy the item?
No modern company gives a flying flip about what you say on the internet, if you want to make a statement, stop using the service or (in this case) buying the product. Start speaking with your wallets people!
Microsoft can think of about 100 reasons not to build this into their game machines.
I see what you did there.
This is my exact set up... I used the dd-wrt. Works like a charm. Not to mention I had the WRT54G laying around, so it was free to do.
Here's the instructions I used:
http://fonerahacks.com/index.php/Tutorials-and-Guides/Xbox-360-Wireless-Adapter-Using-the-La-Fonera.html
There's a lot of them out there, I tried probably 3 others before this one. This is the only one that worked for me.
Or you could just use your laptop, plug the xbox straight into your laptop and share your wireless connnection on your laptop with the LAN port.
Taa daa. No need to spend a crazy amount of money for a stupid wifi adapter.
except that's not "N" is it? the little letter "N" makes everything more expensive in the wireless front. I do agree that $100 for just a USB wireless doggle was outrageous. Even Apple's Airport Express "n" mini router is $99 and you could add a cheap switch to connect your whole entertainment center.
"Or you could just use your laptop..."
Yeah, I do this when I visit my mom.
Just have to make sure you purchase a Crossover cable, then simple share you wireless connection.
You have to do a bunch of other steps (bridging...etc) if you don't have a crossover.
For pete's sake! You can buy a wifi dongle for $15!
WiFi dongles don't work on the 360. They are programmed to prevent it. The wifi adapter also won't work with a PC.
http://www.epinions.com/review/Sony_PSPgo_16_GB_Black_Console/content_487177293444
You can buy a crappy* wifi dongle for $15!
*There fixed it for ya. I agree completely that $100 is too expensive(though this is a dual band wireless n one, which should count for something) and the $80 is just a complete and total ripoff, but those $15 wireless n dongles are complete pieces of crap which, if you're lucky, might last a week before dying completely.
I've got a belkin one that was a little more expensive than that (come down in price now though) that's lasted years.
@quantumphysics
Seriously, one epinion link is too much, but two in one article?
has nothing to do with the xbox 360 preventing them from working, its because those adapters require drivers so the 360 doesnt recognize the devices, it has to be self contained bridge solution. there are gaming adapters which are wifi bridges which work fine with 360.
thats the thing you just bash on a console that you know little about and have no intention on buying why even talk other than showing off your obvious fanboy zeal intentions.
engadjet show
the times square electronic publicity is running with windows xp no w7 or mac.
dammmmmm , the guy that make them as a iphone im sure.
You'd think from the comments here that this announcement is somehow shocking or surprising, and Microsoft hasn't actually been selling WiFi adapters for $100 for the last 4 years. Yes it's overpriced. Yes it's annoying. But Microsoft has stated from even before they launched the Xbox 360 that they considered peripherals to be a profit center for them. No matter how much people on the Internets whine and complain, they're not going to change it.
come on balmer even the wii has Wifi there is no excuse why the 360 shouldnt have it Get it together MS!
Similar Dual-Band 802.11n adapters can go for $80+. Sure you can get a crappy wifi dongle for $15 but its, crap. They're not all equal. I still think it's priced high, but comparing it to a $15 adapter is misleading.
The original G adapter was worth about $15. I opened mine up the other day and the chipset isn't Broadcom or Atheros, or any other decent wifi make, it's made by Marvel. And get this, the "antenna" is a wire cellotaped to a piece of drinking straw!
There's nothing wrong with Marvell.
it's not as good as br/ath and you can get the same chipset on an adapter for $10. I'm guessing you think theres nothing wrong with a piece of wire taped to a straw either...
Screw the adapter if you already have and Apple Airport Extreme, buy the Airport Express and use it in network bridge mode. Now your 360 is on the net and you can stream your iTunes over your receiver.
Or take a $15 router and put dd-wrt on it, and put it in bridge mode. Or use the wireless adapter from the old Xbox.
Uh the problem with this adapter is its price. The Airport Express you just said to buy retails for the same $100. The music streaming capabilities of the Express don't help since the 360 can do that. Your solution is different but not better.
Does Xbox Live still cost 50 bucks a year to unlock the Multiplayer portion of games that you buy, basically making most games you buy costing 50 bucks more?
Now pay 100 bucks for Wireless N (When G could actually be good enough for you. Though N is quite useful for streaming media from your own Home Server.)
How much does it really cost to own an Xbox 360?
Wait... hold on. You're being very misleading.
First, the Live service is two tiers. The lower tier, Silver, is free. The upper tier, Gold, is MSRP $50/yr, but you can get the 12+1 month cards online frequently for around $40. I got my last one for $38 from New Egg. If you break it down, that's just under $3/mo. Pretty sure that doesn't break the bank.
Second, you do not need Live service to unlock any multiplayer stuff; you need it if you want to play online and get game updates. Big difference. Your friends can still come over and rock a game of Madden.
G good enough? Maybe. But, keep in mind that MS is positioning themselves for more entertainment venues, such as instant HD movie streaming, so bandwidth increases are a good thing. That said, I think it's smart of them to offer a higher bandwidth option.
Lastly, your math. $50 per game. OK, that's fine... many cases, it's $60. But tacking on $50 per game to subscribe to Live? Really? I guess, if you buy one game per year, and pay MSRP for Live, maybe you could see it that way, but other than that, a once per year fee of $40-50 for a really well sorted subscription service does not tack $50 on to each game you buy. Epic fail on that argument.
I certainly will not disagree that I think this, and the current, wireless adapters are overpriced, but if you're going to present an argument against the service, at least be logical and reasonable about it. To do otherwise is only doing yourself a disservice.
Now, is the service WORTH $40-50/year? That all depends on your use. For me, absolutely. I love it, and I've been with it since the beginning. I also used to play MMORPGs, which cost something like $13/mo, so $38/13 mos is a welcomed change for me. I love being able to sit down on a Sunday afternoon and "hang out" with my friends, who are scattered all over the country, and play a game or two while catching up with them. "But you can do that for FREE on the PS3!!!!!1!" Yes, you can... IF everyone involved has a PS3, which most of my friends don't because, until very recently, they were beyond affordable. FWIW, I've got PS3, 360, and Wii, and I find myself on the 360 nearly daily.
Thankfully, I have my 360 networked via cable, so none of this crazy pricing on the peripherals affects me. If I didn't, I'd be doing the router solution as opposed to buying this, I think.
$100! How does the Xbox team sleep at night with that kind of robbery on their conscience? Probably on a bed of money I guess.
It's not robbery. No one's forcing you to buy it.
Hey, everybody.
How about no one buy it?
If no one buys it, then they have to lower the price.
If this was $50-$60, I'd consider it.
I really don't need it since I use an Ethernet cable anyways.
and another one bites the dust.....
What's the point of the wireless N adapter? I'm sure it isn't for games, because the internet connection of residential broadband almost always comes in well below even wireless G throughput limits.
HD streams should also be possible with wireless G, though you'd be starting to tax the limits of the network at that point depending on the compression.
So what is the big advantage of the adapter according to those considering the purchase?
There's a big difference between maximum throughput (which they advertise) and actual experienced throughput. Also, connection quality of 802.11G drops off precipitously after about 20ft from the router. So even though 802.11G's max throughput is greater than what you get on your Cable modem, it's still probably bottle-necking certain high bandwidth traffic. 802.11 increases throughput approximately 6-fold over 802.11G and doubles the range over 802.11G. Also, most 802.11N routers feature QoS which prioritizes real time traffic like online gaming and VOIP over other traffic on the network. Most people should see a pretty good bump in the quality of their connections with 802.11N.
Matt, I understand your point, but I'm referring to even real-world throughput numbers. You should certainly be able to get the most of your internet connection, even with G, and even be able to stream HD as long as you're not doing much else.
The range argument makes sense, though I still say that it would be tough to justify a real-world need for the adapter. I have an dual-band N network in my home, but the only real-world advantage I see is file transfer speed if I'm moving gigs of data. Streaming worked fine with G and there wasn't any device whose internet connection suffered for exhaustion of wireless bandwidth.
360s don't even have built-in wi-fi? How the heck can owners claim it's better than the PS3? There are so many things just wrong with it!
Well for one it doesn't have a controller shaped like a dlido...
Two it has a lot more good games...
Three it costs a lot less...
1. Pic for proof?
2. The PS3 has many more higher-rated games than the 360 (just look at gamespot for example)
3. Recent PS3 price-drop? Blu-ray player included for free? Hello?
Wireless bridges are about 4 times cheaper and do the same thing. Why do people still buy this shit?
Dam, how can an iphone get built in wifi and this bigass shit cant?
just get a PS3 for 200 dollars more and u have ur self a REAL Entertainment system.
This is stupid. Microsoft to offset not including wireless you should offer these like candy... CHEAP!!! xbox live is the money maker not hardware you stupid bald headed jerk. enable people whichever way you can to get on xbox live. Geez the next thing you know you will be charging big money for hard drives. OH WAIT WTF!? again hardware aint the money maker... the software right.
Just move your wireless router closer to your 360 and hardwire into it. Not very hard to do if you have DSL and several phone jacks... Feature should be standard though. My toaster has WiFi.
LOL you guys think MS is dumb. This is how it works.
Some of you think the prices are a rip off and thusly refuse to by the product. The MS bean counters however have sufficient evidence that there's plenty of core gamers and new console owners that must have the latest and greatest for their system. Enough to be profitable at the $100 pricepoint. It IS the newest technology after all.
If the RRe74 errors didn't scare anyone, what's an $100 adapter going to do? In fact every piecemeal part of the experience added together greatly exceeds the costs of similarly equipped competitive devices. Fanboys label that distinction as choice and looking out for the consumer. It just also happens to lookout for MS' bottom line as well. This is self evident is it not? Or have we just now reached a magical threshold where people see the price gougery for what it is?
Kinda pricey... Microsoft always gets our money.
But, do you think it's worth it?
Does it come with a tube of lubricant?
Well, the upside to this is currently the Xbox 360 will be the only console to officially support wireless n. You could always get a third party bridge though.
Does it support WPA2?
For this to work you need a N router and no other G devices connected to said router correct? Otherwise you would still be getting 802.11g speeds? I thought the routers defaulted to the slowest speed of any connected wifi device.
drop another 100, i'll go get a PS3 with wifi :P
for gaming wifi is downgrade from a wireless connection so why are people so adamant on having wifi on their consoles.
Quantumphysics:
You can't upgrade the built-in wifi on the PS3. If you wanted N spec, you would have to wait for Sony to include it, and you would have to buy a brand new PS3.
Galley: No that would be Sony.
what a waste of money
if this was Apple or Sony selling this for $100 ...
So the PS3 is $300 and has blue ray player, built in wifi and free online play. The Xbox 360 is $250 plus 150 for a standalone blu ray player, $100 for a wifi adapter and $50 online a year. Hmm which one is the better deal.... decisions decisions.
derrik: Like I said before, you can't upgrade something thats built in.
1. I don't need a Blu-ray player yet, thanks. That's $150 saved.
2. I don't need a Wi-Fi adapter. I use Ethernet. That's $100 saved.
3. I don't pay $50 a year. I bought my year subscription for $29.99 on sale. Most people do. That's $20 saved.
4. PS3 has WiFi, Blu-ray, and free PSN, but has crap games. Xbox 360 has a ton of good titles. Hmm... Which one is the better deal? The one that lets me play all the games I like, or the one that is essentially an expensive Blu-ray player that has a couple decent games?
I had a PS3 (80GB with BC) and sold it because it was BORING and PSN was full of obnoxious idiots. It's worth the near-$2 a month for me to have XBox Live Gold, and avoid bratty kids.
It's also nice that on the Xbox 360 I get DLC for games like Oblivion and GTA IV, while the PS3 never, ever sees that content. But hey! The PS3 lets you play 15-year-old PS1 games, and they only cost 75% of what they did 15 years ago!
i'm not sure what the effect of paying for online multiplayer is but if people have to pay imo i would think they'll be much less likely to grief people since bad feedback will cause temp/perm bans on that account. ps3 you can simply make a new account and grief to your hearts desire.
this has just made me want to spend the $20 and 2 hours to wire up my house with ethernet cable before i even touch microsoft wireless.
congrats microsoft on pricing out another customer.
yea PS3 it is.
I can afford this nickel and dime shit MS pulls.
Why doesnt Sony make a commercial listing all the extra shit MS makes you buy to equal their system?