I have the 150 mbps plan using ethernet and use a wired connection
after playing around with the routers settings for a couple of weeks I was able to drastically improve my connection for xbox live (specifically Black Ops).
1. set up a static ip address and change the DNS Servers. to do this go to the routers settings website
then go to My Network
then go to Network Connections on the left
then go to Network (Home/Office)
then click settings at the bottom
scroll down to "End IP Adress and change the last number to 200
while you are here go to DNS Server and select No DNS Server
click apply to finalize the change
Next at the Network Connections screen click on Broadband Connection (Ethernet) or (Coax) whichever one says connected
Go to settings
Scroll down to DNS Servers and select "Use the following DNS server addresses"
then enter new dns addresses (search online for better numbers to use there is a program called "namebench" that i found usefull for this.
next turn on your xbox and go to network settings and enter a manual ip adress with the last number being anything above 200 on my xbox the ip address is 192.168.1.201 the first three numbers depend on the routers ip address and will be the same for every device connected to the router. (this will automatically make the router use that ip address and it will never change because the router will never automatically give out an ip adress with the last number more than 200)
also manually enter the dns addresses that you are using
2. i recommend setting your xbox as the DMZ Host
just go to firewall settings and click DMZ Host on the left and enter the ip adress of the xbox
Warning: this puts the dmz host outside of the firewall doing this with a computer would be dangerous but i see no reason why someone would hack an xbox, i have never heard of it happening.
3. Next set up port forwarding for xbox live forward (this may be redundant if you set up DMZ but i don't believe it can hurt)
make sure you use the ip adress that you gave to your xbox
3074 UDP and TCP
53 UDP and TCP
80 TCP
88 UDP
4. Set up Quality of Service rules (QoS) (this was the hardest part for me to figure out but can make the biggest difference depending on your plan and the use of your plan. roommates downloading porn will no longer lag your game
Click Advanced at the top
then click Quality of Service (QoS)
then click traffic shaping on the left
then click Add
Tx Bandwidth: select specify and don't change the numbers
TCP Serialization: Enabled
Maximum Delay: 5 ms
Queue Policy: Class Based
Click add
Name: xbox or whatever you want
Class Priority: 0 (Highest)
Bandwidth: Maximum: Unlimited
Policy: Priority
Rx Traffic Policing
Rx Bandwidth: Unlimited
click Add
Name: xbox
Bandwidth: Unlimited
click Apply as always then click Apply again untill you can select Traffic Priority on the left menu
On the traffic priority screen
For QoS Input Rules
For Network (Home/Office) Rules click Add
Source Address: Any
Destination Address: your xbox IP address
Protocol: Any
DSCP: Checked then input 2E and leave Mask as 3F
Priority: unchecked
Length: unchecked
Set DSCP: checked then select Specify instead of Automatic and input 2E and leave mask as 3F
Set Priority: unchecked
Set Rx Class Name: Checked and select the Rx class that you created earlier
Set Tx Class Name: checked and select the class you made
Apply Qos on: Connection
Logging: i recommend unchecked i would also suggest turning all logging off
clck apply
Next do the same thing for Qos Output Rules
except set the Source adress to the xbox Ip address and leave the destination address as any
make sure you click apply enough times until the screen no longer changes or you may lose changes
5. and finally reset the router and the xbox
If you are connecting wirelessly I would recommend clicking Wireless at the top
then Advanced Security Settings on the left
scroll down and click on "802.11b/g/n Mode"
and change the mode to Performance Mode (802.11n) if you have the n wireless adapter and don't have any defices that can't use n mode.
or legacy mode (802.11b/g) if you have the g wireless adapter
if you don't have the n adapter i would recommend getting it
Everything in my apartment supports n so using performance mode makes a differenc if you can use it
and hopefully you will notice a drastic improvement of xbox live play
I am not a network guru or anything so if anyone knows of anyway to improve on this please post it so that others can enjoy a better connection as well. It helps everyone as playing people with bad connections can degrade your experience as well
