- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
First off, let me start by not getting kicked off. I do NOT condone the modding of your xbox. The only xboxes with those capabilities should be dev kits. I say this -
1) because it infringes on copyright laws and the rightful income of many hardworking bungie employees (slurp slurp suck) 2) I work in a store that sells xboxes and all the associated merchandise. If you people don't buy, I don't make any money either :( and 3) Xbox Live will not work with a modded xbox. Mine is not modded, and I love it.
Nuff said on that for now.
My information comes from my experience as software manager for an A$11 million per year computer store, discussions with the Microsoft and Xbox reps, and what I have picked up during that time. If you find any of it in error, please use the forum nicely to bring it to my attention, and i will edit it. I am in Australia so I can't guarantee 100% correctness in other parts of the world. Keep it in mind please
ADSL. Obviously necessary for Live play, but what speed? Most ADSL providers will have a starting point at 256Kb download / 64 Kb upload speeds. Fine for the pc and your downloads etc, but Live requires a 256Kb download / 128 upload speed (for hosting). Oops, nobody offers those speeds. The next one up is 512/128! This is more expensive. Take this into account when planning your finances.
My advice : shop around. And for god's sake take notes! It's confusing enough without having to explain to every salesperson what you want, what companies you've spoken to and the salesperson's name! Find a good price, then ring them all again and see what they will all do to beat each other's prices. Then take a note of those prices and do it all again. And again and again! I'm saving like A$35 PER MONTH because my provider WANTED MY BUSINESS!! Remember, they are there to provide you with a service. No-one is forcing you to take their offer and no-one elses.
DOWNLOAD LIMIT Xbox Live needs about 500Mb a month, assuming about an hour a day's use over a month (That's about 30 hours a month people. Much more, of course, will be needed around mid-November) Also keep in mind that you may want to get a router and share your internet connection with your pc. The pc also goes towards that download limit. Factor that in! A lot of people use the pc more than their xbox, plus other people in the house may also use the connection. I've got only me and my girlfriend, i check my emails and bungie.net, and do a bit of general surfing, she checks ebay and surfs, and we do some general downloads etc. We Have 3 Gb a month, and we have scraped it in the past. If you use a bit more heavily, consider more of a limit, like maybe 5 Gb a month.
PLANS Some ISP's will get you to sign up for a certain time period. But sometimes market pressure will force down prices anyway. Try to negotiate shorter terms or maybe the ability to have your price drop in line with their own price drops. A 24 month plan is no good if standard price is less than you're paying 6 months after you sign up.
LIVE I can only say well worth it. Keep in mind that you will require a credit card to sign up, and many stores will not return a serialised piece of software, especially once you have scratched off the cover on the code, so make sure you can use a card before you buy it. If this means asking your parents first, bloody well do it. Trying to return these things is well-nigh impossible, because the stores have trouble returning the stock to suppliers, so are very reluctant to give you your money back.
MODS [edit by moderator]NO discussion of Xbox mods is allowed on bungie.net, of ANY kind.
Anyway, I hope I have helped some of you dial-uppers out there, and again, if I am wrong on any of this, let me know and I will fix it.
Feel free to chat about any of it
XBL - Flatmeat
[Edited on 7/31/2004 11:13:10 AM by Achronos]