i realllllly want xbox live (but i dont have an xbox). I'm thinking seriously about purchasing an xbox with the xbox live starter kit and a few live games. but i need to know something. if i buy this adapter, what else do i need? if my computer is upstairs and the xbox will be downstairs, do i need this and a wireless router and an adapter for the pc? or just this and a router? or just this? or something more? PLEASE answer my question, it could mean you have a new competitor on xbox live.

I was skeptical at first about this, seeing as how I had never gone wireless before. However, this adapter really works and there is not a spot of lag. Actually, I was having more lag problems when I was directly connected to a modem.

Linksys offers an alternative to this called a game adapter. It is the same price and I imagine that it works just as well. Don't make the mistake of trying to save money and buying another router or an access point, it won't work.

We recently relocated my son's X-box paraphernellia to a kids-only area in our basement. This has been a great arrangement for everyone except we were unable to let him use the family Internet connection anymore to play his X-box games online. Well we could have strung ethernet cable from one end of the house to the other, but that wasn't an option.

Enter the X-Box Wireless G Adapter.

Well, actually, first came the the Lyksys Wireless B game adapter ($63.53, Wal Mart), which did not work after hours of goofing around with configuration, numerous calls to their outsourced tech support in New Delhi and a royal headache. Although I suspect that it could have worked with the right techno incantations, I finaly realized that saving a few bucks was not worth all the time. I took it back and ordered the Mirosoft adapter ($99.99, Game Spot, via Amazon, $7.49 S&H) and made myself at home in the age of wireless.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this thing is ridiculously easy to set up. I just plugged it in, it detected my wireless network, IP adresses and all that rigamorole and TA DAH. My son says he experiences no lag and the connection is totally reliable and I've not noticed any problems using the Internet while my son is playing on line.

For you gear heads here. My service provider (QWEST) offers a wireless broadcasting DSL modem (basically it acts as a wireles router would). All I had to do was get into the hood and turn the wireless mode on and set up a 64-bit (or 128-bit) WEP key, which already had done while I was futily trying to get the Linksys adapter to work. Security options on the X-box interface were easy to find and after I typed in the WEP key, the X-box (or the adapter) did all the rest.

You'll save a lot of time and headaches just going with the Microsoft gear in this case.