MS confirms new 360 wireless dongle

By Robert Purchese Published 22 September, 2009

"Another choice". More details "soon".

Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a new and improved Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter.

This has two antennae and the latest 802.11n technology, which you'll need if you plan to stream 1080p videos when the Zune video service launches later this year.

MS told Joystiq that the new adapter represents "another choice" for consumers. That suggests the £50 single-pronged dongle will live on.

More importantly, MS made no mention of price nor date, but said more information will be released "soon".

We spotted the double-antennae adapter in an FCC filing earlier this month. The same device was later seen on marketing material inside the Italian Gears of War 2 box.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DB2k #1 3 years ago

    hmm... I think I want this... the current one was useless 9for me) reception was very poor. But hopefully a dual antenna n series will sort this out.

  • RedPanda #2 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • locus2k1 #3 3 years ago

    not looking forward to seeing it's RRP... I guess I can sell the old one to help finance it.

  • ps3owner #4 3 years ago

    all this streaming in 1080p. I need to switch ISPs, Virgin will just shut the door. or upgrade to fibre...

  • wizlon #5 3 years ago

    If Microsoft are planning on repeating themselves then they'll 'price cut' the old adapter up to £70 and sell the new one for £90. Ah, Microsoft, and your crazy price tweaking.

  • Colin8703 #6 3 years ago

    The price of this should be the same or less and I'm interested more from a signal standpoint that N provides.

    I will also be selling my old one to put towards this but agree that even if it ends up being £50, it will still be a rip off.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #7 3 years ago

    At the risk of being flamed, or worse neg. rep'd, I gotta say a wi-fi adapter should be part of the core console from the start. Why not have it built in to the xbox? Its kinda funny how my Wii and PS3 just hop onto my LAN without any extra paid-for adapters but the Xbox is stuck with RJ45.

  • Steroyd #8 3 years ago

    I don't understand it either, Nintendo built the Wii from the ground up to be as cheap as possible, yet a built in Wifi adaptor still managed to find its way into the specs.

  • Negotiator #9 3 years ago

    Why would anyone have wireless when wired is so much faster.

  • Chaser #10 3 years ago

    TBH the current wireless adapter is about as much use as a wet paper bag. Just by a pair of homeplugs, much better, much faster and a bit cheaper.

  • Stu #11 3 years ago

    Hopefully this will see a price cut for the current one. £50, plus the £35 for Live membership, is a massive barrier to entry for most. I think half of my mates would be up for paying to get XBL if it wasn't for having to stump up not far off £100 for the privilege...

  • Peew971 #12 3 years ago

    Another vote for homeplugs, cheaper and much more reliable than WiFi

  • GamerG #13 3 years ago

    I cant believe people use wireless for gaming, wireless is supposed to be used for internet surfing and little more

  • superdelphinus #14 3 years ago

    if you play ashes 2009 on Live you'll believe people use wireless

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #15 3 years ago

    i use wireless for gaming and i have had no problems at all.

  • mkreku #16 3 years ago

    I can't believe the wi-fi adapter Microsoft charges £50 for didn't already include n-technology (or draft-n, in this case). I always assumed it did.

  • RexRunti #17 3 years ago

    I know that people complain about the lack of Wi-Fi in the XBox but I think it's worse that Nintendo didn't put an ethernet port in the Wii, because quite frankly Wi-Fi sucks for gaming and worse still the only encryption method you could use was WEP which is about as secure as Lindsely Lohan's underwear. At least with an ethernet port you can plug into a wireless router or a network over mains adapter if you need to.

    Of course they're original dongel was way over priced.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #18 3 years ago

    I use wifi exclusively for gaming, streaming audio and video over my LAN and surfing the net/downloading large files. Never had a problem with speed and certainly haven't had any issues with gaming over wifi.

    Do people that complain about wifi being slow have problems configuring their routers or have a crappy ISP connection?

  • Widge #19 3 years ago

    Same here, wireless gaming is fine.
    I'm actually coming around to wifi via dongle as it is upgradable. I think Sony should look at that really.

    I DO think it should be a standard bundled item though, even if its the lower grade one.

  • FooAtari #20 3 years ago

    Why would anyone have wireless when wired is so much faster.

    +1 Wires running under the carpet all the way.

    I use wireless for my laptop

    But both Wireless and Homeplug added at least 10m/s to latency in games. Both my PS3 and two PC's are connected via wires. Superior to wireless for both gaming, video streaming and remote control of PC's

  • Steroyd #21 3 years ago

    Why would anyone have wireless when wired is so much faster.

    In my case the distance between my PS3 and my router is 2 floors away.

  • Collymilad #22 3 years ago

    You'll never get as good a connection on Wifi. If you really care about ping times you use wired.

    Many people I know have gone from wireless back to wired because of lag/annoyances.

  • Cider-X #23 3 years ago

    If this finally allows me to stream TV from my htpc to the bedroom 360 then count me in! It's impossible with the current adapter, it's much too unstable.

  • JensonJet #24 3 years ago

    Wireless gaming! I seriously never thought I'd hear anyone suggest it's even worth trying. What next? Plug your console into an old black and white portable TV (because it's not that important to see what's happening on screen!), or turning the sound off (as that's only a distraction while listening to music!). Wireless gamers must be the complete opposite of hardcore or competitive gamers.

  • The_Programmer #25 3 years ago

    Why would anyone have wireless when wired is so much faster.

    In my case the distance between my PS3 and my router is 2 floors away.

    If you're that far away & through 2 floors then wired will be much better. The speed of your wireless must be quite slow. You'd better hope that no one else near you has wireless or you could suffer even more.

  • jambo74 #26 3 years ago

    Zune HD not in the UK - FAIL

  • monkeywithnoeyes #27 3 years ago

    are they going to drop the price of the existing wireless adapter? or give us another choice on which one we want to get ripped off on the most?

  • Ringot #28 3 years ago

    We spotted the double-antennae adapter
    No you didn't, you reported on it, from gizmodo.

  • bioreit #29 3 years ago

    @all the peeps decrying wireless gaming

    If someone's Internet is only up to 8 meg, then wifi connections will be fine for a huge majority of people, as a wifi connection would have to be seriously crappy to dip below 8mbps! If you're only a couple of rooms or a couple of floors away, wifi can be perfectly fine (as long as your router's up to providing a decent signal). I'm on an up to 24 meg line from Be* (although I only get about 14-16) and I use wifi and have never had any lag or latency issues. In fact, this weekend had a couple of mates round and they hooked their 360s into the router via cable, I still used wireless - so 3 consoles sharing a 24 meg line. No lag or latency for any of us, with hosting rotating fairly evenly between our consoles in CoD4 (hosting Xbox Live ranked matches, that is, not LAN games).

    And routing cables isn't always a valid option - Wife Acceptance Factor is a constant headache for several of my friends and like many others, I live in rented accomodation that is very unfriendly to routing new wiring (seeing as the house was built circa 1450, can't exactly drill some holes and re-apply the lime plaster!).

    Microsoft need to make this new one cheaper - I only bought my wifi adaptor because it was dirt cheap from Zavvi in its final death throes. £40 tops for the N and drop the B/G/A one to £20 and they'd still make plenty but make most folk happy. Doubt it'll happen though (predict £60 for the new one, £40-45 for the old one).
    Edited by bioreit at 22/09/09 @ 12:10

  • miiiguel #30 3 years ago

    "Zune HD not in the Europe - FAIL"

    "360 video player doesn't support sub-titles - FAIL"

  • canIdoyabombsforya #31 3 years ago

    wizlon
    "If Microsoft are planning on repeating themselves then they'll 'price cut' the old adapter up to £70 and sell the new one for £90. Ah, Microsoft, and your crazy price tweaking"

    Are gamers really this stupid?
    You were sold a $500 console for $299 and expected Microsoft to keep making a loss?

  • canIdoyabombsforya #32 3 years ago

    "And routing cables isn't always a valid option - Wife Acceptance Factor is a constant headache for several of my friends and like many others, I live in rented accomodation that is very unfriendly to routing new wiring (seeing as the house was built circa 1450, can't exactly drill some holes and re-apply the lime plaster!)."

    Ask your landlord if you can have a router fitted behind the TV, like most sensible houses have. Or if you're that obsessed, make sure the next rental accommodation you look at caters for modern and future appliances.
    My own house has cable TV and modems installed... yes you guessed it, behind the TV. There is actually a plastic conduit outside from the road that could be rerouted to any room if I chose.
    The computer room was wired exactly like my grandparents did it for telephone, flat cable run under the edge of the carpet through two rooms.
    Mobile devices use wirelss, because err.. they're wireless themselves. My Xbox 360 has been stood in the same place for nearly 4 years.
    For anyone who hasn't ripped up their laminate or wooden floors yet, you might find the skirting boards are removable if it was done properly. It really isnt difficult to hardwire a house for faster, reliable and interference free connections.
    Edited by canIdoyabombsforya at 22/09/09 @ 12:39

  • bioreit #33 3 years ago

    @canIdoyabpmbsforya

    "Ask your landlord if you can have a router fitted behind the TV, like most sensible houses have. Or if you're that obsessed, make sure the next rental accommodation you look at caters for modern and future appliances.
    My own house has cable TV and modems installed... yes you guessed it, behind the TV. There is actually a plastic conduit outside from the road that could be rerouted to any room if I chose.
    The computer room was wired exactly like my grandparents did it for telephone, flat cable run under the edge of the carpet through two rooms.
    Mobile devices use wirelss, because err.. they're wireless themselves. My Xbox 360 has been stood in the same place for nearly 4 years.
    For anyone who hasn't ripped up their laminate or wooden floors yet, you might find the skirting boards are removable if it was done properly. It really isnt difficult to hardwire a house for faster, reliable and interference free connections.    "

    Sorry, but I think you've kind of missed the point. I don't have any issues with my wifi connection, so all that you suggest is not anything worth considering. And I doubt I am the only one to be in this position. Yes, if my wifi connection was poor, I would think about it, but many here are perfectly happy with wireless gaming - in fact, from what I can see, those saying wifi is/would be rubbish have not stated that they've tried it and found cable to be better, whereas those saying wifi is fine are speaking from personal experience.

    The router is my own, brought with me into the property - it is very rare for things like routers to be pre-installed in houses, as almost all rental accomodation tends to not include utilities, least not broadband. It would also limit options about switching ISP, as you would need to seek landlord permission to change provider, like you tend to have to with major utility providers.

    I do understand that cable is faster and more reliable than wireless (I am a Network Manager and a section purchaser for IT kit) and in an ideal world, CAT6 would be run in wall- and floor-containment, with network points next to each double electrical socket, but for now, for some/many, using up-to 54mbit wifi connection on an up-to 8 -to- 24 mbit line is plenty fine. Maybe once BT pulls their finger out and rolls out the 21CN properly and everyone boosts up to ADSL 2+ at a minimum and streaming multiple 1080p films round the house becomes commonplace, routing cables will become more necessary.

    Until then, wifi and/or homeplugs will do for those that don't hanker after every single last picosecond.

  • Skurmedel #34 3 years ago

    canIdoyabombsforya: Sounds like a lot of hassle if you are fine with what wireless gives you. My PS3 is 50 cms from my router, but I still use wireless. Do you know why? Because I'm fucking drowning in cables already, one for my modem, one for my XBox, one for my IP-telephony thing, one for my computer.

    That's just the network cables. I have a TV and a receiver there as well and two powerstrips for all the AC adapters.
    Edited by Skurmedel at 22/09/09 @ 13:56

  • Bremenacht #35 3 years ago

    BTW - this dongle will only be as good as your transmitter, so don't assume you'll get moar bandwifs just buy installing it.

  • Calgon #36 3 years ago

    I don't think you wireless fans understand what people are trying to tell you, Wired really is superior to Wi-Fi(speed, latency and security), wireless does add latency(this isn't necessarily anything to do with your main download speed).

    For some people, wireless saves them the effort of wiring or gives network access in rooms that wouldn't have been possible otherwise(landlords and such)... for others the superior connection wired gives, is worth the effort(small effort in most peoples eyes, if you plan it properly) and they wouldn't have it any other way.

    By all means go ahead with wireless if you like it and feel it works for you but don't assume those who don't like it haven't tried it or are living in the past with inferior tech. That's just how some of the statements come accross, like Wi-Fi is a must for everyone, the reality is, alot of people couldn't care less and wouldn't use it either way.

    @Skurmedel thats hardly drowning in cables, behind the TV cables can be tied or clamped and kept in neat order, cables that run elsewhere can be tucked away(under the carpet or Conduit & Trunking that fixes to the skirting board, colour matched to boot) out of sight like they were never there.

    Before / After
    Example2

    Cable Management
    Edited by Calgon at 22/09/09 @ 14:55

  • kearneybobs #37 3 years ago

    this is how they make the most money per unit. Evercharge on the peripherals, and incomes the profit, loads of it. That's why the wireless adapter is 'only' €100(but has come down in price recently in some places) and the hard drives are so damn expensive.

  • AngryBadger #38 3 years ago

    @RexRunti The Wii supports WPA and WPA2. Im not sure where you got your facts from. Perhaps your thinking of the DS......

  • Skurmedel #39 3 years ago

    Calgon: I do, that's why I run my computer on wired. But the other way round is also true, some people refuse to understand why some might prefer wireless

    And I do think it's an unmaintainable mess. I move quite often, and I cannot alter the apartments I live in, cutting down on the amount of wires means less time spent maintaining them.

    In the end, as you said, the best choice is down to individual needs.
    Edited by Skurmedel at 22/09/09 @ 15:03

  • rprince #40 3 years ago

    Wireless isn't needed built-in for gaming. It's needed built-in for downloading updates and patches, XBLA games and the odd low-bandwidth casual online game. It just demonstrates the markets the consoles were designed for!

  • Grayvern #41 3 years ago

    That's not really true there's some added latency but most people wont notice and or care and the fact is sometimes you can't/ wont have wires. And a few milliseconds isn't worth bothering over, even in pc games, skill level and processing power are more important.

    Most modern devices have a wireless option because of this. Charging over charging more than £10-£20 for a wireless connector is utterly ridiculous .

  • T4RG4 #42 3 years ago

    I use wireless for my 360 and suffer no more problems than I'd experience wired. My laptop I use wirelessly and the download speeds are rapid. My PC however... with a wireless dongle, is absolutely rubbish and I run it wired which gives the best download speeds.

    The 360 dongle however is way, way overpriced.

  • Moz #43 3 years ago

    Unless they lower the price of the other adaptor this will have to cost at least £75, other wise the price gap wont be big enough for people to consider buying the old dongle

  • organica #44 3 years ago

    Why would anyone have wireless when wired is so much faster.

    Because some people's top priority isn't the speed at which they can connect/play. For instance, I am the martyred owner of a very cable-hungry kitten and therefore I have to use a wireless connection for PC gaming otherwise I'll be spending lumps of money every week on buying replacements.

    And I have to say, despite my initial misgivings I'm finding that my connectivity is significantly faster with a decent wireless setup than it was when it was wired. Don't care about stats or tech specs people might quote at me - it is faster for me, demonstratively so. That's not to say it would be the same for someone else with a different set-up and location.

    Wireless gamers must be the complete opposite of hardcore or competitive gamers.

    In all honesty, this statement makes me want to go wireless on my 360 as well. So I may well buy the new dongle.