Quick Tips: Connect an Xbox 360 to your home network

[ music ] ^M00:00:03 >> One of the great things about the Xbox 360 is the ability to download TV shows, movies and games from the internet, as well as play games online against other people. But, you have to be hooked up to the internet for that to work. I'm Tom Merritt, Editor from CNET.com. I'll show you how to connect your Xbox 360 to the internet. Now there's two main ways to do this. The first way is directly using an Ethernet cable. The other way is wirelessly using a WiFi adapter. I'll show you the WiFi way since it takes the most set up, but if you're using the Ethernet cable, just plug it in directly to the back of the Xbox 360 here and plug the other end into a home network router. For either way, you'll need a router but for the wireless way, you're gonna need a wireless router like this one. The wireless way means you'll need a WiFi adapter. You can get this Xbox adapter for about 50 bucks. Plug the WiFi adapter into the back of the Xbox. Now turn on your Xbox, mines already on and go to the set up screens. Go to the system area, select network settings, select edit settings, select wireless mode. Your router should have a name, also known as an SSID. Now either your ISP will have given this to you or you may have chosen it yourself when you set up your router. Find that name and select it. If you have your WiFi protected with a pass phrase and you should, enter that now and select whether it's WEP or WPA. Again, your ISP should tell you whether it's WEP or WPA or you may know because you set it up yourself. When prompted, select test Xbox live. If the test passes, you're on your way to internet connectivity. Go to the Xbox live marketplace and see what cool things you can download for free or see our video on free stuff you can download for the Xbox 360. That's it for this Quick Tip. I'm Tom Merritt for CNET.com. Enjoy. ^M00:02:02 [ music ]