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XBox (Games) Wireless Networking Hardware

360 Wireless Clashing With Wal-Mart Tech 63

Posted by Zonk from the cluttered-airwaves dept.
vladcole writes "Xbox 360 kiosks are getting shut down by some Wal-Mart employees sick of having their handheld inventory devices and printers malfunction, according to this compilation of Joystiq reader reports." From the article: "There's no reason to get worried about the Xbox 360 launch date (there, we recognized the elephant in the room), but the breadth and frequency of these reports point to a compatibility issue between the Xbox 360 and Wal-Mart, at least." Next Generation confirms that Wal-Mart is having issues with the 360 pods.
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360 Wireless Clashing With Wal-Mart Tech More

360 Wireless Clashing With Wal-Mart Tech

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  • Wireless networks? (Score:3, Funny)

    by vertinox ( 846076 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @06:26PM (#13867216)
    So if I have an xbox 360 will it affect my remote control changing channels... Oh wait... ;)

    But seriously, think this would have an effect on wireless networks/devices?
    • Well Microsoft supposedly will be selling seperately an 802.11b adapter designed specifically for the XBox 360, so I doubt the console will interfere with normal wireless networks.

      • Re:Wireless networks? (Score:3, Informative)

        by alienw ( 585907 )
        I would think the reason stuff like that is happening is because they are preproduction models. They may not have done things like figuring out the shielding and stuff, so there could be quite a bit of RF interference coming from them. Once it gets past the regulatory agencies and such, it should not produce any more interference than any other electronic device. It's actually quite amazing how much RFI a poorly shielded computer can produce, so it's not surprising their wireless scanners are getting kno
      • It is from the wireless controllers which in fact do use the 2.4ghz spectrum used by 802.11b.
        • I dont know enough about RF signals to really argue any sort of point here, but it seems to me like your trying to say the XBox 360 interferes with itself... if you are pulling this from some specific source, by all means link it, but I have read nothing about anything like this. And setting that aside, IMHO, a design flaw this obvious would be highly unlikely. You'd have to be a complete idiot to develop and begin to mass produce a wireless video game controller that interferes with 802.11 signals.

    • Re:Wireless networks? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @07:24PM (#13867541)
      What the Slashdot article neglects to mention is that Microsoft has already fixed the problem [kotaku.com].

      They had a fix within 24 hours and started rolling it out. It didn't affect wireless networks in general, only some specific point-of-sale systems.

      Anyhow, to sum up, problem was fixed before launch and wouldn't have affected consumers anyhow.

      • Re:Wireless networks? (Score:2, Interesting)

        by tklive ( 755607 )
        nice job.

        so MS used this not only for promotion but for some last minute testing too, to get a feel for what real life customers would face. That is kinda neat .

        besides atleast in this case you really dont know if the issue could be with the freq used by wallmart scanners, they are known to cut corners wherever possible and *might* be using non std devices. This could be the case with the consumers too and i guess MS have factored that in now...
      • Notice that it doesn't say what the fix is. My guess is that they just switched those locations with problems over to a wired controller.
        • I would guess that they just changed the fequency of the controller.

          Most modern devices will detect interference and change to a 'quieter' channel, i guess wallmats stuff was too cheap or too old to do this and thus the interfernce.

          I can see this being a issue unless it is easy to change the band that the controllers are on as lots of folk have phones and networks that could potentialy clash.
    • It was their secret plan, install a jammer into the console so all Sony and Nintendo wireless equipment within 500m becomes useless while the X360 is on. Your neighbours would never have figured out it was your XBox 360 if it wasn't for you meddling kids!
  • I read 'Next Generation confirms...' as 'Netcraft confirms,' and thought, "Damn, they're getting really good."
  • did you see the Call of Duty 2 pre-release demo runing on the xbox 360 *whistles* I wasn't gonna jump on the xbox360 (right away) but it's clearly taunting me.

    e.

    • Re:issues smissues (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by Gogo0 ( 877020 )
      It reminds me of the same Call of Duty 2 you can play on the Xbox, Gamecube, and PS2 only with less impressive graphics and $400 cheaper.
    • Heh. Try it on a computer; high resolution with better anti aliasing, anisotropic filtering, normal mapping, and polygon counts.
      • An age-old argument, to be sure. But the allure of consoles around their launch time remains: they typically will play the newest games on high settings flawlessly (I never saw the 360's Call of Duty 2 demo drop below 60 fps), and still for less than a gaming-quality PC costs.
        • Yep! No arguments there. It's just going to look worse, is all. And 3 years from now, your PC will not only play Call of Duty 2 at ultra high, but whatever other games you want which look even better. 360 will be stuck with whatever it could play when it came out.

          • Re:issues smissues (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Electrum ( 94638 ) <david@acz.org> on Monday October 24, 2005 @07:45PM (#13867705) Homepage
            And 3 years from now, your PC will not only play Call of Duty 2 at ultra high, but whatever other games you want which look even better.

            Assuming your CPU is still fast enough and you spend another $300 on a new graphics card.

            360 will be stuck with whatever it could play when it came out.

            And your computer will magically get faster over the next three years? Games on consoles do tend to get better over the life of the console as developers gain experience with the console. It is much easier to optimize for a fixed platform.
            • I have a Radeon 9600. It is approximately 5 years old and can run Half-Life 2, Quake IV, Battlefield 2, Age of Empires III, and similar games. Can it run them on high? No. Can it run them on a higher resolution, with better graphics, than a console? Yes. The Playstation 2 came out in 2000, the same year as my 9600. It is not going to run Quake IV at the same level of quality no matter how much you prod it. A console is almost always inferior to a similar PC in terms of power; the only advantages it has, tec
              • I have a Radeon 9600. It is approximately 5 years old and can run Half-Life 2, Quake IV, Battlefield 2, Age of Empires III, and similar games. Can it run them on high? No. Can it run them on a higher resolution, with better graphics, than a console? Yes. The Playstation 2 came out in 2000, the same year as my 9600. It is not going to run Quake IV at the same level of quality no matter how much you prod it. A console is almost always inferior to a similar PC in terms of power; the only advantages it has, tec
              • have a Radeon 9600. It is approximately 5 years old

                Er, no. Your Radeon 9600 is just over two years old [ati.com].

                • Yeah, I about laughed out loud when I read that.

                  This time in the year 2000, ATI was releasing the Radeon.

                  Yes, THE ORIGINAL Radeon (later named 7500). Two pipes, 3 textures per pipe and a T&L unit.

                  Come on people, get your ATI release dates straight :D

                  2000: Radeon SDR/DDR
                  2001: Radeon 8500 (later reworked as 9000/9100/9200)
                  2002: Radeon 9500 series, 9700 series
                  2003: Radeon 9600 series, Radeon 9800 series
                  2004: Radeon x300/x600/x700/x800 series
                  2005: Radeon x1300/x1600/x1800 series
          • Yep! No arguments there. It's just going to look worse, is all. And 3 years from now, your PC will not only play Call of Duty 2 at ultra high, but whatever other games you want which look even better. 360 will be stuck with whatever it could play when it came out.

            The Pc will cost at least an extra $200+ every year to do that. Whiel the 360/PS3/revolution will be 399 up front and that would be about it. As well for 80% of us, we can't really tell the difference, have just as much fun. Seriously graphics aren
            • I'm not sure why your PC costs 200+ dollars each year to stay viable. I spend much less than that and I have never encountered a game I could not play. It costs 200-500 a year AT LEAST if you want to stay on or near the cutting edge, but if all you want to do is play your games at a reasonable frame rate and resolution (especially compared to consoles) then a PC is very cost effective, once you factor in the fact that you need one anyways.
              • I'm not sure why your PC costs 200+ dollars each year to stay viable. I spend much less than that and I have never encountered a game I could not play. It costs 200-500 a year AT LEAST if you want to stay on or near the cutting edge, but if all you want to do is play your games at a reasonable frame rate and resolution (especially compared to consoles) then a PC is very cost effective, once you factor in the fact that you need one anyways.

                To get a midrange card every year to keep the PC current it will cost
                • You can't be serious. Casual gamers shell out ~$200 a year? That's what I call a hardcore gamer. I call myself a casual gamer, and I usually buy a graphics card OR a mobo/CPU upgrade once every 2 years. And it's never top of the line too.

                  I prefer PC gaming for two reasons. Graphics are always sharper and clearer, and because of the mouse and keyboard interface.
                  My favourite games are RTSs (AoE) and FPS (Half Life 2). These types of games NEED a truly analog device to play, and there's just no way a

  • Cause of malfunction.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by BlackMesaLabs ( 893043 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @07:00PM (#13867396)
    the 360's communicate via airborn chair transmission. Some stray chairs are bound to hit the odd bystander.

  • Got FCC? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rush3k ( 911291 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @07:10PM (#13867447)
    I believe electronic devices have to comply with relevant FCC specifications before they are released into the market.

    • Re:Got FCC? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday October 24, 2005 @07:36PM (#13867623) Homepage
      2.4 GHz is unlicensed, like 900 MHz and a few others (27 and 49 MHz are also, I think). As such, they only need to comply with part 15 (can't knowingly cause interference, and this device may cause unwanted interference), and I believe that there are other rules (I'm guessing can't use more than 500 mW of power, etc.).

      In the same way that a cordless telephone may interfere with your WiFi, this is allowed to happen. When anyone is free to make anything use that band, stuff like this is bound to happen. It really isn't that bad. This is one reason why it is nice to have licensed frequencies where people can't go messing around (ex: FM and AM don't have that problem because they are protected).

      In short, yes they are allowed to do that. Now I find it STUPID that this system wasn't tested before rolling out. I can't believe that if it was tested that they would miss such a problem.

      Now if they used wired controllers (they are permanently attached so that shouldn't be a problem) then I would think that would solve it (WiFi is optional on the 360, IIRC). Now if doing that they STILL had problems, then I would start looking into if they really comply with Part 15.

      • And it sounds to me like it is possibly older equipment that Wal-Mart is using in some locations that were early users of that part of the spectrum, expected to have full control over that clean band, and thus can't handle the emissions of the XBOX 360, but that they can't upgrade their in-store equipment in those locations as readily as they can get Microsoft to adjust their XBOX 360 pod kiosks.
      • Now I find it STUPID that this system wasn't tested before rolling out. I can't believe that if it was tested that they would miss such a problem.

        (cheapshot)Well, we are talking about a certain famously incompetent tech company, right?(/cheapshot)
      • The first two thirds of your post correctly noted that when products use unlicensed freqs, interference may occur. The risk of intereference is the chance they take in using an unregulated freq.

        But then you went on to decry, "Now I find it STUPID that this system wasn't tested before rolling out. I can't believe that if it was tested that they would miss such a problem."

        Do you feel it should have been tested to see if it interfers with retail inventory and point of sale devices? Pray tell, if indeed you h
  • Not even out in the wild, and still problems? Of course, I wonder what doesn't interfere with a 1998 Point-of-Sale retail system.

  • For those of you with no Wal Mart.. (Score:4, Informative)

    by LordJezo ( 596587 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @08:51PM (#13868170)
    Here are some pictures for those of you interested.. The Wal Mart down the road from my house [78west.com] Phillipsburg, NJ

  • Eh? Telzon problems? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Crescens ( 650873 ) on Monday October 24, 2005 @09:31PM (#13868382)
    These are the Symbol units, right? When I was working at Best Buy years ago we had the same problem with 2.4GHz cordless phones. Our previous phone stopped working and when we replaced it the phone pretty much made the Telxon units useless anywhere around the phone. Ended up just replacing the new one with yet another 900MHz phone.

    I wouldn't be surprised if it's the exact same thing.

  • Apparently the printer rolls, whenever an XBox 360 was around would print out "Linux must Die!" with each order... Wonder how that got there...

  • Strange packet data.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by bjb ( 3050 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2005 @08:01AM (#13870604) Homepage Journal
    I went to a WalMart the other day and sniffed out the traffic. Maybe someone knows what the 360's protocol is doing?

    <SOH>ALLYOURBASEAREBELONGTOUS<EOH>

    Very strange...

  • Is it me or does the controller on the 360 Demo rig look a lot like the old Sega Dreamcast controller? Sans the slot for the nifty game save/mini-handheld card. Do the controllers use 802.11 or BlueTooth? I know the console itself uses 802.11g. - Michael "TheZorch" Haney thezorch@gmail.com

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