Stabilizing my 360 Connection

Nocren

Ok, so here's a thing I have:

My Xbox 360 E (newest model) can't seen to stay connected for longer than 90 minutes at most if I'm playing a game. I can stream movies from netflix/amazon fine but as soon as I start playing something, even a single player game without any online component, there's an increasing chance I'll be kicked off Live.

Now, earlier this year, I was living with my dad in California, and I had this issue. Wasn't that big of a deal because I'll take what I can get and at that time we had AT&T. Now I'm living in North Carolina and have Time Warner Cable but I'm still having the same issue. I tried using wifi after I got my own internet, but that made watching netflix impossible as the connection would drop faster than a wet bar of soap covered in oil. So I got a cat5 and directly connected it to the gateway. That seemed to fix that issue. Now that I'm starting to play games though, I have the same problem I did earlier. I tried to some port forwarding, but I'll get dropped and either I can reconnect normally after a few moments, or if not, I have to run the Connection Test in the dashboard (which comes back fine) then log back into my profile and restart the game. So that's not helping.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can fix this, I'd be glad to hear it.

Incenjucar

Definitely don't bother with wi-fi. Wi-fi is garbage. Routers are the devil. The fewest connections possible and a wire and you may just continue to enjoy life.

With your computer, I suggest going to speedtest.net to see what your connection actually looks like.

I don't know if NAT settings affect Destiny (I don't think they should, actually), but you also want to make sure you have an Open NAT. Port forwarding may help, but what REALLY helps is UPnP. Turn that on, restart your console (maybe even go so far as to unplug it after you power it off), and reboot and try then. Make sure your firewall is wide open (at least while using your 360).

Beyond that, it's kind of all voodoo. Turn off and unplug every single damned thing, check wires, etc.

Also keep an eye on http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live-status when you have issues; SOMETHING goes down just about every day, though it's usually just like Nat Geo or something.

Santa Claustrophobia

Not to be that guy, but I'd put money on TWC being the problem. I had constant connection issues where I'm at and only stabilised them by getting an official Wi-Fi adapter. It sounds like you're just sucking up all the bandwidth available. If possible, up the capacity or switch providers. (Which, I'd suggest if only because TWC sucks. But if you're hardwired and still getting issues, check to see what your bandwidth limit is. And if there are any others leaching the connection.)

Nocren

That's just it, my PC is wirelessly connected and never dropped.

Also I'm paying for 50 Mbps but only getting 20 on average.

So how do I open the NAT settings? Cause last I saw, they were mid-range or something (not open, but not strict either).

Santa Claustrophobia

NAT should only be a factor when connecting with others. 'Open' connects to everybody, 'moderate' to everything above 'strict' which can only connect to 'open. At worst, you wouldn't be able to join games or possibly even be kicked if another non-open player joins. However, if you feel that changing your NAT settings may help, try this from Microsoft.

As far as your PC? Mine was more or less stable, but it was more that I never noticed when connection was lost. Unless you're constantly running up/downloads in the background, you'll never notice if you've been temporarily disconnected unless you try that moment to do something. Since I got the 360 wireless adapter, the connection (for both, oddly) has definitely improved. Though, it still drops connection it isn't an imminent thing as before.

Have you tried using nothing but the 360? Nothing else connected to the 'network'?

LD50

Have you been using the same router? It's possible that the 360 and the router don't play nice together.

Nocren

New router since I moved. I got this gateway from TWC by Ubee or something like that (DDW365 I think is the model number)

And yeah Santa, I tried that. In fact I just broke my controller because I shut down all browsing/download/upload on the PC and even cleared my 360's system cache 3 times and right in the middle of a multiplayer match I get dropped, so I spiked my controller on the floor out of frustration/anger.

Thing is, if I had the same connection issues with my PC, wouldn't I see the same problem when I played Old Republic? That runs just fine with no dropage.

Santa Claustrophobia

Don't know about Old Republic. If you're sure nothing else is leaching bandwidth and that you aren't connected wirelessly at some point, then the only thing I could think of is that your regional TWC provider is intentionally not playing nice with XBL. Maybe do some research to see if it's common in your area. (Seriously, TWC sucks out loud. Cable powered by a hamster wheel and distributed via packing twine is more reliable.)

Do you know anybody else with TWC? Or any other internet provider? Take your console there and check it out. It's doubtful it's the console's fault, but at least it would let you see if other people are having the same issue or perhaps it could be just with your location.

Nocren

Today I called support and finally got through to someone. With them on the line I was hitting 10 Mbps at best but usually averaging around 6, so they set up an appointment for me on Thursday for a tech to stop by and probably tell me I don't have a problem and they're nothing they can do.

Soggybiscuit

Can you bring up your cable modem signal page? Is your cable modem dropping the connection or just the xbox?

I'm on Suddenlink, but I recently had some issues with upstream signal strength. I got an active return amplifier and that solved my issues (http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005P12QME/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I picked that one because I didn't 15db of gain.

Nocren

It's just the xbox and only during certain games. I've been watching netflix without any problems, but gaming gives me issues. I'll find out more thursday.

Santa Claustrophobia

Any news?

Nocren

Destiny's connect is more stable (I can play for about 2 or 3 hours now) and I'm back to getting my full 50 Mbps now, with the lowest I've seen since being 42. Though I told them that if it drops to 30 consistently, I'll be calling again.

Still no issue with other games though.