Registering Your Gaming System With RESNET
Because gaming systems are not equipped with web browsers (ie. Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc), they are unable to reach the registration pages. If consoles had web browsers, they could be plugged in to the ethernet jack and registered the same way computers are. To solve this problem, the ITS Helpdesk has been given the permission to register game systems manually.
What We Need
Each computer on RESNET is identified by its "MAC address". This is a 12-digit letter and number combination that identifies network cards by manufacturer, model, etc. Each MAC address is unique, and jacks connected to systems with unregistered MAC addresses are automatically moved to the (severely limited) registration subnet.
You must look in the settings of your console for your MAC address. It should look like this: 0A-14-2A-12-80-1F and it will be labeled either "physical address", "hardware address", or "MAC address". More complete instructions can be found here.
Once you have this number, if you come to the helpdesk with your WesID, we can register your console, and it will now work over the ethernet in your room.
Splitting your internet connection
Once you have registered your computer and your gaming console, the next thing you will probably wish to do is split your connection so that you don't have to keep switching them. The problem here is that there are many kinds of devices that are capable of doing this, and some are more difficult than others.
There are four common ways to split a connection. They are routers, hubs, switches, and splitters.
- Switches split ethernet connections without connecting to the internet themselves (as routers do) nor do the connected devices interfere with each other (as they do in hubs and splitters). This is the best way to split your connection.
- Routers are devices that receive an internet connection as a computer does and creates new connections for each device connected to it. Unlike the rest, routers have MAC addresses and must therefore be registered with RESNET like your console in order to work properly. Furthermore, you have a "private" IP address (192.168.x.x) rather than a "public" Wesleyan IP address (129.133.x.x), although this is trivial for most usages. For this reason, routers are not recommended. They can, however, be registered manually through the same process as your gaming console.
- Hubs are devices that split a connection without actually connecting or creating new connections. There are two complications. One is that the hub must be connected to the ethernet jack using a "crossover" cable rather than a normal ("patch") ethernet cable. They are comparably prived and should be available through the Wesleyan Computer Store. The other problem is that the hub shares the internet connection in the truest sense of the word - using one device on the hub will slow down the connections of the others.
- Splitters are the cheapest, easiest way to split the connection. Splitters are essentially a hub without the need for additional cables or a large, bulky device.
XBox 360 and Wireless
The XBox 360 is also capable to using wireless. However, because there is no web browser, you will be unable to log in to the AirWesLS login page, required before you can reach the inernet. With the use of a web browser, any registered user could log in to wireless and access the internet. (The console need not be registered).