Games & gear forum: Faster connection 4 Xbox 360?

No, those bars only indicate the signal strength, they don't have anything to do with the data rate. At least not when you're in the 75%+ range. Even if you ran an ethernet cable to the system, it can only connect as fast as your Internet connection, so unless you're trying to stream hi-def video from your desktop computer or something, you're worrying about nothing.

No, I'm just saying that your total connection speed is generally more limited by the service package you have with your ISP than anything else.

Lag is just one of those things that can be impossible to pinpoint, because the cause is always changing. But some common causes would be that someone is running a file sharing program on the computer, which is sapping the bandwidth on the Internet connection, and just being on a cable Internet service, where you're sharing a finite supply of bandwidth with all your neighbors within probably at least a 500ft radius. If you're only one of a small number of people on a given cable hub, then lucky you, but if a whole mess of people are on that hub, then you've got a problem.

Just make sure that there's nothing else on your LAN that might be sucking up bandwidth, and that's probably the best possible thing you can do to reduce lag. You don't need some special "gaming" router, but it doesn't hurt to have a decent one, not some cheap POS that was on sale for next to nothing at Best Buy or one of those.

I used to have my xbox on a wireless N router (connected wirelessly) but switched it to a wired connection and I find that there is a difference with speed and no more lagging issues...hope this helps

If Verizon Fios is available in your area. Switch to its internet service pronto. I used to have Verizon high speed dsl and had the same problems as you (even worse). My system routinely showed only 1-2 bars. And I had serious lag time online. Verizon Fios internet became available in my area last month and I made the switch. The difference was dramatic and huge. I immediately went to full (4) bars status. Netflix streaming (instant)looked beautiful and had zero delays. And all of the lags disappeared during online gaming. Fios internet blows all of its competition away in my view.