Nintendo DS WiFi Question

[zoraking]

I was just wondering if a WiFi is the same thing we have in our house so we can use wireless internet. If it is then I might feel obligated to buy the WiFi adapter. If not, screw it. I'm not leaving my house to play a video game in public.

[Tygore]

Yes. You don't need to buy anything if you have WiFi in your house, the DS can connect to it just fine. If you just have regular broadband, you can buy the Nintendo DS USB adapter for $30(ish).

[AtmaWeapon]

www.nintendowifi.com

Lots of questions are answered there, but here is the short version:

* If an 802.11b device can connect to your router, odds are great that the DS will connect.

* If you use WPA security, too bad; WEP is supported but if you are so worried that terrorists will steal your information that you can't use WEP then just buy the USB wireless thing.

All in all, I had to switch my router from G-only to mixed mode, but no harm done. Setting up my DS for Wifi was less trouble than setting up the PCMCIA wireless card on my laptop, so I consider it a win.

[zoraking]

That's great! Now I just need to buy a WiFi game and i can make due with what I have. I am glad I don't have to walk across town now. I was wondering how Animal Crossing was going to work, and now I know that you play online!

EDIT: Will it work if my wireless router is a 802.11g? I only saw something about 802.11b...

[Grasshopper]

In short, Yes. 802.11g is compatiable with 802.11b. The only difference is that 802.11g is capabable of higher speeds.

Edit:
BTW, thats what WiFi is, is 802.11b. But like I said, its backward compatiable

[Tygore]

I can confirm, I have connected on b and g routers.

[AtmaWeapon]

OK here is the deal. Back before I realized that I didn't know much about DS Wifi so I went to Wikipedia and looked up Wifi. It turns out it is a buzzword that basically means "wireless internet", more specifically the many 802.11 protocols.

For the purposes of discussion, "G" means 802.11g and B means 802.11b.

Most G routers support B in mixed-mode. You may have to switch a router setting to use the DS. Mixed-mode means the router will accept G or B connections. The problem is that B is a slower connection than G, so as soon as a B device connects to the router all devices on the network will operate at B speeds.

Some people make a huge deal out of this but the fact is most people don't have a broadband fast enough to get the full 54Mbps supported by G. For local file transfers I imagine it icould be annoying, but it's not like Nintendo provides a special USB device to connect the DS without messing with your router :rolleyes:.

The only issue I had with my G router was I forgot I needed to add my DS to my MAC filter list, which is entirely a user error.

[MottZilla]

It seems to me that the easiest thing to do is get the USB thing. Also I've heard some people can get online with their 56K connections. I can't wait to get to play online, but until I have the USB thing I won't have any way to do so as I don't do home networking or wireless.

[Kairyu]

My dad's wireless router is marked on the list as specifically not working. LIES. I played two races last night with it against three people. Okay, two people, one dropped out because they didn't select a kart.