Wii connection via WiFi

Broken Arrow

Broken Arrow

Broken Arrow

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I currently just have a USB broadband modem plugged straight in to my PC. I am getting a Wii this week and I want to be able to access the net with it. Can anyone advise whether using this USB wifi dongle with the PC should let me connect the Wii to my net connection? Trying to keep it as cheap as possible.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-010-SM

Or do I need to buy the official Nintendo USB dongle?

Cheers,

Ian
 
I would imagine you need a wireless modem/router and the proper one mate. I don't however know as I've never looked into the wii. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Edit : I guess if you made your pc into a wireless access point itself (It would need a wireless adapter) and then got the Wii its proper one that would work. Does the wii not have a built in network interface?
 
Sorry I probably should have been clearer - the Wii has a wireless network card built in but my PC doesn't have a wireless network card for it to link up to. Nintendo have a USB WiFi dongle that lets your DS or Wii network with your PC but I was wondering if a generic USB WiFi dongle would do the same job for less dosh.

Does that explain better? Thanks for replying. :)

Ian
 
It will work – all wireless networks use the same basic protocols, and the Wii is no different – but an ad-hoc network would be a hirely undesirable solution, in my opinion.

I think you'd be much better off by setting down a good network infrastructure with a wireless router/modem. You should be able to pick up a reasonable one for about £50 nowadays. You'll then have a hardware firewall in place (I don't think theres a wireless router without a hardware firewall, these days!), the option to connect more network devices both wired and wirelessly, and you won't need to turn your computer on everytime you want to access the Internet via your Wii. Then you'll have all the benefits of a separate modem on top of that – no need for drivers on individual computer systems, taking the processing burden away from the computer etc.

*av
 
Infact nevermind that mate, I've just read up on the wii a bit to get a bit of knowledge on it!

With regards for a router - OCUK do one for £40 which would be perfect for what you want it for. It would also mean that you wouldn't need to have the pc on when you want to play on your wii wii ;) on the t'internet!
 
Thanks for the advice guys - I appreciate what you are saying about putting a proper setup in place but I am really looking for a quick short-term fix for as little outlay as possible (having just blown a chuck of cash on the Wii, games, etc) . I'll bear it in mind though and look at a proper setup further down the line - I just wanted to check that I wasn't spending £20 on something that wouldn't even work. :)

Cheers,

Ian
 
Help! Trying to get my Wii to connect to my PC via a Netgear WG111v2 USB wifi dongle and I am having problems.

My PC has a broadband connection via a USB modem. I have the Netgear set up as an adhoc network. The Wii can see the adhoc network, the signal is good and strong, but when I try and get it to auto detect the settings and make a connection it fails. I have the Netgear running the 11b standard as some research suggests that the Wii's wifi card will only work on 11b or mixed b and g. Currently running on channel 11 but I have also tried others with no different result. Also running the adhoc network unsecured until such time as I can get it working, then I will add security - at the moment I don't need the extra complication!

From what I have read the Wii will not automatically connect to an adhoc network so it needs a static IP address assigning to it. My TCP/IP settings are as follows:

IP address: 192.168.0.10
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.0.10
DNS Preferred: 194.168.4.100
DNS Alternate: 194.168.8.100

I have set the Wii with:

IP address: 192.168.0.11
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.0.10

Is there anything wrong with those values? And is there any good reason why in the Netgear Smart Wizard "About" tab it shows an ip of 0.0.0.0? Surely this should show 192.168.0.10? Any help would really be appreciated. I am a total noob at this. :(

Ian
 
Last edited:
Firstly - well played on getting rid of the IP address, was gonna suggest you do that!

You need to (I think) set your pc up to do internet connection sharing, this will make your pc the default gateway for internet access and should mean that the Wii gets its much wanted IP address.

I'm sorry I can't help more than this but I'm hoping if I'm wrong someone who knows would love to correct me - thus helping you :)

Best wishes
 
Thanks Mike - in my networking tab do I need to set up my broadband connection with ICS or the wireless connection itself? I currently have it enabled on my broadband connection.

I'm not sure that is the problem though to be honest as at the moment it is saying it can't find the network despite auto-detecting it in the first place. It should throw up a different error if it was connecting to the network but then unable to find a net connection.

I'm fairly sure I've chosen suitable IP addresses but the Default Gateway has me a bit unsure - particularly as in the settings screen on the Wii it refers to Default Router instead (which I assume is the same thing to all intents and purposes). At the moment I have the Default Gateway set to the IP of the Netgear dongle in all instances but I am not convinced about this.

If the settings I have put in are correct I have a horrible feeling that the Wii will not connect to ad-hoc networks. :(

Cheers,

Ian
 
Ian_Heeley said:
Thanks Mike - in my networking tab do I need to set up my broadband connection with ICS or the wireless connection itself? I currently have it enabled on my broadband connection.

I'm not sure that is the problem though to be honest as at the moment it is saying it can't find the network despite auto-detecting it in the first place. It should throw up a different error if it was connecting to the network but then unable to find a net connection.

I'm fairly sure I've chosen suitable IP addresses but the Default Gateway has me a bit unsure - particularly as in the settings screen on the Wii it refers to Default Router instead (which I assume is the same thing to all intents and purposes). At the moment I have the Default Gateway set to the IP of the Netgear dongle in all instances but I am not convinced about this.

If the settings I have put in are correct I have a horrible feeling that the Wii will not connect to ad-hoc networks. :(

Cheers,

Ian
Click to expand...

Hi mate,

You should be able to make your pc act as a gateway. So far as I'm aware you need to -

Make your computer act as a gateway. Then set your wii to connect to the IP address of your computer. If the wii refers to the IP address of a DNS server, this should also be your computers IP address (internal netgear one, not your external net IP)

I'm just going to try and find you a decent guide on the net, will post back.
 
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