Nintendo DS Wi-Fi USB Connector $30 shipped at Amazon

Soild price.

^Fry's charges shipping and the BB link your provided is for the Wii LAN Adapter (completely different product from the Wi-Fi USB Connector).
 
sounds like the best deal available since there's no shipping or tax for me.

it sucks how ds's can't connect on WPA protected routers (unlike wii's...).
 
Actually its been $30 for a little bit now, at least the last time I checked it was. Not a bad price, but would be nice to drop to $20.
 
I believe this Wi-FI Connector is designed to turn your PC into a softAP in client bridge mode. So if you're in your home network environment, this particular PC would not be able share files and resources with other PCs in the network. Just something to consider if you have a home network and share files between PCs.
 
I am running an entirely wired network at home. If I plugged this into my usb 1.0 on my comp, would there be any possibility of a neighbor or unwanted person to use my network through their wireless card? I.e. could someone use my internet/access my files at all? or is a DS only able to use this?
 
I'm wondering the same exact thing as well. I would pick it up if I knew that I had a secure network and could connect my DS lite and Wii with it. I had to go with a wired network recently and lost the ability to go wireless so this would come in very handy.

[quote name='NWgamer666']I am running an entirely wired network at home. If I plugged this into my usb 1.0 on my comp, would there be any possibility of a neighbor or unwanted person to use my network through their wireless card? I.e. could someone use my internet/access my files at all? or is a DS only able to use this?[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='NWgamer666']I am running an entirely wired network at home. If I plugged this into my usb 1.0 on my comp, would there be any possibility of a neighbor or unwanted person to use my network through their wireless card? I.e. could someone use my internet/access my files at all? or is a DS only able to use this?[/quote]
If I remember what I read when looking over the SW that this gadget uses, it requires you to register the DS' MAC address with the SW, so it'll only provide services for that DS.

I'm sure as you're adding in a wireless network to your PC and turning it into a bridge, someone could hack their way in if they were determined enough.

When I lock down my wireless network to WPA and decide I want to use my DS on the Internet for gaming, I'll get an 802.11B AP and set it up with WEP + MAC address filtering it to only allow the DS onto the network. Which is what the DS SW for the WiFi connector is doing, though another AP doesn't require it hanging off of a PC and that PC being on all the time.
 
I really want to throw it out there that the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi USB Connector is a piece of shit. It's ok for the DS, I supposed, but sucks ass for the Wii (Nintendo themselves said you can use both).

I got it from a CAG for $25 a few months ago, and well, I'm not really too happy with it. Let's see all the problems I have (I'm on a wired network)...

I want to throw it out right now that this ONLY WORKS ON WINDOWS XP!!! If you have Windows 98, 2000, Vista, whatever, it won't work. Nintendo has no plans currently to get it working with Vista, so this thing isn't future proof at all.

On my old computer, I had it plugged into the USB port in the back (it only had USB ports on the back), and the Wii wouldn't recognize it, at all. And the Wii was maybe 10 steps away in the same exact room. I had to use the extended USB cable the provide to position it on the top of my computer at a weird angle - it's the only time the Wii would pick it up. And even then, sometimes it just straight up wouldn't connect.

With the DS, even if I went one room away (let's say, the bathroom) my connection would go from green to yellow (3 bars to 2). If I went across the room, forget about it! Had a hell of a time connecting and even if I did, lag city.

That's not even getting into the installation problems I had with it... and many others too. Prepare to see a ton of IPS errors... and that's if you're lucky.

On my new computer, I can't even get the thing to install, it freezes in the same place every time, no error message, just a straight up freeze. Nintendo had no solution when I emailed customer service.

I have to put it on my other computer, way across the house... the only one I can get the Wii to pick this up is if, and this is no joke, I use the included USB extension cord to hold the connector over my head at a 45 / 90 degree angle while my girlfriend downloads what we're getting from the Wii Shop... even then, the bar is only yellow.

The DS gets a shitty connection to it as well.

The Wii / DS detect it fine, but connecting to it to use as a different story altogether. I really doubt anyone's neighbor's is going to connect to this piece of shit Wi-Fi Connector, but if they do, there is a simple allow / deny prompt to stop that sort of thing. I don't think it's even designed for a computer to steal your bandwidth with this... it's just for the DS / Wii. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows.

I say take the $30 and invest in a REAL wireless network... this stupid thing has been nothing but trouble. Good luck to anyone who is deciding to use it... I hesitantly recommend it if you're just using a DS on it (as this seems to work the best) and I don't recommend it at all if you want to use a Wii.

I'm sure someone will say "I use it for both and it's perfect!" but the amount of complaints I've seen about this thing (very cryptic error messages, for one) has been staggering.
 
Thanks for heads up roufuss. I'm not paying 30 bucks for something that might not even work with a Wii later. I got my usb ports in the back of my comp as well, I likely won't have any luck with this either. I may as well buy a wifi router and figure out how to protect it properly.
Shrike- Ur comments were helpful as well, answered what I was looking for (can someone else easily access my network. your answer was NO.) but with the other feedback, this device is now moot in my opinion.
 
[quote name='NWgamer666']Thanks for heads up roufuss. I'm not paying 30 bucks for something that might not even work with a Wii later. I got my usb ports in the back of my comp as well, I likely won't have any luck with this either. I may as well buy a wifi router and figure out how to protect it properly.
Shrike- Ur comments were helpful as well, answered what I was looking for (can someone else easily access my network. your answer was NO.) but with the other feedback, this device is now moot in my opinion.[/QUOTE]

Yea, I'd say on my old computer it worked maybe 50% of the time... it always a gamble to figure out if I was going to get into the Wii Shop, or would I have to twist the connector at some weird 32 degree angle and the Wii would magically pick it up. I was a bit pissed Nintendo never had a reason why it froze on the same spot every time on my new one - but it doesn't matter, as I'm upgrading to Vista in a few days and this won't work on it at all.

I'm a bit disappointed at the shitty reception I get with the DS on this, too.

And I don't know if it would matter to anyone, but your computer has to be on for this to work. I hate playing this at night, and instead of just turning the DS off (when it connects) and going to bed, I have to walk across the house to turn the computer off.
 
I have one hooked up, since my DS is incompatible with my wireless router. Aside from installation, which was a major pain in the ass, it's worked fine. I haven't seen any problems with connections or anything like that.

I haven't tried connecting the Wii to it, but that works fine with my router anyway.


Also, if anyone is looking for one, they're $20 used at EB/GS if you can find one.
 
Yeah, I picked up a D-Link 524 router 4 bucks after rebate. It's not the best speed in the world, but it's fast enough for Xbox Live and DS. And no where close the horror you could have with Nintendo's product.
 
might cave on this, haven't seen one used lately and I do have about $17 in gift certificates on amazon right now so it would only be about $13 outta pocket for me
 
I tried my cousins with the DS. It seems to work oddly every few days, but overall for the DS it worked well.
 
Too bad the rebates just expired, Circuit City had the Buffalo AirStation WHG-G54S for $25 AR last week. It is the only wireless router with the official Nintendo Wi-Fi endorsement.

Technically, any 802.11b or 11g wireless device works with Wii and DS. However, Wii supports WPA but DS supports only WEP. If you have a secured wireless network using WPA or WPA2, adding a Wii shouldn't be a problem. But not DS, you'll have to downgrade your network security to WEP, or have a dedicated wireless AP with WEP and MAC filtering just for the DS, and turn it on only when you play your DS.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Yea, I'd say on my old computer it worked maybe 50% of the time... it always a gamble to figure out if I was going to get into the Wii Shop, or would I have to twist the connector at some weird 32 degree angle and the Wii would magically pick it up. I was a bit pissed Nintendo never had a reason why it froze on the same spot every time on my new one - but it doesn't matter, as I'm upgrading to Vista in a few days and this won't work on it at all.

I'm a bit disappointed at the shitty reception I get with the DS on this, too.

And I don't know if it would matter to anyone, but your computer has to be on for this to work. I hate playing this at night, and instead of just turning the DS off (when it connects) and going to bed, I have to walk across the house to turn the computer off.[/quote]

thanks for the heads up. my cousin's wireless router is having major issues with the ds (but the wii works fine - i don't get it). there's no WEP or WPA or anything, just MAC filtering. i went through all the settings and what not, but no dice. that's the only reason why i figured i'd get this - as i can carry it in my ds lite case in case i'm at a friend's and need to get on wifi but don't wanna bother with WEP stuff or what not... not like i can carry a router with me everywhere.

like you said, lots of +/- points, and it's a tough debate. i dunno if i'll bite now...
 
i have a linksys wrt54gs router with WPA encryption and had to buy this to go online with my DS. but after installing it i found out that i could no longer stream music and video from my computer to the xbox360.
 
for 30$ you can buy a wireless router on sale.

That is how much mine cost 2 years ago and it has 4 1/2 star compatability with the DS/Wii i've had no problems.

The usb connector was mostly meant to be used by people with 56k.
 
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