Is the Wii an 802.11b only device?

JoeTheZombie

JoeTheZombie

CAG Veteran
I forced my wireless cable gateway (Linksys WCG200) to 802.11g only mode, and my Wii can no longer connect to the network.

My friend forced his wireless access point (D-Link) to 802.11g mode, and he too can no longer connect via the Wii.

Can some of you guys change your wireless settings to 802.11g only mode and let me know if your Wii can still connect?

Not a big deal, as I just changed the settings back to mixed mode (b&g) and everthing is working again, but I thought the Wii was an 802.11g device.
 
Reality's Fringe;2497077 said:
My router is G only, at least I think so. It's a really cheap Belkin, so I don't think it has that feature. I could be wrong though.
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I'm pretty sure all G routers and beyond also work with B devices. You don't even have to switch modes. For instance, my wireless-G card for my PC works at the same time as my wireless-B Nintendo DS.
 
[quote name='jasongst']I'm pretty sure all G routers and beyond also work with B devices. You don't even have to switch modes. For instance, my wireless-G card for my PC works at the same time as my wireless-B Nintendo DS.[/QUOTE]

Oh. Like I said, I have no clue. The only reason I even got a router was for my Wii. I'm literally 6 feet away from my computer.
 
From what I understand, G routers and beyond work with B devices as long as the router is set for the default "mixed" mode. If you force it to g only, your b devices will stop working. That is why I am asking you guys to test this before speculating.

ETA: More evidence to support this theory.

arstechnica forums:
While the Wii does do WPA, it won't do 802.11g, only 802.11b
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wiierror.com:
Changing my router from 802.11g only to mixed mode fixed the problem [error 51130] for me.
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Reg Hardware:
The console can cope with all the latest Wi-Fi security and encryption provisions, but it's a 802.11b box, so if like me your access point is set to operate on 802.11g only, you'll run into trouble. It took me ages to figure out why the console wasn't connecting...
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While I see those posts from a technical forum, I have my router set to G only and it connects. I am pretty sure official Nintendo documentation says it's a G-band card. I also haven't noticed any kind of bandwidth drop from my other wireless devices, PC and 360, so it can't be a B only device.
 
Linksys WRTG 54 or something like that. One of the first G routers. I also set the chanell to like 11 or something. Like I said, if the Wii was B it would make the 360 drop and the PC drop. I just checked these again and no problems speed wise.
 
Here is a thread stating the same thing, that the Wii does not work with G-only networks.

Now I am not trying to baby you, but are you *sure* your settings have been changed from the default "mixed" to g-only mode? I ask because in that thread, one of the users is also using a WRT54G and can not connect when in G-only mode.

Why would your 360 and PC drop if the Wii was B? You would notice no speed issues between b or g connections, as even the b connection is several times faster than your Internet connection.
 
[quote name='JoeTheZombie']Here is a thread stating the same thing, that the Wii does not work with G-only networks.

Now I am not trying to baby you, but are you *sure* your settings have been changed from the default "mixed" to g-only mode? I ask because in that thread, one of the users is also using a WRT54G and can not connect when in G-only mode.

Why would your 360 and PC drop if the Wii was B? You would notice no speed issues between b or g connections, as even the b connection is several times faster than your Internet connection.[/quote]

If I remember correctly, routers won't support b/g combined access at the same time. Either your router will have an g signal or a b signal. If it's in mixed mode and detects a b connection, it will switch from a g signal to a b signal to accomodate the new device, thus dropping speeds for all your other connections.
 
Mixed mode routers do support b/g at the same time. When both b and g devices coexist in the same area, the slower speed b devices interfere, even when they are inactive, with the ability to get a full 54 megabit data transfer rate, but they do not drop the entire network to 11 megabit b speeds.

But this really isn't a discussion about the complexities of wireless networking. I would just like some of you to switch your WAPs to g-only mode and try to connect to the Wii shop.
 
[quote name='JoeTheZombie']Mixed mode routers do support b/g at the same time. When both b and g devices coexist in the same area, the slower speed b devices interfere, even when they are inactive, with the ability to get a full 54 megabit data transfer rate, but they do not drop the entire network to 11 megabit b speeds.

But this really isn't a discussion about the complexities of wireless networking. I would just like some of you to switch your WAPs to g-only mode and try to connect to the Wii shop.[/quote]

From all that I have read, the Wii is a B device. Unless it is utilizing some funky G spec that routers can't handle, it is using B. Just set your router to mixed. The only speed issues you would run into running in mixed mode are network transfers inside your network. Any connection to the internet is already limited by your ISPs bandwidth.

I've had my router set to mixed since I got my DS as it is a B only device as well.
 
That is what I believe as well. I just find it interesting that everyone reports the Wii as 802.11b/g compatible, when it is not. It is a b device that will work only on networks that support b devices (ie mixed mode, not g-only)
 
B runs at 11Mbps, G runs at 54Mbps. There might be a little bit of range difference, but it shouldn't really matter for most ppl as most ppl can't get a 54Mbps download rate out of their cable modem or DSL. I think 8 Mbps is more than most ppl get so I wouldn't worry. The big advantage to G is that if you want to do file transfers between computers its a LOT nicer.
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