I doubt that the Wii won't have an ethernet cord.

The Wii has no ethernet port, but it has been said that you can enable a hard-wired port with a USB adapter. You'd probably be better off just replacing the wired router with a wireless one, though.

I wonder if the Wii will support WPA encryption. It can't use it if it's going to communicate with the DS (unless it's possible to update the DS's firmware to support WPA).

Yeah, that's does suck about the DS WiFi. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to allow us to update the DS firmware. I haven't heard anything about Wii security so I'm going to have to assume it is the same as the DS.

Why would they not include the port? Id be willing to bet it would add cents to the cost of each console, doesnt make sense. Wireless blows IMO, everything in the house is wired for top speed and no flakeyness.

That is disappointing that there is no wired option, especially if it would be a very cheap addition. Does wireless have a higher installed base than HDTV?
In my case, I have a wired router given to me by my work, that is preconfigured for my work laptop to connect in port 1. We've changed VPN setups recently, so I'm not sure if it's still needed, but our IT folks don't support wireless home networks, they conflict with the wireless settings we use at the office. I don't work from home much, but when I do, I do need to. It looks like wireless routers run 40+, I guess I could see if the VPN still requires special setup, or if it does, then connect my current router to the wired one, or ask IT to help me setup the new wireless one. Or just try to get the wireless working on my own.
I just wanted to use my existing setup; some people complain that the 360 or PS3 'require' them to buy an HDTV [which certainly does cost more], but this would 'require' me to buy a wireless router or forego some functionality [which is not the case with the 360 or PS3].

dtcarson, wireless routers have wired ports as well. As long as the same VPN settings can be replicated, it shouldn't be an issue.

Blitz, I can't answer for why the decision was made to not include an ethernet port. It is very strange. I don't complain because it includes wireless that other companies charge $100 for 1st party adapters. Wireless, even 802.11b 11Mbps, is faster than what my ISP provides. If the games only require a low bandwidth, then a Gigabit ethernet is really overkill. One less wire I have to run.

In fact, I'd bet big that reason wireless IS included is Wii-DS communication.

Or you could disable the routing features and use the wireless router as a wireless access point.

Anyone else hear anything about the supposed 6 hour event/press conference that NOA's sent out invitations to for Sept. 14? I've seen rumors on some other boards, but nothing concrete. If they're true, I'm guessing that'll be when we get a release date, price & other details.

They are supposed to announce price and launch details in September, so that tracks.

I think the reason they didn't include wired ethernet is that very very few people have wired ethernet in their living room, and those that do, lots of them probably have wireless as well.

I think it's a bit cheapskate, but I can see why they didn't - it's probably a VERY small userbase that has wired ethernet in their house.

I've got a pair of Belkin routers. One has the PCs in the computer room hooked up normally via wired ethernet (I'm not putting my primary PCs on wireless). The other is wirelessly bridged to the router in the computer room and sits on my audio rack - for hookup via wired ethernet to the Xbox, PS2, and eventually HTPC.

I paid -$5 AR for one of them, and I think $40 for the other one. They're pretty cheap these days.


Wireless is plenty fast enough for most home use. Wireless g speeds almost always exceed the speed of your highspeed (unless you're on of those lucky people running 5kbps+ cable or fiber or something). The only thing it's not good for is file transferring between computers in your house - in that case, wired is faster. And I've never seen my wireless connection drop on the laptop in over a year.

Mario Strikers for the Wii! That's great news. Not looking to see much from this conference though.

It's now to the point where I'm tired of waiting for the date and price. When it comes, it'll come. In the meantime, i'll just sit and watch videoclips of games.

My internet connection downloads at 1035k/sec. And ive never had a good wifi experience via my own experience and helping others. It just always sucks. Its why i could care less that it has wifi out of the box, charge extra for it and include wired.

Exactly. That's 1.035 Mbps. Which is far less than the thoroughput of a wireless router. Even wireless B thoroughput is faster than most internet connections. My cable modem connection is pretty speedy - 3.0Mbps.

Even at 200+ feet a poor wireless G router gets 5.8Mbps (with the theoretical maximum being 54mbps). At shorter range (say, 40 feet) you're getting at least 4x the bandwidth of your highspeed.

Newer wireless G MIMO routers get at least 30Mbps at 200feet, and much closer to the 54Mbps maximum:

some benchmarks

Yup yup. The wireless connection still blows away the total bandwith from your ISP.

So if i already have my living room wired for my 360 i will now have to buy a wireless router and receivers for both my 360 and computer? This is enough to not have me getting a Wii at launch or for several months.

Sorta. If you get a wireless router, you can still hardwire the 360 to the router since the line is already run.

Do wireless routers normally have wired points as well for my PC and 360?

The one I have, Belikan something or other, has 3 out ports along with the Wireless. I use the wireless for my DS and laptop and two of the ethernet cable ports for the PC and Xbox. Works great. Was only $35 at Best Buy.

As I said 13 posts ago, most wireless routers have wired ports. In fact, it's usually the only way you can configure them to have a PC directly connected.

Just pick up a box on the shelf, turn it over, and look at the picture. Odds are you'll see 1 WAN port (this goes to your cable/dsl modem) and several (usually 4) LAN ports. Probably a hole for the A/C adapter too.

The DS operates on 802.11b. I imagine the Wii will as well. So if you get an 802.11g router, you'll have to make sure it is in a mixed b/g mode otherwise the DS won't connect and I assume this will also be true for the Wii.

Or you can wait for more info on the USB->ethernet adapter(s) Nintendo has mentioned. I don't know if there'll only be a 1st Party Buffalo-branded dongle or if you can use any on the market like this:

Very interesting. Sorry to sound like a total newbie here but i truly know absolutely nothing about hardware or networking. Probably when the Wii comes out i will be asking for someone to direct me to a router that will work with it and i will just buy the recommended model. The 802 stuff that piņata mentioned doesn't mean anything to me.

No worries. 802 is just WiFi standards.

Basically it breaks down like this:
Your ISP < 802.11b < 802.11g < 802.11n

Cost increases up that scale. The point is any wireless solution will be faster than your upload/download speeds anyway so you won't create a bottleneck. The only reason you'd have for going faster is if you planned on getting other wireless devices (PCs, laptops, Tivos) and transferred a bunch of big files within your home.

Either look for a cheap 802.11b (also known as 11Mbps) or 802.11g (aka 54Mbps) or just wait for the adapter talk as there's no real rush.

But all those standards would be compatible with the Wii? It's not like Xbox Live where some routers wouldn't work correctly with it? (I ran into that problem with my first router for my Xbox).

Couldn't you also use the USB wireless dongle that nintendo put out for the DS? Wouldn't that work too?

If you're not going to use wireless for anything else you can get the Nintendo Wi-Fi adapter, it's $30 ($40?) and works well from what I've seen so far. My girlfriend bought one since she couldn't use her DS at her dorm and hasn't had any problems or complaints yet. It's supposed to work with the Wii when it comes out.