Online Help Thread (Read Before Posting Questions!)

[Rokrin]

There seem to be a lot of threads here regarding the online play that are identical; sometimes even the wording of the questions/complaints is near identical. Duplicate threads lead to cluttered forums, and when a forum is cluttered, nobody wants to go find out if there question was answered in another thread, which leads to more duplicate threads, which leads to more clutter...and so the cycle continues.



First things first. This thread is not going to cover the excruciating amounts of pain that the "With Anyone" function puts you through. This is a problem that Nintendo says they're working on, but if you phone them, they tell you to try again. It seems to be quite sporadic as to who gets on, and when they're able to find a match. Your best bet is to swap friend codes with people, and play on the "With Friends" function, because it rarely lags out.

Which brings us to the meat of this topic: Lag. Since the "With Friends" function has very, very little trouble finding matches, lag becomes the primary problem/complaint. I've tested the three most common methods of connecting your Wii to the internet, and now I'm going to explain, in order from what I see as the least effective to the most effective, the different ways you can connect to the WiFi Connection. Then we're going to tell you how to make your way better.

Nintendo WiFi USB Connector

This seems to be the least effective way of connecting yourself to WiFi. The USB Connector is a $40-odd dollar device that plugs into the USB port of a PC, and allows the Wii and Nintendo DS/Lite to connect to the WiFi connection.

There are a number of disadvantages to this method. One is that the USB Connector functions by utilizing the Windows ICS feature. For those who don't know, ICS stands for Internet Connection Sharing. Neither the ICS nor the WiFi Connector have any user configuration involved, which means if you run your Wii in a complex network environment (an example would be if you're a coder/hacker, or simply have a full network running out of your house), it's possible the WiFi Connector won't run as it needs to. The condition worsens if you're running Media Center Extender for your Xbox 360, because it uses ICS as well; as a result, your Connector probably won't function at all.

Because the WiFi connector cannot be customized, it will conflict if the network you're on is running in the 192.168.1.x or 192.168.0.x schemes; these are common IP ranges used on routers you buy, so check your IP scheme before you buy a connector.

The last large problem happens if you have a firewall; this is not unlike many other software problems, except that the WiFi connector can be very finicky depending on what firewall you're running. Some firewalls render the connector unusable on that computer all together, meaning you either need to swap your software, buy a new computer, or connect some other way.

There are a number of smaller issues with the WiFi connector; if you change the system name for the Wii, especially on older Wii's, you'll need to clear your internet settings and re-allow the console to connect to your connector. All in all, the Connector functions and gets the job done, but it can be a lot of hassle.

Wireless Router

Wireless Routers are probably the most common way to connect to the WiFi Connection. The main reason for this is that Wireless Internet now seems to be becoming the standard (which isn't necessarily a good thing, but it's happening anyway). So if you're looking to get Wireless anyway, and don't have the technological prowess to modify the necessary drivers to turn your WiFi Connector into a wireless hub (not that you'd want to anyway, the Connector isn't that good), the Router is the way to go. However, it does have a few problems.

Certain routers seem to work less well with the Wii than others; this is the report of many, despite the fact that I've used several brands and have yet to experience anything worth noting. Because of that, all I can tell you is to test your router out, and if it doesn't work, use the next method I cover.

Routers with security enabled also have problems with the Wii; assuming the Wii actually connects to the wireless, it tends to not like the security. So if you're encountering problems, and you're 100% sure that your WEP/WPA/WPA2 key is correct, go clear your internet settings and do it again. Normally by the second entry, it works fine.

Some routers experience problems involving the sharing of packets when you're running many computers off them, so if you're using the router for your Wii, it's generally a good idea to have no more than 6 computers connecting to the router (this actually applies more to the router in general than the Wii, since if you contact someone like Linksys Tech Support when you're experiencing sporadic disconnects, this is what they'll tell you the problem is).

Hardwired
or, more specifically
Datel LAN Adapter

This is the final, and best, method of connecting your Wii to the internet. It plugs into the USB port in the back of your Wii, and then connects to your standard line of internet cable. Plug that into your router, and you're set. If you're experiencing bad lag, and you Wii isn't hardwired yet, I cannot stress enough that you should go buy this. It improves the connection speed of the Wii in spades, and is bar none the best solution to connecting your Wii to the net.

It still experiences problems with LAG, but unless your opponent is situated in Australia (*cough*), you're probably not going to notice. And if your opponent is in Australia, the lag improves to a tolerable level (No more lagged Thunders shocking you to death Kidding, BeGa).



So now that we've briefly covered the three common methods of connection, let's review some methods of making your connection better.

WiFi Connector
- Run your system in a clean boot. If you don't know what this is, google "How to clean boot <insert operating system here>". It eliminates the background programs that run in your computer that are unnecessary; from there, run your WiFi connector, and your connection speed should improve. People who play Oblivion with mods probably already know how to do this, especially if you're on Vista.
- Stop running unnecessary processes. This ties into cleanbooting somewhat. Many processors do not do things simultaneously, even though you think they do; they run through something for 100 milliseconds, then move down the list, and so on. Eventually it comes back to the top, and the time that has passed is barely noticeable to the human mind. If you have less processes running, your processor has less to cycle through, and it comes back to your Connector sooner...you get the idea.
- Sell your connector.

Wireless Router
- Move your Router or Wii closer to one another. Common sense dictates that if it's closer, it has a shorter distance to travel, and guess what? Common sense is right.
- Reduce the traffic your router is running. Turn off unnecessary computers. This may not seem like it should work at first, but it does.

Datel LAN Adapter
- There's really not much you can do. Get faster internet? In all honesty though, this should be entirely dependent on the type of internet you're running (although the type of cable might have something to do with it ). For the most part, if you've bought this, that's as good as your lag is going to get.




I sincerely hope this guide helps some people out, since nobody likes lag or duplicate threads. Two birds, one stone.


And now for some search tags, so when the newbies search, they find this.

Search Tags: Online, WiFi, Connection, Brawl, Help, Router, Connector, LAN, Adapter, Datel

Voila. Now the search function might actually find the thread! Glee!

Please let me know if you have any questions; I'm very tired when writing this, so it's highly possible I missed something.

[Megaman FTW]

One thing that Rokrin did not mention is that a large portion of us own a router from "Linksys". These routers are great for normal internet connection, but can be buggy for nitnendo wifi.

They can still work, but there will be mass lag and disconnections unless you set its wireless frequency to channel 1 or channel 11. I had these problems myself until midnight told me to change to channel 11, I did, and now my online service works like a charm.

[Hazbro]

Here's the first question. Bam!
How long is the LAN adapter?
I'm considering getting a wireless router, but I'd prefer the LAN adapter if I knew if it could actually reach my Wii.
So... how long is it?

[obie_ice]

How do i get a better Wi-Fi connection??

Or for netgear how would you change the channel??

[remi]

Originally Posted by Hazbro

Here's the first question. Bam!
How long is the LAN adapter?
I'm considering getting a wireless router, but I'd prefer the LAN adapter if I knew if it could actually reach my Wii.
So... how long is it?

its only an adapter for a firewire just get a long enough firewire.

[taco31]

Originally Posted by MEGAMAN_FTW!

One thing that Rokrin did not mention is that a large portion of us own a router from "Linksys". These routers are great for normal internet connection, but can be buggy for nitnendo wifi.

They can still work, but there will be mass lag and disconnections unless you set its wireless frequency to channel 1 or channel 11. I had these problems myself until midnight told me to change to channel 11, I did, and now my online service works like a charm.

Yep we know all bout those strange bugs don't we MEGA? Anyways thanx for the overview on the internet problems i'll probably use this thread often.

[taco31]

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Edit: ok spammer gone can calm down now. guess a mod should delete this post.

[Reeg]

Good guide, it should help solve a lot of questions

EDIT: Ban Hamster is no longer needed

[Rokrin]

Sorry I didn't get to answer those questions, thanks to all who helped. I'll answer them more often now that I'm back.

[taco31]

Ok I'm considering getting a LAN for wii hearing about how effective it is. Problem is that my router is way too far away from my wii and is in my parent's room. My wi-fi connection works ok and I haven't experienced too much difficulty with it after i got it set up but I have had a few random disconnects and I hope to fix some of LAG in Brawl. Now I was thinking maybe I could plug the Ethernet into the back of my laptop (laptop uses wi-fi) I doubt that would work and even it did it would essentially be wi-fi again.
Thanks for any advice.