Wii Wireless Woes and Fix
Problems have been plaguing my Wii to the point of being useless.
Symptoms include: intermittent connectivity; no connectivity; random error codes ranging from unable to connect to your router to you have no internet connection; all while being able to easily see the wireless access point and connect to it.
It all started when I upgraded my wireless access point to a Linksys WRT54GS router. My old D-Link would spontaneously reboot itself when more than one wireless device was connected and I was using processor intensive WPA wireless encryption. Now that we have two laptops, a Wii, and a few other devices that can use WPA2 – it seemed the thing to use.
I set the WRT54GS to use WPA2 wireless encryption, changed the admin password, and changed the name of the SSID.
All the laptops connected fine. My smartphone connected fine. The Wii could see the AP (with a green, three bar signal icon) and displayed the proper encryption method… but would intermittently fail connection tests. If it passed a test, it would fail almost every time I launched an online channel.
After further troubleshooting I reset the wireless to:
G only. No change.
B only. No change.
Mixed. No change.
Tried every channel from 1 – 12, no difference. All the while my two laptops with Intel 802.11 a/b/g wireless are working flawlessly.
So I powered up an old 802.11b access point that only has WEP, and I left that disabled. The Wii connected fine, test passed, and I could browse with the internet channel. I wasn’t going to leave an open AP on in my neighborhood.
So now I’ve confirmed something is amiss with the Wii.
Solution:
I took my 12 character long alphanumeric password and shortened it to 8 characters. Ding! WPA2 and WPA will work just fine.
I have yet to test > 12 or < 8 character passwords, but right now I’m comfortable with WPA2 rotating the encryption keys every 3600 seconds with an 8 character non-dictionary word password.
If you’re having the same problem, try an 8 character password using random letters and numbers. Even though it’ll be shorter than I’m usually comfortable using, making it hard to guess will keep you safe.
How to get a Wii (before Christmas)
Scrambling for a Wii this Christmas? Join the hunt. You and a million others are camping out at big box stores, F5′ing the Wii pages on e-tailer’s websites, or just giving up and spending $600 or more on ebay. There’s an easier way, and here’s what worked for me.
What you’ll need:
1. Visit Wiialerts.com and sign up for their free email notification.
2. Once you’ve signed up for the email notification, turn around and sign up for the text paging option.
3. Visit all the retailers websites you’re comfortable buying from.
4. I highly recommend signing up for Target and Amazon’s website
5. Save your shipping address, billing address, and your credit card data on the site
6. Enable one-click purchasing.
Email isn’t good enough
An email distribution from Wiialerts.com can take 5-10 minutes just to get dispersed, travel across the internet, through your mail provider’s spam filter(s), then sit in your inbox waiting for your email client to check. You’ll be out of luck almost every time. I had really good luck with Gmail, but a long delay with my work email address. Your mileage may vary.
Overpriced Bundles?
I say avoid the overpriced bundles unless they’re a good deal for you and your family (see Mark’s comment below for more info). As of this post, I found Walmart has an obnoxious bundle for $670 that includes some mediocre games and a couple of controllers. If it’s worth it to you – then buy. Otherwise if you’re really in a bind to get one, read on.
If you buy the bundle from Target.com, Samsclub.com, Walmart.com, or Bestbuy.com – you can always return the unopened video games for a refund. But even then, the bundle costs may be more than individual items total up to – that’s demand driving up those costs. Do the math before you buy or accept you’ll be paying more for a hard to find item and be happy you got one.
How fast do I need to respond?
When you get a text page, you’ll have to react within a few minutes. That’s why text paging is about the only way you can ensure you’re going to see stock online. Most Wii consoles that are selling for less that $400 will sell out in 4 minutes or less.
When you get the text page on your phone, check your webmail or Wiialerts.com site immediately. Wiialerts.com will email you a link directly to the etailer, or you can click on the in stock item to get dropped directly on the e-tailer’s page selling the wii. And buy quickly, even if you have it in your cart – if it sells out before you get a confirmation – you’ll lose it.
I’ve read rumors that amazon may get hammered so hard that they have confirmations on Wii purchases that they couldn’t fill – so they canceled the order. Don’t be afraid to call Amazon if that happens to you. They may be able to comp you by giving you the ability to pre-purchase the next one, or at least do something nice for you. That didn’t happen to me – and I got a UPS shipping tracking number to prove it was on its way.
Tips to win
1. Keep a PC in the house on and online.
2. If you’re on dialup – good luck.
3. If you’re at work, don’t go out to lunch – brown bag it at your desk. Most instock alerts I received came in during the afternoon.
4. If you can, Make Wiialerts.com your home page, so when you open your browser – you’ll be one step closer.
Obviously these are just some simple tips that I found worked for me. But please keep a level head and maintain security of your information – don’t save your browser passwords or keep your PC unlocked.
Feel free to add comments to this post to share your own experiences. Good luck!
