Information on identifying and resolving Nintendo wifi connection conflicts, and configuration information for avoiding potential conflicts with Wireless LAN Firewall, Hotspot Routers, Broadband Gateways, and various software products.

To play online, you need a Nintendo DS system, a Nintendo Wi-Fi compatible game, an Internet hotspot, or a wireless home router with a working/operational high-speed Internet broadband connection. You do not have to buy anything extra if you already have a wireless router at your location. If you have a PC but do not have a wireless router, you would need to buy the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector.

Do not buy Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connectors if you have a Macintosh computer. As long you have a Nintendo WFC compatible wireless router, you should be able to play online by connecting to the Nintendo WFC from your home. If you have neither a Nintendo WFC compatible router nor a PC, you can still play online but you will have to connect to Nintendo WFC using a local Hotspot.

In order for your Nintendo WiFi Connections to work, however, you need to essentially ensure that your Nintendo DS Hardware (including USB Connector) is not conflicting with any of your existing networking hardware, or running afoul of any of your software applications, and that communication between your gaming device and your wireless/broadband uplink is not being blocked.

If you are having trouble in getting your Nintendo DS (or your WiFi USB Connector) to coexist with your WLAN or wireless hotspot, you may have one or more of the following conflicts or configuration issues.

Configuring Nintendo DS / USB WiFi Connector & Resolving Conflicts:

• Resolve IP address Conflicts: Most Nintendo USB adapters are preconfigured to use 192.168.1.1 (or 192.168.0.1) IP address and 255.255.255.0 netmask. If you have a networking device (DSL, Cable Modem, or a Wireless router/gateway) that also has that IP bound to its Ethernet interface, you are going to have an IP address conflict as soon as you try to introduce your Nintendo DS USB stick to your local area network subnet that uses 192.168.1.0-255 Class C block of IP addresses.

  Resolve any IP conflict by changing the IP address on your networking hardware (router/LAN modem/Gateway, etc.) to something like 192.168.2.1. You are not going to be able to install the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector if there is an IP address conflict.

• Tweak/Relax Your Firewall Rules: If your Internet uplink passes through a Firewall, it is possible that traffic from your Nintendo DS USB adapter may be tripping of one or more of Firewall filters/rules. Essentially, You would need to allow TCP traffic to all destinations on ports: 28910, 29900, 29901, 29920, 80, and 443; and allow UDP traffic to all destinations.

  Check out related documents published (see navigation links below) at this site on how to open up ports, protocols and make other changes (and the implication thereof on your network security) that may be needed for making gaming traffic from your Nintendo DS systems -and the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi USB Connector -traverse through your wireless network.

• Resolve Any VPN Tunnel Conflicts: Virtually Private Network programs (VPNs) provide an encrypted/secure tunnel for providing better security/privacy for the data being sent/received using the Internet -i.e. public networks. While VPN programs are great for protecting your data from others, they (VPNs) can interfere with your Nintendo DS Wi-Fi USB Connectors. You may have to turn off (or disable) VPN clients/services altogether on your computers in order for allowing bi-directional traffic between your Nintendo DS USB and your Wireless broadband uplink.
  
• Disable Conflicting Software/Services: Several Anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall software packages are known to block traffic from gaming devices -including Nintendo. Consider temporarily disabling (in stead of permanently uninstalling) such software/services to see if your game play traffic passes through your wireless network. Some of the software firewalls (such as Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite) are known to be incompatible with the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi USB Connectors. If you have ZoneAlarm on your system, you may have to completely uninstall it (not just disable it) from your computer, and use another software/hardware firewall product.

Considering how greatly various software products/services and networking hardware differ from one another, we suggest you carefully review your software/product (VPN Clients, Firewalls, Anti-virus, Anti-spyware, Networking Device Drivers, etc.) manuals for help on making aforementioned adjustments. Please keep in mind that relaxing your firewall rules and/or completely removing anti-virus/anti-spyware software programs and VPN clients may make your network more vulnerable to malware.