Most Airport Express and Airport Extreme Wireless Routers from Apple Computers work really well with Nintendo DS. They are highly recommended for providing wireless connectivity (WiFi Uplink) to Nintendo DS gaming consoles.

The process of configuring an Airport Express (or Airport Extreme) wireless router for use with your Nintendo DS is no different from that of establishing WiFi communication channels between any two wifi-enabled devices.

Essentially, you would be working on gathering information needed for identically configuring two wireless devices (wireless link endpoints) needed for establishing your wireless link –i.e. details such as user authentication settings (username and password), identities (SSIDs) of your wireless devices, network parameters (Default IP Address being 10.0.1.253, Netmask, Default Gateway setting, etc.) thereof, and the specifics of data encryption (Type of WEP Key, and the actual WEP Encryption Key) being used -if any.

It would be helpful to ascertain that your Wireless Router is equipped with the latest version of device driver software/firmware. This is especially important if you had bought your Airport Express or Airport Extreme router a while ago, or if it was supplied to you by a broadband provider. Check with manufacturer’s website for any firmware updates –especially if you are having any wifi connectivity issues.

You would need to power up your wifi router, and then connect to it using the Airport Admin Utility. Once your Airport Admin application is running, select your Base station ID (SSID) and connect to your WLAN.

If you receive a login prompt from your Airport router, try the following:

Default Username on Airport Express Routers: none (leave blank)
Default Password on Airport Express Routers: public (lowercase only)

The aforementioned UserID and Password would only work if this is the first time that you are connecting to your wireless router or if it has been left in "factory default settings" mode. If it fails, you will need the actual/current password that your Airport Express/Extreme has been configured with. If you have forgotten your admin password, or if it refuses to log you in using your current password; you may have to reset your router to its factory default settings. Should you have to do that (i.e. a complete reset to factory defaults), do not forget to adequately secure your router once again.

Establish Administrative Access to Your Airport Router as above, and Proceed as Follows:

• Retrieve SSID from your Apple Aiport/Extreme WiFi Router: Go to the Airport tab of your Airport Admin utility to review or change the SSID.

  The default SSID on most Apple Airport/Extreme routers is: Apple Network XXXXXX (where X may be a letter or number). Considering that SSIDs are caSesENsItiVE, please write it down carefully if you are going to alter it.

• How to Access or Change WEP Keys on Apple WiFi Routers: WEP information for your Apple router can be accessed/updated by using the Airport Admin utility and going to the Airport: Change Wireless Security section thereof. You router will probably obscure it (by showing a bunch of ******) and not display the actual WEP key. Should that be the case (and if you do not know your current WEP key), you will have to enter a new WEB key (using ASCII, Hex or Passphrase WEP Key Entry Method) on this screen. You have an option to enter either a 10 digit (64 bit) or a 26 digit (128-bit) WEP key, but try 64 bit WEP Key (10-digit WEP Key) first. Write it down -you will need it to configure your Nintendo DS.

Now that you know these parameters (password, SSID, WEP key, NIC IP Address, etc.) that your wireless router is currently setup with, all that remains to be done is to use these details for identically configuring one of the three Connection Save Files (CSF 1 thru 3) on your Nintendo DS. If you need help with Nintendo DS WiFi Connection configuration, click on the Nintendo link for several documents we have available on that very topic.

If the above instructions do not adequately help you resolve wifi connectivity issues between your Apple WiFi Router and your Nintendo DS, we suggest reviewing other documents we have available at this web site, Apple Computer’s web site, and your product documentation for more up-to-date information.