Connecting Your Wii to the Internet
If you’re reading this article, you probably don’t need me to explain why you should connect your Wii to the internet. You already know that you can connect with friends, download games, and check news and weather. You know you should, now let’s talk about how to do it.
Wireless Connection
The Wii offers two options for connecting to the internet – wireless or through a wired LAN adapter. Assuming you already have wireless in your house, connecting wirelessly is the easiest option and won’t require any extra hardware. If your wireless is already running, all we need to do is find you an access point. From your Wii’s main menu, click on the Wii button to take you to the settings screen. Select Wii Settings and go to the second page.
Once you’re there, click on Internet and go to Connection Settings. You’ll see options to create a connection – pick one. Now select Wireless Connection and then Search for an Access Point. The Wii will now look for all available access points. Once it finishes, hit OK and you’ll see a list of the access points.
When you see the list of access points, you may see that some of them have padlocks next to them. This means that accessing those connections will require the network key or password. You’ll also see a signal strength icon. If you have different connections to choose from, you should pick the one with the strongest signal. Pick an access point and save your settings. As you save the settings, the Wii will test the connection and perform any necessary system updates.
Wired Connection
If you want to connect your Wii through a wired connection, you’ll need to pick up a Wii Lan Adapter. Nintendo makes these, but you may find them cheaper from third parties. The adapter is USB-to-Ethernet, so you’ll just need to plug it into the USB port in the back of your Wii. You’ll then run an ethernet cord from your modem or router and plug it into the adapter.
Turn your Wii on and go through the same process mentioned above to get to Connection Settings. Once there, create a new connection and select Wired Connection. Once you click Wired Connection you’ll be able to run a connection test and then the Wii can check for system updates.
You now have two ways to get online, both of which are easy to do. The only step that remains is coming up with excuses to tell your friends for why you’re going to be missing out on the next two weeks’ worth of dinners, parties, etc.