Nintendo & McDonalds Providing WiFi

redemtionboy writes "According to IGN, "Nintendo of America on Tuesday will announce a groundbreaking partnership with Wi-Fi provider Wayport to make available free Internet access to DS owners at McDonald's restaurants across the nation." " There are so many potential jokes here that I'm gonna just leave it to you guys to make your own.

Re:802.11x compatible?

[Bozzio]

I thought this was mentioned on /. before, but McDonald's offers free Wifi for laptop users anyway. I don't know how widespread this is, but it's already offered in my small town.

The funny thing is that they are supposed to give you a 30min user/pass for while you eat, but somebody screwed it up here. Right now they are giving out a single permanent user/pass combinations instead of temp ones... McDonald's, while out of my way a bit, is still a pretty convenient hotspot for me.

Re:802.11x compatible?

[Wwolmack]

From TFA:

"Nintendo and Wayport will offer complimentary Wi-Fi hotspots... enabling DS owners ... to play online games with or against each other."

The DS does not have a TCP stack and has no native support for IPv4 or IPv6 (from http://www.darkain.com/nintendo_ds/nifi.php [darkain.com]):

"The DS does not internally support a TCP stack or any IPv4/IPv6 communications at all. This is why the DS cannot be played online without the use of tunneling... Ni-Fi is a layer 3 protocol on top of 802.11."

802.11x is a network layer, not a magical gateway to "Teh internets"

So it goes to reason that the McDonalds hotspot for the DS won't support regular tcp/ip, as its a hotspot for DS users to play with each other. You probably won't be able to connect your laptop to it.

Re:802.11x compatible?

[mmkkbb]

You wouldn't even need a list. Just filter by the first three bytes (manufacturer).

Re:802.11x compatible?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Nintendo DS is absolutely capable of running standard TCP/IP. Someone just needs to write the code [akkit.org].

Re:Restricting access (similar to Spanish restroom

[fish waffle]

What if you happen to get your receipt ten seconds before the reset and don't make it to the restroom in time?

Allow the current code and last code to have access: everyone is guaranteed a minimum access time.

Re:802.11x compatible?

[ninjakoala]

All online-enabled games (like Mario Kart and Animal Crossing) will come with TCP/IP-stack on carts.

The article you link to is about nifi - not wifi. DS can do both - nifi being the ad hoc-version that's used for normal multiplayer.

Re:802.11x compatible?

[Jonny_eh]

They could also be used for downloading demos, like you can do at Japanese game shops now.

Maybe you can get a free crappy McDonald's game with the purchase of a happy meal?

Re:Pretty much every comment...

[tuffy]

2. From what i read, DS's don't have TCP/IP, so there won't be any TCP/IP for laptops to connect to the internet with. they'll have to translate back and forth between ni-fi and TCP.

The DS, as shipped, doesn't provide a full TCP/IP stack. It does provide the bottom layers for 802.11 wireless. It's up to the games to implement the rest of the stack for proper connection over the internet. And, according to some recent screenshots [apreche.net] that's precisely what Nintendo's doing.

For those we have never been to london

[SmallFurryCreature]

It is true that London can be a bit... dirty. It is a busy town and so when you enter a restaurant that has been open close to 20 hours at night it is going to be less then clean.

McD is not the same all over the world and as a bit of a traveller I have had a lot of fun sampling the local McD. No, the food is never GREAT. Nor is it ever cheap. BUT there are real differences between countries, not just in taste but in how they are used and in how classy they are. Try an McD in a more rural area and you will have wooden chairs and tables with real plants. Go to the heart of london and it looks designed to be hoosed down during the 2 hours it actually closes.

You could choose the McSalad but.....

[ltrm]

...it could well have more calories than the cheeseburger.

http://www.campaignfortruth.com/Eclub/230304/CTM-M cdonalds.htm/ [campaignfortruth.com]

No Ni-Fi!

[Phantasmo]

I doubt that this will be modded up, but there are plenty of trolls having a big laugh about "Ni-Fi" on Slashdot today. So let me set the record straight:
Ni-Fi is what's used for local games. If you are at the mall with some friends and want to connect for Nintendogs or Bomberman, the DS will be using Ni-Fi. It is proprietary. It is not used for playing on the Internet.
If you buy Mario Kart DS and you're at the mall with some friends, it will use Ni-Fi. If you stumble upon an unsecured wireless node at the mall and want to play on the Internet, the Mario Kart cartridge will fire up its own TCP/IP stack. This is how online play is going to work on the DS.
So, Ni-Fi = LAN, Wifi + TCP/IP = Internet.

Frankly this whole McDonald's thing is not surprising. There are lots of McDonaldses in my area with "free" (with purchase) wireless Internet access. On top of that, every McDonald's in Scarborough has at least four Gamecubes in the kids area.

What does it mean in the end? Another reason to go to McDonald's. Damn you, with your McFlurries and your Big Macs and your Mario Kart and free drink refills...
Aha! Free DS online play + unlimited pop for $1.50...

Re:802.11x compatible?

[Ghost_MH]

I almost forgot...The reason you can't get on a McDonald's WiFi network is because you need to pay for a Wayport membership. If I understand this article correctly, what Nintendo is doing is making a deal with Wayport to give DS owners free WiFi access at Wayport access points at McDonald's restaurants.

Re:If...

[Toloran]

Actually the DS has two different types of signals. It has the standard 801.11G and B signal. It also has their own special signal (often called Ni-Fi). The special signal only is compatable with DSs (at the moment). The Ni-Fi signal is normally used when 2 DSs are communicating with eachother. If they do deliver a free signal for DS owners only then they are probably going to use Ni-Fi instead of Wi-Fi

Re:For those we have never been to london

[Anonymous Coward]

It is different in different places. For example, in England they'll sometimes have little mini-pizzas--never seen one of those in the US. In Canada in some places you'll get (fake) poutine. In India, you don't get burgers. So on and so forth.

Re:WiFi from McDonald's?

[jskiff]

I know you're intending this to be funny, but I find this a bit interesting (data is from McDonalds' website): Big Mac: 500 Calories Large Fries: 520 Calories Large Coke: 310 Calories Total: 1330 Calories Substituting a Diet Coke for the Coke lowers it to 1020 calories. Still a lot, of course (about half what you need for the day), but it does lower it by 25% or so.

Re:If...

[tempmpi]

The DS always communicates using the physical protocol of 2mbit IEEE802.11b. It however doesn't always implement the full 802.11b protocol stack and IP. What you call Ni-Fi is just a subset of IEEE802.11b using a custom protocol instead of IP. It doesn't support 11mbit or 54mbit transfer modes. So while it is compatible with 11mbit and 54mbit equipment, you can really say it supports IEEE 802.11g.