Good thing all of downtown Austin, TX is one giant wifi hub then, huh? I still prefer cafe atmospheres to McDonalds...their food...is not great. =/

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I played mario kart DS when it came out for an hour in a mc donalds...and that was the first and last time ive used the wi fi in the mc donalds...i kept getting my ds all quarter poundery with cheese....

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Thanks for picking up the story. I love the graphic!

Aside from my tiny, insignificant magazine, DS Fanboy is the first to report this news.

Even if you mange to connect through the dongle or Opera, McDonald's generally charges for its Wi-Fi ($2.95 for 2 hours).

However, there are four ways to get on for free:

* Get broadband (DSL or fiber) service from AT&T
* Ask cashier for a free Wi-Fi coupon (this doesn't work very often)
* Some McD franchises give their Wi-Fi away free (Know of one? Please share!)
* Pay $60/mo. for a 3G Laptop card from AT&T Wireless and McD Wi-Fi is thrown in free

Thanks again for the 15 minutes of fame!

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Hands down, that's the worst Mario costume I've ever seen.

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I didn't even know that the McDonalds Wi-Fi was available in Canada! Oh well.

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I remember first hearing about WiFi at McDonald's from Nintendo Power. I have fond memories of wiping off my DS with a napkin, too.

It seems like the McDonald's I went to stopped this service a few months early. It might've been last November or so when my DS was no longer compatible with their WiFi. No problem, I have wireless at my house now. But for shame, McDonald's!

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Maybe they're going to bring whatever they're doing in Japan over here?

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@SephFinale: You got that right. Free Wi-Fi, particularly at independent cafes, isn't hard to find.

And even though the Nintendo Wi-Fi hotspot locator still claims 6,000 partner hotspots (the actual number is 0), it is useful for finding those free Wi-Fi cafes.

http://www.nintendowifi.com/hotspots/searchHotSpot.do?locale=en_US

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Somehow my router isn't compatible with the wi-fi connection, so the McDonald's wi-fi was great.

On that note, if you want your network to not suck, don't buy anything from Belkin.

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Panera bread has wifi too. Oh and the food has never killed anyone either.

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Most of the McDonalds here don't have Wifi working for the DS.

This happened when they tried to seup a pay-for-wifi service with Wayport, and broke wifi for the DS. I notified both McDonalds & Nintendo. Nintendo did squat. McDonalds blamed Wayport and eventually fixed the problem at my closest McDonalds branch. The largest McDonalds in the state is still broken AFAIK.

I would occasionally go to McDonalds, prior to my getting the Nintendo Wifi Connector. Now I only go very rarely to use the Nintendo Browser.

Windows Live OneCare will NOT let the Nintendo Wifi Connector access the internet w/o turning off the firewall, so I haven't used the Nintendo Wifi Connection lately. I'll go back to playing on wifi when my subscription to OneCare expires and I get another company's internet security package.

Peace.

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That damn WiFi hotspot locater of Nintendo's says the Schlotzkies near me has compatable WiFi...but every time I try to use it there, I get an error. But maybe the locater has been updated since it first went online.

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I'm fairly certain Schlotzsky's has a sign-in page, even though it's free. You need to click an "I Agree" button to agree to the Terms of Service, etc.

But guess what? The DS doesn't (normally) have a web browser, so how are you supposed to click that button?!?

You have two choices:

1. Use the USB Wi-Fi connection hardware and click that Agree button on your laptop (making your DS unit slightly less portable :)
2. Pop in the Opera cartridge for web surfing (You'll see the Agree button this way).

Jack in the Box and most hotel chains with free Wi-Fi do the same thing: Sign-in first, then you get full access to the Internet.

McDonald's is now the same way for DS users. Gone are the days when you could "just connect." You need to sign in with a web browser and perhaps even type in a credit card number to get online.

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Most McDonald's I've been to -- and Paneras as well, for those who mentioned that -- have WiFi that doesn't support the Ninteno DS at all. They used an incompatible wireless signal. My college is the same way. The only way I can get online with my DS is to use a wireless router attached to my computer, and that monstrosity is not so portable. T_T

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Whoa whoa... Canada? Where? We dont have wifi in our mcdonalds up here. Not that I know of.

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Why does this matter?

Why is it so hard for people to buy a $30 wireless router?

Whatever you buy will probably be better than the trash that your ISP provides you with anyway.

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