Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection

1 UK Wi-Fi Connection partnership announced
Oct. 5, 2005

There is a revolution afoot in the worlds of Wi-Fi and gaming. Nintendo UK is bringing Wi-Fi technology into play from 25th November 2005 with a new groundbreaking deal with wireless providers BT Openzone and The Cloud. The launch of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service means the UK will take an unprecedented step forward into a new era of gaming, allowing anyone to play against friends and family across the globe simply, safely and best of all - for free*.

To ensure that anyone really can play against others from all over the world with their Nintendo DS, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection can be accessed in any one of three ways:

1. Gamers will be able to visit any one of over 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots at locations across the UK. These include McDonalds restaurants, Coffee Republic coffee houses, Hilton and Ramada Jarvis hotels, Road Chef and Welcome Break service stations, First Great Western railway stations, over 25 student unions and city centre BT Payphones and airports, football stadiums and even the British Library and Canary Wharf. By logging onto www.thecloud.net or www.btopenzone.com and entering your town or postcode; you can find the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection hotspots closest to you.
2. Nintendo UK will also be installing BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspots into major video games retailers and other key outlets across the UK, meaning it really is possible to game anywhere!
3. Gamers with a broadband internet connection at home will be able to enjoy the free*, simple and safe Wi-Fi gaming service; you simply need a Wi-Fi access point or hotspot, like a Wi-Fi wireless router, and an active broadband internet connection. If you do not have a wireless access point, you can purchase a Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector (available 25th November for around £30) which plugs into a PC and automatically sets up a connection for you.

Nintendo's Wi-Fi gaming service is free* - there are no fees or subscriptions to pay. It’s incredibly easy to use - you simply turn it on and select Wi-Fi, there are no complicated menu screens and minimum configurations required and most importantly Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection service is a safe environment for players. Players have the option to select to play with just friends, or people of a similar skill level around the world without fear of harassment. Players do not have direct communication with each other when playing anonymously and therefore personal details or inappropriate comments cannot be exchanged.

The launch of Nintendo Wi-Fi coincides with the return of infamous Nintendo title Mario Kart DS. Mario Kart is the first in what looks set to be a long line of titles to fully benefit from the Nintendo Wi-Fi offering. Also launching for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on 18th November, and designed to take full advantage of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, is Tony Hawk's American SK8Land from Activision; the first 3D Tony Hawk game experience for a Nintendo handheld system.

* Usual broadband line rental costs apply when accessing the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection at home.

Source here

2
Here's the online "Find Hotspots"(- results for Cardiff)

For example The Old Library (pub):









CardiffCC The Old Library
Driving Directions
Trinity Street
Cardiff, CF10 1BH
Powered by:BT Openzone


3 More results: Caerphilly here


4 To be awkward,

I searched for Llanhennock (rural pub): the results here
reveal 3 pubs in Caerleon. Of course the Wheatsheaf pub in LLanhennock is a free house specialising in real ales- a lights-flashing ITBOX would just look sooo out of place (not to mention its size).


5 The Cloud

• The Cloud homepage here

• Wi-FI - How to Connect here

bbc.co.uk
City-wide wi-fi rolls out in UK
Last Updated: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 14:52 GMT

[Woman using laptop in a station]
Wi-fi is spreading its wings beyond stations and cafes

A UK company that has created wireless hotspots in stations, coffee shops and hotels around the UK is planning to launch city-wide wi-fi this spring.

The Cloud will bring wireless broadband to nine cities including London, Manchester and Birmingham.

Hundreds of hotzones will be rolled out across the cities, giving access to the internet for anyone using a wi-fi enabled computer or mobile phone.

More cities are expected to be announced during 2006.

The first phase will see hotzones set up in Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge and three London boroughs - Islington, Kensington and Camden.

It is expected that the new wireless internet network will reach more than 4 million people.

Rival phone networks

Each hotzone will turn broadband-speed internet into radio signals to allow people to surf the net, send e-mails, play online games and make cheap phone calls over wi-fi.

"Providing ubiquitous wireless broadband access, over a network that is available to millions of wi-fi devices, and will be available to the new generation of wi-fi phones, gaming devices and other applications will have a major impact on the way people communicate, work and play in city centres," said George Polk, chief executive of The Cloud.

The hotzones will rival existing mobile phone networks.

Around 25 mobile phone handsets currently have wi-fi chips installed. Pressing a button on the phone allows users to bypass their own mobile phone network to connect to the internet and make cheap broadband phone calls.

Initially the networks will be available to people using BT Openzone, O2, SkypeZones and Nintendo WiFi but The Cloud hopes other service providers will want to join the party.

The wi-fi firm currently has around 6,000 hotspot locations throughout the UK, Sweden and Germany.

It recently launched a network in Canary Wharf which it claims to be Europe's largest wi-fi enabled financial area.

Source here

City of London to get blanket Wi-Fi
Graeme Wearden
ZDNet UK
January 20, 2006, 16:55 GMT

Workers in the City should soon be able to get wireless Internet access even when outside the office

The Corporation of London is poised to award a multi-million pound contract to build a wireless network covering the financial heart of the capital.

The Corporation's policy committee met on Thursday to assess the merits of three wireless operators — BT Openzone, The Cloud and Wicoms. According to those familiar with the process, the winning operator will be announced on Monday 23 January.

It is unclear at this stage how widespread the deal will be, but one report has claimed that the contract for constructing and managing it could be worth more than £10m.

The Corporation is following the lead of Canary Wharf, which last August awarded The Cloud a contract to deploy a Wi-Fi network over its estate. That network covered several underground retail spaces, restaurants, bars, gardens, promenades and other public spaces, but did not reach offices at 1 Canada Square, the tower at Canary Wharf.

Source here