Boingo brings free airport Wi-Fi to Nintendo 3DS

By Mike Flacy December 10, 2011

3ds-boingo — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Announced within a press release yesterday, Boingo Wireless and Nintendo has entered into a partnership to bring free Wi-Fi access on the 3DS handheld gaming device. Any 3DS owner that’s traveling through the 42 North American airports that utilize Boingo for Wi-Fi service will be able to connect and utilize Nintendo’s Wi-Fi enabled features on the 3DS. Some of the more notable airports include the Houston George Bush Intercontinental, New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare airports. While parents are dealing with ticket agents and security checkpoints, children with the 3DS can download new games off the Nintendo eShop as well as resume automatic downloads of 3D video content.

This expansion of free hotspot access brings Nintendo’s total number of locations to 29,000 in North America. Anyone that’s interested in connecting to a free hotspot for Wi-Fi can check Nintendo’s hotspot locator and find a hotspot by typing in a zip code, street address, city or state. Enabling Wi-Fi access while traveling with the 3DS will increase the usefulness of Spotpass, a method of sniffing out Wi-Fi networks and automatically resuming downloads. However, Streetpass doesn’t not require Wi-Fi access to work and continues to exchange profile information with other 3DS owners when in range of another 3DS.

While the ability to record 3D video as well as unlock achievements were likely the most important feature improvements included within the recent firmware update, 3DS owners now have the ability to transfer all content linked to a Nintendo account from one 3DS to another. For instance, if a 3DS is damaged for any reason, the owner can purchase a replacement 3DS and transfer content like games downloaded from the eShop, save files and all funds tied to that account. However, only five transfers are allowed on an account and 3DS owners aren’t allowed to transfer content between systems that have different country or region settings.

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