No Wi-Fi upgrade for 20GB PS3

By Tom Bramwell Published 31 October, 2006

Not "currently" anyway.

Those of you hoping to buy the cheaper, 20GB PlayStation 3 and then upgrade its hard disk and network functionality at a later date may be bang out of luck - there's currently no way to get Wi-Fi into PS3 unless it's there out of the box.

That's according to a Q&A posted on Sony's Japanese PlayStation 3 website, partially translated by IGN. The offending question asks, "Can you expand the 20GB model with Wireless LAN after purchase?" and the answer is "Not currently."

Of course, fixing that wouldn't be a big deal - the PS3's understanding of all things USB, and Sony's capacity to upgrade the onboard operating system through PSP-style firmware updates, allows for some sort of aftermarket compatibility patch.

But with wireless PSP connections as well as wireless Internet access blocked off until they do, it's not something you'd necessarily want to bet on, even if the difference in price (the 60GB PS3, with Wi-Fi built in, costs another EUR 100) is otherwise tempting.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jiveguy #1 5 years ago

    You can always just get a wireless bridge and hook that into the ethernet port. Worked great for the xbox.

  • kaleii Verified Editor-in-Chief, Country Manager, Eurogamer Sweden #2 5 years ago

    TeddyBoy r teh r£+4rd

  • trevd72 #3 5 years ago

    a good cheap wireless access point can be bought for £15 i have it working in the back of my xbox360 via a switch which has my xbox original and pc connected this then talks to my wireless router and another wireless access point with my sons kit attached the nds and psp run off these too. should work a treat here as jiveguy says.

  • trevd72 #4 5 years ago

    oh yes forgot.

    SONY HATE US!!!
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/06 @ 08:53

  • Hench #5 5 years ago

    lol kaleii

  • Stormflood #6 5 years ago

    Yup, I use a wifi bridge for my 360, so the PS3 is wifi-able by default. Maybe not a PS3 branded dongle, but wasn't that the point that it uses of-the-shelf PC accessories?

  • MadMirko #7 5 years ago

    Hm, so if you do not have wireless at home, there is no PSP PS3 connectivity if you purchase the smaller SKU? On the other hand, are there even games that support the connection, or is it just for emulation / movies / music?

    No problem for me, but I guess there will be some extra tears this chrimbo.

    EDIT: ... in the US and JP, that is.
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/06 @ 09:49

  • Danj #8 5 years ago

    If Sony says you can't add wifi to the 20Gb PS3 they are talking out of their behinds. As the first poster mentions, you can just get a standard Ethernet to wireless bridge which works with ANY Ethernet capable device. News like this is very misleading and is clearly intended to fool people into buying the 60Gb PS3.

  • SeesThroughAll #9 5 years ago

    Like it has been mentioned, these news are just wrong.

  • jimberlee #10 5 years ago

    @jiveguy & StormFlood

    Just wondered how you get that thing working? I want to get onto Live but I really can't afford to pay £60 or so for an official MS wireless thing in case it doesn't work on my university's wireless network.

  • Xerx3s #11 5 years ago

    Wait, didn't sony say that they aren't going to release a 20 gb version in Europe in the first place?

  • jack_klugman #12 5 years ago

    Sony say a lot of things.

  • SimonM7 #13 5 years ago

    I read somewhere that Resistance allows for a 5GB install on the hard drive. What does that mean in the long run? Four games on there and it's full if you got the 20GB version? Is that gonna be a trend? It's out any day now and these are things not fully explained yet.

    I'm increasingly glad we have 5 months extra to see what the deal is when the smoke clears.

  • Psi #14 5 years ago

    SimonM7 you're in luck, I'd say sony will give you a few more months on top of that :) plenty time.

  • kangarootoo #15 5 years ago

    Jesus, that kind of sucks. Although the "not currently" statement suggests something will be sorted. I guess if the 60gb model has wifi built in, all you would need to expand the 20gb model is some kind of USB dongle as used by the XB360. So Sony are simply saying such a dongle won't be available on launch I would assume.

    As others have said, there are plenty of wifi gateways available that will solve the problem.

    @jimberlee

    "for an official MS wireless thing in case it doesn't work on my university's wireless network."

    The XB360 wifi dongle and corresponding dashboard sw is really very good. Its bang up to date and supports new standards such as 802.11A. If you can get your laptop working with your uni network I would be surprised if the dongle wouldn't work too.

    However, to avoid the risk of me saying "yeah, go on, spend £60" and it then turn out to be bollox, here is a good starting point for you to continue your info gathering.

    [link url=http://jakeludington.com/xbox/20060207_x box_360_wireless_networking.html
    ]http://ja keludington.com/xbox/20060207_x...[/link]

    P.s. eBay is where you want to be looking, you can get a new 360 adapter for around £45 if you hunt about.

    Failing that, have a search about for a Linksys WGA54G. That will get your 360 wireless and you can bag them on eBay for a snip. Incidentally, the same product (or similar) would work for anyone wanting to get a PS3 20gb on wifi too.

  • jimberlee #16 5 years ago

    Thanks kangarootoo. Does the offical wireless dongle let you save the passwords you need for getting onto the network though?. We have to sign in on a certain server to gain access you see.