Right, it's really simple

1) Get your Smartphone, make sure it supports Wifi portable hotspot and that you have a (preferably) unlimited 3G/4G data plan or enough data on PAYG.

If you can't find hotspot settings, try toggling it on with this https://play.google....t.hotspot&hl=en if you've got an Android

2) In your portable hotspot settings, find the SSID and change accordingly
IF NA REGION 3DS= attwifi
IF EU REGION (UK/GB) 3DS= _The Cloud

IF EU REGION (ANYWHERE ELSE) 3DS= NintendoSpotPass1
IF JP REGION 3DS= wifine

(Advanced Tip: If you like being choosy, here's a list of all hotspot SSIDs to pick from)

3) Turn on your hotspot (On your Smartphone)

4) Close your 3DS and toggle the wireless switch on-off

Spoiler

5) The Nintendo Zone Viewer should appear on your home menu and you should be able to play stuff

P.S- I use an Android phone with CyanogenMod so help is limited on other smart platforms
N.B- 3DS supports only INFRASTRUCTURE mode wifi connections, not AD-HOC. Check if your phone tether supports infrastructure connectivity before attempting this.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I suggest any Android users that don't pay for a hotspot service should download Foxfi* from Google Play (if you're a no-root user) or WiFi Tether for Root Users if you are rooted.

*For any US people with Sprint that want to do this, to download Foxfi you need to go to foxfi.com/bin as Sprint had Google remove it from the Play Store.

 

[andyhappypants]

Anyone know if there is a workaround for iphone users??

 

[tatripp]

Anyone know if there is a workaround for iphone users??

I highly doubt it because i'm pretty sure Iphones can't turn into a wifi hotspot.

 

[BORTZ]

Anyone know if there is a workaround for iphone users??

I highly doubt it because i'm pretty sure Iphones can't turn into a wifi hotspot.

If you are jailbroken. There was a Tether app that made it into the app store for like 3 days, but was taken down.
Myfi or whatever can do it. It takes 3G and emits a Wifi signal for others to use.

 

[andyhappypants]

Awesome, Thanks for that!

 

[unopepito06]

Im on at&t, I have the 5gb a month data plan, which includes tethering and portable wifi hotspot. If you don't have a supported plan, expect to pay some money, or root.

 

[Deleted User]

Im on at&t, I have the 5gb a month data plan, which includes tethering and portable wifi hotspot. If you don't have a supported plan, expect to pay some money, or root.

Yup, root and flash cyanogenmod.
Or just sideload this and shaft At&t
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.tether&hl=en

 

[Archadae]

Right, it's really simple
IF EU REGION 3DS= _TheCloud

Its _The Cloud (with a space) not _TheCloud

 

[DaRk_ViVi]

You can do the same with a standard Access Point (my Router allow multiple SSID for istance), just create a wireless network with one of those SSID.
However once entered into the Nintendo Zone app I can't access the service.

EDIT: had to turn off encryption on the wireless network!

As Archadae said, correct EU SSID is _The Cloud with a space

 

[Rizsparky]

I have a 'guest' SSID on my router thats hidden so its not discoverable to neighbors, works fine. But nintendo zone iscrap and there's never anything worth watching/downloading

 

[ground]

any SSID of the following lsit should work:
http://3dbrew.org/wiki/Nintendo_Zone

 

[Rizsparky]

any SSID of the following lsit should work:
http://3dbrew.org/wiki/Nintendo_Zone

Wait a second... the SSID's that are 'Special Nintendo events', anything special happen when connected to them?

 

[qweesy777]

very nice thank you

 

[driverdis]

the instructions were easy to follow and concise, something that other people's guides/tutorials seem to be lacking lately.

also, Nintendo Zone will work on any Open WiFi as long as the SSID is one from the list and matches the region of the DSi/3DS.

I am running 2 seperate Access Points with SSID "attwifi" so now my house has 100% Nintendo Zone coverage.
I set these up originally for legacy devices (or Nintendo Devices also since they might as well be considered legacy devices in terms of supported WiFi Encryption modes)

also, I found out Nintendo Zone will not work with WEP(64/128bit),(WPA(AES/TKIP),WPA2(AES/TKIP) Enabled BUT it will work if you use MAC Filtering only.
I set both AP's up with MAC filtering to keep leechers off. (of course this will not stop anyone with any knowledge of how MAC Filtering works from connecting anyway via MAC Spoofing.
the DSi/3DS still connects to Nintendo Zone since MAC Filtering does not require connected devices to do anything else then connect same as if it were fully wide open.

 

[Lyomak]

Thanks for the tip! I have an unlimited data plan and I use a Galaxy S Captivate with Slim Bean 3.1 ROM. No problems so far

 

[Deleted User]

Cheers! Updated with some info from the posts I read

 

[Silithas]

I tried both uk and elsewhere's ssid's, but i only get error code 013-8805

 

[DjoeN]

Well this works, but it's not 100%

 

[rjwboys]

welp nintendo zone is discontinued