WiFi and Bluetooth

[ntractv]

OK, having brain freeze again. I thought I had a grasp on this. Somebody please explain to me again WiFi and Bluetooth. I've been pondering on getting the iPAQ 5455 (but the Toshiba e750 is also looking good, but I'm just hooked on the iPAQs). What I want to do is surf the net, read/send e-mails, etc. My desktop ISP is AT&T. How does all this work and if I get either one, will I be able to log into AT&T wirelessly. Also, I have a Motorola T720 with service provided by Verizon. My local rep said I would have to buy a AirCard that fits into the sleeve for $350 and Verizon does not sell a cable linking the phone to my PDA (iPAQ3835) and then the cost for any decent access was mindboggling. I just want the most efficient and cost effective way to dial into my AT&T account wirelessly.

P.S. I also see the Gomadic sells a iPAQ 3835 cable for the T720.

[dhettel]

Let me talk about your in home/office connection. Bluetooth and 802.11b will both let you connect to your LAN. To do that you'll need a Bluetooth or 802.11b connection on your home PC/LAN. The hardware part of this is cheaper for Bluetooth. And Bluetooth will allow you to connect in more ways. 802.11b will do this faster, unless you have a super fast DSL connection, there is not much difference in Bluetooth and 802.11b connections speeds. You will see a big difference, with file transfers between your home computer and your PPC. So where you are planning on getting your data may influence your choice. With Bluetooth you can setup a partnership, so you don't need a cradle at all. With 802.11b you'll need either a cradle or Bluetooth to set the partnership up, the first time.

Hope this helps
David

[falcaomiami]

My friend...
Buy yourself a Ipaq HP 5450 and a brand new mobile phone which must have Bluetooth. Sony Ericson is always compatible with all devices.
Good luck. 8O
About Bluetooth and Wi-Fi...
They are completely different and can coexist. BT is 1 mbps while Wi-Fi can go up to 11 mpbs. So you can imagine different applications for these two different connection speeds... Think about Real time video for instance in Wi-Fi... Think about Electronic Business Card Exchange for BT.
Helder H Falcao

[PetiteFlower]

Maybe gomadic makes a cable to connect your phone to your PDA.

www.gomadic.com

[mscdex]

BT is 1 mbps while Wi-Fi can go up to 11 mpbs.

Actually, it can go up to 54mbps using the new Wireless-G technology.

However, these new WiFi cards/routers will cost a bit more than the 11mbps ones.

[Janak Parekh]

Let me try to give you a bit more thorough answer.

Wi-Fi is a local-area networking technology. Think of it as the wireless compliment to Ethernet networking. It's fast, and it's particularly designed for networks. It's been around for years, so it's pretty mature.

Bluetooth is a cable-replacement technology. It's like the wireless equivalent of USB or serial. It's not as fast, but is primarily designed to hook up small devices together. It's a newer technology, so there are a few wrinkles in some products.

As for home, you can use either, although Wi-Fi is more prevalent in the home networking arena. You need to enable Internet sharing on your desktop and have a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi card. There are also "routers" you can use so that you can leverage your Internet connection even when the desktop is off. If you were to ask me what I would use at home, the answer would be Wi-Fi, because its range in my setup would be better, and the cost of a Wi-Fi access point is cheaper than that of a Bluetooth access point (and I'm not going to keep my computer on). However, note that Bluetooth will also work.

As for the wireless phone, the answer is "neither". Indeed, get the Gomadic cable and use it for dial-up, or sign up for 1xRTT access on your T720 (the latter is much faster). Ideally, you'd like to have cellular service either Bluetooth-enabled or built into your Pocket PC, but either will require a different wireless carrier for now - Verizon sells no Pocket PC Phones, and no Bluetooth phones as of this moment. Hopefully, that will change... BTW, the AirCard solution is expensive and designed for business primarily. For wireless, I've used a T68 and a iPaq 3870 together using Bluetooth, and a Pocket PC Phone, and both solutions are pretty darn solid... but both are on T-Mobile.

--janak

[PapaSmurfDan]

<snip> Verizon sells no Pocket PC Phones, and no Bluetooth phones as of this moment. <snip>
--janak

Actully, Verizon now lists the Audiovox Thera PPC:PE on thier website for sale. Dunno if it is in the stores yet.

-Dan

[Janak Parekh]

Actully, Verizon now lists the Audiovox Thera PPC:PE on thier website for sale. Dunno if it is in the stores yet.
The Thera isn't a PPCPE. It's a Pocket PC with a proprietary telephony software bolted on. Its biggest criticism, BTW, is the battery life -- standby time is 8 hours max and talk time is about 90 minutes. Practical reports have suggested even less than that.

In any case, there are rumblings of Verizon carrying the Samsung i700 later this month; it'll be a bit expensive, but hopefully worth it.

--janak

[daS]

... there are rumblings of Verizon carrying the Samsung i700 later this month; it'll be a bit expensive, but hopefully worth it.
But still no Bluetooth. :evil:
Verizon is the last holdout. Sprint will soon be offering a new CDMA/1xRTT phone from Sony-Ericsson that will have Bluetooth. But Verizon specified a similar model but lacking Bluetooth. :roll:

This is the main thing I hate about CDMA. Because the phones must be purchased from the carrier, they control the exact specifications for the phones. With GSM, the phones can be designed without the carrier then the carrier can pick and choose. This leads to greater choice for the consumers. Now if only we could have EDGE so that we would have the data speeds of 1x. :?

[Richard76]

First of all I would like to thank all that contribute their knowledge to these forums. I have read so much I am having 'double vision'. I have one last blury area and then I believe everything will be clear.

I am currently with Rogers AT&T here in Canada. If I go with an Axim, a CF Bluetooth card and Nokia 6310i (Bluetooth) phone, I assume I will be accessing the internet and e-mail via my GPRS phone connection.

a) will I be using Pocket Outlook on the Axim to do e-mail?
b) what browser is on the Axim and what restrictions does it have?
c) will this option be faster or slower that buying A Siemens SX56?

Thank you all for your consideration and putting up with my lack of knowledge. I am hoping to make my purchase this week.

Rick

[daS]

First of all I would like to thank all that contribute their knowledge to these forums.
Speaking for myself - you are quite welcome. I enjoy the community here. Plus, in all honesty, I also get a little PR for my BluetoothNews (www.BluetoothNews.com) web site this way. :wink:

In answer to your questions:

a) will I be using Pocket Outlook on the Axim to do e-mail?
Yes. Of course you do need to have an Internet provider that supports external connections to their email server.

b) what browser is on the Axim and what restrictions does it have?
The Pocket PC has a version of Internet Exporer built in that does SSL and a little (very little) JavaScript. Of course the screen size is one limitation. Another is that it identifies itself as Pocket IE - which some secure web sites (like online banking sites) don't realize supports SSL, so they don't let you connect. Tools like RegKing (do a Google search) will allow to to "fake" being IE 5.0 running on Windows NT in order to fool such sites into letting you connect.

There are a few other limitations, but I'll let others jump in here to list them.

c) will this option be faster or slower that buying A Siemens SX56?
The speed will be the same as the SX56. Bluetooth is much faster than GPRS, so it will not be a limiting factor. One thing you can do to speed up web pages is to turn off the automatic downloading of images. This will also reduce your total GPRS usage.

[Richard76]

Thank you for your reply David and the information.

Regarding the ISP and Pocket Outlook, I am currently using a Bell Sympatico dial-up account on my laptop for traveling. As this account supports dailing in from anywhere, I assume I could connect via my GSM phone and Axim with Bluetooth. I also use Rogers Webmail, so I can retreive my Rogers e-mail through any internet connection.

I guess the only drawback would be that I will be restricted to 56kbps by Sympatico, whereas the Bluetooth connection is capable of much higher speeds. Is my current GSM/GPRS connection speed faster than this?

I also have a Rogers AT&T High Speed (Cable Modem) account on my home PC. In my current Treo 180 set-up, I can access my Sympatico mail, Rogers AT&T mail and my Yahoo mail. While this works ok, I am feeling restricted due to the unexpandability of the Treo (and the Palm OS).

So, my decision comes down to:

a) do I buy a Siemens SX56 and use the same e-mail/internet experience that I am used to via GSM/GPRS (but give up CF slot, better screen and more ROM and RAM memory)?

or

b) do I purchase an Axim Advanced (400MHz), a CF Bluetooth card and a Bluetooth enabled Nokia 6310i (but give up the convenience of carrying one device and being restricted to 56kbps speeds...until I can afford a CF Wi-fi card)?

Holy BIG decisions, Batman!

Thanks again,
Rick