Bluetooth - 2 out of 3 aint bad...make that 1 out of 3

[CTSLICK]

Bluetooth isn't perfect but I all in all I do like it. Maybe not ready for non-geek user primetime, but not horrendous...EDIT OK...maybe I was wrong about how hard some of this is...

1st experience - Ambicom BT CF card for my Axim. Set up went fine and I paired it easily with my T68. Use it to connect to the internet all the time. Range is very good, around 20-25 feet. Winner!

2nd Experience - Ambicom BT CF w/PCMCIA adapter on Win2k laptop. Utter failure. The desktop app was an unreliable mess and I never got the card to work. Loser!

3rd Experiece - Ambicom BT USB adapter on Win2k PC. Initial setup went easy (had to be in Admin mode) and thanks to a very good set of instructions setting up Activesync for BT went easy. Range is good, around 20-25 feet. Winner! EDIT This is looking more like a LOSER! So far this set up has been a one day wonder. The past 2 mornings it has taken me about 30 minutes to get the my Dell paired back up and playing nice with the PC. See my post later on in this thread. It should not be this hard and if it doesn't play nice tomorrow then its all going back. I think I'll just get a WiFi card for home and forget about wireless at work. At least BT still works nice with my phone :roll:

Now none of this is exactly plug and play especially the T-mobile connection set up on my Axim and the Activesync config for BT but the fuss was manageable.

As stated above the effort on some of this is beyond what the non-geek may want to endure. EDIT: from my experience over the last 2 days the effort required is exceeding my tolerance. But I hope it gets to the point where its as easy plug it in and watch it go. I still think it has potential.

[CTSLICK]

Bluetooth isn't perfect but I all in all I do like it. Maybe not ready for non-geek user primetime, but not horrendous...EDIT OK...maybe I was wrong about how hard some of this is...

1st experience - Ambicom BT CF card for my Axim. Set up went fine and I paired it easily with my T68. Use it to connect to the internet all the time. Range is very good, around 20-25 feet. Winner!

2nd Experience - Ambicom BT CF w/PCMCIA adapter on Win2k laptop. Utter failure. The desktop app was an unreliable mess and I never got the card to work. Loser!

3rd Experiece - Ambicom BT USB adapter on Win2k PC. Initial setup went easy (had to be in Admin mode) and thanks to a very good set of instructions setting up Activesync for BT went easy. Range is good, around 20-25 feet. Winner! EDIT This is looking more like a LOSER! So far this set up has been a one day wonder. The past 2 mornings it has taken me about 30 minutes to get the my Dell paired back up and playing nice with the PC. See my post later on in this thread. It should not be this hard and if it doesn't play nice tomorrow then its all going back. I think I'll just get a WiFi card for home and forget about wireless at work. At least BT still works nice with my phone :roll:

Now none of this is exactly plug and play especially the T-mobile connection set up on my Axim and the Activesync config for BT but the fuss was manageable.

As stated above the effort on some of this is beyond what the non-geek may want to endure. EDIT: from my experience over the last 2 days the effort required is exceeding my tolerance. But I hope it gets to the point where its as easy plug it in and watch it go. I still think it has potential.

[Thinkingmandavid]

2nd Experience - Ambicom BT CF w/PCMCIA adapter on Win2k laptop. Utter failure. The desktop app was an unreliable mess and I never got the card to work. Loser!

I had a lady tell me she couldnt get it to work as well, this was a few months ago. I dont know if it happens a lot or if it is one of those you happen to be in the percentage of people for who it will not work.

[Mark_Venture]

Originally Posted by CTSLICK

3rd Experiece - Ambicom BT USB adapter on Win2k PC. Initial setup went easy (had to be in Admin mode) and thanks to a very good set of instructions setting up Activesync for BT went easy. Range is good, around 20-25 feet. Winner!

Whats the Ambicom model number? Just curious because I'm considering getting one for my laptop...

Circuit City has a model BT2000USBCCS in stock.. its $10 more than Compusa has and Ambicom with a similar but not exactly the same model number. I want to buy a bluetooth adapter for my laptop locally, in case I run into problems and want to return it. Circuitcity has a good return policy, unlike Compusa.

[CTSLICK]

Originally Posted by Thinkingmandavid

I had a lady tell me she couldnt get it to work as well, this was a few months ago. I dont know if it happens a lot or if it is one of those you happen to be in the percentage of people for who it will not work.

OK, flush with success I decided to try the the USB BT adapter on my laptop at home. It went better this time as I was able to get the desktop app installed and got it to find and pair with my Dell. But it will not connect to ActiveSync....period. So I am not sure what the deal is but I am inclined to blame my laptop. :evil:

[CTSLICK]

Originally Posted by Mark_Venture

Whats the Ambicom model number? Just curious because I'm considering getting one for my laptop...

Circuit City has a model BT2000USBCCS in stock.. its $10 more than Compusa has and Ambicom with a similar but not exactly the same model number. I want to buy a bluetooth adapter for my laptop locally, in case I run into problems and want to return it. Circuitcity has a good return policy, unlike Compusa.

Not sure what the differences may be but I got mine at CompUSA and the model number on the back of the adapter is is BT2000C-USB.

[CTSLICK]

Realizing now that I should have kept my mouth shut about my success using BT between my PDA and my desktop at work. So far its been a one day wonder and I thought I should get that on record before somebody takes my first post as a recommendatio for the set up. ops: :roll:

Problems I have had:

Day 2:
- Booted up PC, plugged in BT USB adapater and to my surprise it started the "New USB Device" install process...what a minute didn't I just do this yesterday? So I had to log out as me, log in as admin, do the install again.
- After re-installing the device I logged back in as me, paired the two then and spent the next 15 minutes trying to get ActiveSync working. Did you know that the ActiveSync setting on your PDA that tells it to use bluetooth does not survive a soft reset. It goes back to USB Default. Bleh! I really had to work too hard at this.
- In the afternoon my Dell suddenly gave me the connection terminated noise. I looked over and sure enough ActiveSync had disconnected. Furthermore the COM Port it was using to connect has vaporized. What the @#$$%%! Reboot, pair them again blah blah blah, this sucks.

Day 3 (this morning)
- Booted PC, plugged in BT Adapter...cool no install message. But nnnoooooo, it just was not seeing the adapter...at all. Back to Admin mode, eveything seems fine, the two pair with no issues. I don't get it.
- Back to my login, spend another 15 minutes trying figure out why the port is not showing up. Reboot, now its there, pair them up...again.
- Get AS working...again. I am realizing there are a distinct set of steps that it seems I need to follow to get it to work. Too many steps in my opinion. This isn't fun anymore.

Maybe this isn't ready for prime time...even geek prime time. :cry:

[JustMe]

Hmm.. it's unfortunate that you're experiencing this much trouble. Perhaps it's the equipment/setup you're using.

I sync all the time between two computers using bluetooth and never have any of these issues you are experiencing. FWIW, I am using Belkin BT adapters/software and an Ipaq 5555.

JM

[Thinkingmandavid]

mmmm, it seems to me it shouldnt be that stressful. YOu have already done this, but it sounds to me it is time to start from the beginning and see what happens. Is there any drivers you need to download? I would keep on a written paper the different processes you have followed to see what works. I would imagine you are probably frustrated and disappointed.
I would have figured that the easiest of all the connections would be the bt usb. Sometimes technology just plain sucks!!!!!!!!!! Actually I think I feel that way about my sony vaio everyday!!!!!! :devilboy:

[CTSLICK]

Originally Posted by justme

Hmm.. it's unfortunate that you're experiencing this much trouble. Perhaps it's the equipment/setup you're using.

I sync all the time between two computers using bluetooth and never have any of these issues you are experiencing. FWIW, I am using Belkin BT adapters/software and an Ipaq 5555.

JM

Its a fair point, it may be the way Ambicom has chosen to implement BT in conjunction with how their software and drivers work. I wonder if it has to do with the fact the your 5555 has BT built in and I am using a CF card.

I'm curious how your set up works. When you boot up your PC and you have your BT adapter plugged in, do you have to manually tell it to search/connect/pair with your PDA? Or does it automagically do all that?

Thanks for your time. I don't really want to give up yet.

[CTSLICK]

Originally Posted by Thinkingmandavid

mmmm, it seems to me it shouldnt be that stressful. YOu have already done this, but it sounds to me it is time to start from the beginning and see what happens. Is there any drivers you need to download? I would keep on a written paper the different processes you have followed to see what works. I would imagine you are probably frustrated and disappointed.
I would have figured that the easiest of all the connections would be the bt usb. Sometimes technology just plain sucks!!!!!!!!!! Actually I think I feel that way about my sony vaio everyday!!!!!! :devilboy:

Good points in the troubleshooting process.

FWIW, I downloaded the lastest desktop software and drivers (CF card and USB adapter) before I started this funfest so I think I have that covered.

I have uninstalled/re-installed everything once...so I thought. According the to Ambicom support page, it seems to leave some files behind. I may try again after doing a "full" uninstall.

Right now I just installed latest version of ActiveSync after another dropped connection incident this morning. I am not expecting it to help but...hey...you never know.

Thanks for your input.