What's the difference between Wifi and Bluetooth (if any)

[Vasant56]

I was just wondering what is the difference between the two- can a bluetooth connect to a wifi and vice versa?

What exactly sets them apart from each other?

[mscdex]

First of all, Bluetooth and Wifi are two totally different forms of wireless, so no, they cannot communicate with each other. Bluetooth is a more of a PAN (Personal Area Network), whereas Wifi is basically your average wireless version of a LAN.

[Pony99CA]

I was just wondering what is the difference between the two- can a bluetooth connect to a wifi and vice versa?

What exactly sets them apart from each other?
Bluetooth was intended as a cable-replacement technology for so-called "Personal Area Networks", like connecting a Pocket PC to a cell phone or an MP3 player to a headset. Most current Bluetooth devices are limited to 30 feet (although there is another class of Bluetooth that allows 300 feet). Bluetooth has a data transmission rate of about 768 kbps, I think.

WiFi is a wireless equivalent to the Ethernet protocol, designed for networking computers together. All WiFi gear has a 300-foot range (depending on speed, etc.). WiFi has a maximum speed of 11 mbps (although some gear supports a 22 mbps mode, and faster standards are available).

Their signals are not compatible, so a Bluetooth device can't talk to a WiFi device. However, they both run in the 2.4 GHz band, so they may cause interference with each other.

You can connect a Bluetooth device to the Internet in at least two ways:

1. Use Bluetooth to connect to a cell phone which has Internet connectivity.

2. Use Bluetooth to connect to a Bluetooth access point on a LAN.

I hope that's enough of an overview for you.

Steve