Belkin Bluetooth Access Point for $169.95

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobileplanet.com/private/pocketpcthoughts/product.asp?dept%5Fid=5041&pf%5Fid=MP600893&listing=1' target='_blank'>http://www.mobileplanet.com/private...00893&listing=1</a><br /><br /></div>Belkin seems like the Dell of the accessory world - whenever they release a product, they seem to redefine the market with a much lower price than competing products. It wasn't that many months ago that Bluetooth access points were $500+, and this one is $169.95! If you've got a Bluetooth-happy household or office, this would be a good addition to the mix.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.mobileplanet.com/assets/product_images/MP600893.gif" /><br /><br />"Bluetooth Access Point with USB Print Server provides access for your Bluetooth devices to your network, USB printers, and the Internet wirelessly up to 300 feet."

[Foo Fighter]

Wouldn't BT USB Dongles be a cheaper alternative? They sell for as low as $50.

Also, dumb question, but can the Microsoft BT keyboard/mouse ensemble work for BT PDAs?

[Jason Dunn]

Wouldn't BT USB Dongles be a cheaper alternative? They sell for as low as $50.

I don't think any of those dongles are Class A Bluetooth devices with a 300 foot range. :wink:

Also, dumb question, but can the Microsoft BT keyboard/mouse ensemble work for BT PDAs?

I don't think so, hence the frustration people have with it. I've requested a review unit, so I'll let you know...

[surur]

Wouldn't BT USB Dongles be a cheaper alternative? They sell for as low as $50.

I don't think any of those dongles are Class A Bluetooth devices with a 300 foot range. :wink:


I think http://www.tecomproduct.com/bt3030.htm would disagree

range up to 100 meters.
Features
• Bluetooth Specification V.1.1 compliant
• Supports USB interface
• 20dBm Output Power ; Support Class 1
• Working distance up to 100 meters
• Supports Windows 98SE,Windows ME, Windows 2000,Windows XP
• Compliant with USB UHCI/OHCI spec.1.1



Also, dumb question, but can the Microsoft BT keyboard/mouse ensemble work for BT PDAs?

I don't think so, hence the frustration people have with it. I've requested a review unit, so I'll let you know...

Thats the really stupid part. Imagine being able to use the same keyboard for your laptop and your PDA.

Surur

[j1guitar]

does this also receive from 300ft?
I mean surely my anycom bt cf card can still only transmit up to 30ft (more like 20ft) so I can't see the benifit :?:

[Brian J. Burke]

> Wouldn't BT USB Dongles be a cheaper alternative? They sell for as low as $50.

Belkin does make a nice little dongle that has the 100 meter range, however, the Belkin AP has a few other nicities.

It's an Access Point, so it can serve multiple devices.

It has built in printer sharing as well. Two usb ports on the back.

The argument could be made for setting up a pc with a proxy to do the same thing, but then again, this is a much more elegant solution imho.

I have it setup on my network at home and share my epson printer to bluetooth devices and my windows laptop and mac desktop (took a little more work). It seems to be a little linux based device (you can telnet in and poke around) as well, so the printing stuff seems to be lpr based.

In my case for 150 bucks it served a few purposes. Getting my bluetooth devices on the net, letting me print from my palm or pocketpc anywhere, and a way of sharing my printers without having them hooked up to a machine.

[thanos255]

Belkin has a 333ft usb adapter.... sorry Jason :) and it costs $50.00 at many places on the net. Just do a search on a website called www.pocketpcthoughts.com on their pricegrabber :) (Had to add that in)

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=200583&pcount=&Product_Id=126336&Section.Section_Path=%2F%2FRoot%2FBluetooth%2F

Thanks
Thanos

[Jason Dunn]

Belkin has a 333ft usb adapter.... sorry Jason :) and it costs $50.00 at many places on the net. Just do a search on a website called www.pocketpcthoughts.com on their pricegrabber :) (Had to add that in)

Well, well....look at that! I didn't think providers would bother making dongles Class A, but I guess if you have the power coming from a USB port, you might as well go for broke...cool, thanks for teaching me something new!

[thanos255]

ohhh I taught you something new?/ So what did I win, what did I win???

(pant, pant, pant)

Thanks
Thanos

[ctmagnus]

So what did I win, what did I win???

A gyro! Anyone care to provide one?

[thanos255]

A YYYYYYYYYYYYYeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH@

Thanks
Thanos

[Foo Fighter]

See, I'm not crazy! But does anyone listen to me? NOOOOOOOO! :razz:

[questionlp]

See, I'm not crazy! But does anyone listen to me? NOOOOOOOO! :razz:
Did you say something? :wink:

[Will T Smith]

This makes me long for the never released Jornada Bluetooth battery. Hopefully, the next Axim's will have integrated Bluetooth AND a lid. Then I'll upgrade.

[kfluet]

> Wouldn't BT USB Dongles be a cheaper alternative? They sell for as low as $50.

Belkin does make a nice little dongle that has the 100 meter range, however, the Belkin AP has a few other nicities.

It's an Access Point, so it can serve multiple devices.

It has built in printer sharing as well. Two usb ports on the back.

The argument could be made for setting up a pc with a proxy to do the same thing, but then again, this is a much more elegant solution imho.


As someone who has a a Belkin BT dongle and a PC set up (with network sharing, file sharing, printer sharing, etc.) to serve my iPAQ 3970, I can attest that a nice cheap little access point would be VERY nice to have.

1) Keeping a PC on all the time just to act as a BT gateway is a pain and a waste of electricity.

2) The Widcomm drivers that most of these dongles come with are buggy. They cause my gateway machine to crash and reboot at least once a day.

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: Anybody else with a BT iPAQ notice how nicely the NetFront web browser can automatically establish a BT network connection for you? Cool stuff.

[hamishmacdonald]

I have a Bluetooth access point by BlueTake (the X-Bridge) that I bought from someone on eBay who seemed to have a lot of them, and it was only a hundred bucks US.

[striker2001]

"Bluetooth Access Point with USB Print Server provides access for your Bluetooth devices to your network, USB printers, and the Internet wirelessly up to 300 feet."

Is there a way to turn down the range? I just want to eliminate the rats nest of wiring in my room, not provide free internet and print services to the six townhouses around me. :roll:

[jimski]

"Bluetooth Access Point with USB Print Server provides access for your Bluetooth devices to your network, USB printers, and the Internet wirelessly up to 300 feet."

Is there a way to turn down the range? I just want to eliminate the rats nest of wiring in my room, not provide free internet and print services to the six townhouses around me. :roll:

If a user does not bond with your Bluetooth access point, they are not going anywhere, no matter how close or how far they are. And unless you and you neighbors all live on a football field under plastic tarps, don't count much on the 300' range. I would not expect more than 75' under average conditions, unless of course the planets were in perfect alignment, which might get you another 10-20'.

[Warwick]

Does this device mean you can actualy get network access with a 3870, as the TDK dongle I bought says it has lan access but the Ipaq supposedly doesnt support it.

Sticking with the passthrough for now :'(


Cheers.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

If I'm not mistaken, there's a significant difference between a BT Receiver (such as the typical USB dongle) and a BT Access Point.

A BT Access Point is required for networking / LAN access... somewhat analagous to a WAP. Without the AP, your connections between two devices are strictly peer-to-peer. Access to the internet is only supported via ActiveSync pass-thru and two-way file sharing can only be done if both receivers support the right BT services. For example, I have an iPaq3870 and a D-Link USB BT dongle in my laptop. My laptop can pull files from my iPaq and my laptop provides the services for the iPaq to do the same, but b/c my iPaq is unable to pull files b/c it doesn't support the right BT services to do so, even though it does support LAN access.

[jrappold]

Microwarehouse has the access point for $120.

Even if your BT device only has a 30ft. range, it doesn't matter...you can access the AP anywhere within it's 300 ft. range, because the AP can see your device. The AP gives you direct internet access, just as an 802.11b AP does. Still the price is a little more expensive than 802.11b APs.

The Microsoft BT keyboard and mouse work well. My gripe is that the batteries for the mouse need to be changed about every 2 weeks (but my PC is on most of the time). Keyboard batteries seem to last about 5-6 weeks. Microsoft does include a DUN profile for use with a BT phone...that's it.

Just read an article that eventually Micrsoft will release other profiles for the combo, but will do so slowly, as to "not overwhelm" the consumer. You would think that at least on the initial release they could have supported PAN peofile for their own Pocket PC OS. Frustrating.