Bluetooth - Abilities?

[JustinGTP]

Can you browse the interent wirelessly over bluetooth like you can with a WiFi card and Wireless Access Point?

-Justin.

[gohtor]

yes but slower and shorter distances. Bluetooth was ment primarily to connect peripherals but i have seen bluetooth access points which probably will make life easier on you than relying on a pc to establish a bluetooth connection with. (assuming the bluetooth access point is as easy to use as existing wifi access points. hard to image it is possible).

[freitasm]

Yes... You can do it through Activesync (very slow) and PAN. Have a look in our Bluetooth Guides for instructions on this.

A BT Access point is ok to use, as Gohtor pointed out, but they cost more than the dongles, and the only function performed is this - with dongles you can connect to other computers, mobile phones and more.

[JvanEkris]

My server acts as a bluetooth access point. It connects directly to the internet through a class 1 dongle (na activesync between it).

Range is about 100m in free space, in practice 50 meters around the server. More than enough for surfing in and around the house (why bother with a range beyond that, it only provides my neighbour-kid with a way to hack into my server :( ).

Speeds are quite acceptable, providing that you don't see it as a way to download large data-sets. I sync my Loox with the server, use it for surfing, MSN and mail. All work flawless. I must say, connecting to the internet through activesync is seriously slower than connecting directly to the internet through bluetooth. So if possible, use the above-mentioned manual.

Jaap

[JustinGTP]

What type of transer rate are we talking here?

-Justin.

[Rok]

What type of transer rate are we talking here?

It's actually not half-bad. I'd say (guesstimate, based upon file transfer) in between 300-400 kbps. It's not the throughput that's problematic, though. Latency is (it's rather long). But while not nearly as fast as cradle or Wi-Fi, it's certainly useful.

Cheers,
Rok

[JustinGTP]

How fast is the cradle? When I browse the internet on there, it takes a lot longer and we have highspeed internet (1.5mbps) on the ppc.

Why is that?

Is it the USB slowing it down? I dont know if I have USB 1.0 or 2.0. I know 2.0 is faster

-Justin.

[Rok]

How fast is the cradle? When I browse the internet on there, it takes a lot longer and we have highspeed internet (1.5mbps) on the ppc.

Why is that?

Is it the USB slowing it down? I dont know if I have USB 1.0 or 2.0. I know 2.0 is faster

-Justin.
Theoretically, it should be USB that's slowing it down. In practice, ActiveStink(tm) is the one to blame. And the reason you perceive surfing to be slower is exactly because of a longer latency (i.e. it takes longer before something starts happening at all, to put it simply).

Cheers,
Rok