IRDA Versus Bluetooth

[freakygreek]

Hi,
I'm planning to go wireless so I need to know which is better to sync with my desk top IR or Bluetooth. Is one or the other better for surfing the net indoors such as an apartment. Right now I'm syncing with my desk top via my pda's cradle, which at the same time allows me to surf the net.


Many thanks

[Pat Logsdon]

There's really no comparison. To sync or surf via irda, your PPC's irda port needs to be pointing right at the irda port on your computer. It's pretty slow, you have to be close, and you can't move much.

Bluetooth is more of a "cable replacement" technology. I believe that the average range is 30 meters, and it's much faster than irda. To use bluetooth, you'll need to get a bluetooth card if you don't have it built in, and a usb bluetooth dongle.

In my opinion, the best way to surf wirelessly is via WiFi, which is even faster than Bluetooth and has a range up up to ~100 meters. To use WiFi, you'll need a WiFi card (unless you have it built in) and a wireless access point, which can plug straight into your pc, or into a router.

With WiFi, you can also use public access points, Starbucks Hotspots, etc.

Good luck!

[gadfly]

Hi,
I'm planning to go wireless so I need to know which is better to sync with my desk top IR or Bluetooth. Is one or the other better for surfing the net indoors such as an apartment. Right now I'm syncing with my desk top via my pda's cradle, which at the same time allows me to surf the net.

IR is not reallly an option to establish a serious connection between the PDA and PC. You must have line of sight to make the connection which is obviously no good for browsing. Mostly it's good for transfering contacts.

Another question is whether WiFi or Bluetooth is better for what you're talking about. It would be great if you posted your PDA type so someone could make a specific suggestion but here's my general sense of the difference between the two. WiFi is great because it's so universal (you can use to to sync at your home AND use it to surf anywhere with an access point e.g. Starbucks) but the power requirements are pretty bad so you kill batteries quick if you leave WiFi on. Bluetooth, ahem, is somewhat of a debate but in my experiance works very well for syncing with a PC and needs so little power you can always leave it on. The problem is that BT doesn't give you the capability to surf at a WiFi access point.

So really I like both. Bluetooth for syncing with my PC and connecting to my cell phone for internet access and WiFi for surfing when I'm out and about and don't want to pay for service through my wireless provider. However, if I had to chose one or the other I'd go with WiFi because if you have a WiFi router in your house you have it all.

[freakygreek]

Thanks for the quick reply I thought about Wi-Fi but was under the impression it only worked in areas where Wi-Fi was set up such as you mentioned coffee shops or office buildings. Do you think I'd be able to establish a connection in my apartment. As for Bluetooth it's built in my pda so I would only need to convert my PC. How hard would it be to sync with my PC using bluetooth and can I use my exsisting high-speed connnection.

Sorry my pda is HP2210, 256 mb SD card

Many thanks

[Thinkingmandavid]

if u use wi fi it will work great. it is bascically having a wireless connection to your pc. so put in a wi fi cf card into yoru 2200 and have a wireless access pointto your computer and you are set to go.

if you want to use blue tooth just add teh dongle, around 59.99 and you will be able to surf as well.

both will allow you to surf, and sync your ppc. Irda is a bad choice to do those because it isslower and like was said must be perfectly in line to work.

[Mark_Venture]

...I thought about Wi-Fi but was under the impression it only worked in areas where Wi-Fi was set up such as you mentioned coffee shops or office buildings. Do you think I'd be able to establish a connection in my apartment. As for Bluetooth it's built in my pda so I would only need to convert my PC. How hard would it be to sync with my PC using bluetooth and can I use my exsisting high-speed connnection.

Sorry my pda is HP2210, 256 mb SD card
Well, you have a few choices for wireless in your apartment....

(Sorry this is LONG...)

Bluetooth...
buy a Belkin or TDK (or other brand that uses Widcom drivers) USB bluetooth dongle for your PC and use Bluetooth to connect to the internet through the PC. Cost Aprox $25 to $45. Range: up to aprox 30 feet max. Speed: not sure exactly, but I know its somewhere below 1mbps. Note: desktop PC must be on to surf net.

Wi-Fi....
If you have broadband (cable/dsl) and don't already have a Wireless Access Point or Wireless Router, buy one. Add a CompactFlash (CF) or SDIO Wi-Fi (802.11b) card for the iPAQ. Connect through the wireless access point or wireless router to the internet or your PC (i.e. ActiveSync over Wi-Fi rather than having to use the cable.). Cost: aprox $30 to $100 for the CF Wi-Fi card or $95 to $150 for the SDIO Wi-Fi card and $59 to $150 for the Access Point or Router. Range: up to aprox 150 feet or so. Speed: up to 11Mbps. Note: desktop PC does not have to be on to surf net, only needs to be on if you want to ActiveSync data to it. Wi-Fi card in iPAQ can be used at Starbucks, hotels, etc that offer Wi-Fi services in your area (subject to their fees).

Or Wi-Fi...
If you have dialup internet or do Not want the added expense of buying an Access point or wireless router.. Buy a CF or SDIO Wi-Fi card for the iPAQ, a wireless network card for your PC and setup an Ad-Hoc connection between the two. Use Window's ICS to share your dial up network connection of the PC with the wireless. (see above for CF/SDIO wi-fi prices, and Aprox $45 to $75 for a Wi-fi adapter for the PC (either USB or PCI or PCMCIA/CardBus). Note: Ad-Hoc can be harder to setup than using Infrastructure mode (i.e. an Access Point). I have not setup an Ad-Hoc connection so I do not know the range.

At home I use Wi-Fi to an Access point connected to my broadband router. At work, I use a bluethooth dongle attached to my laptop. Personally, I like Wi-Fi a little better. Its faster, has farther range, plus I found it easier to setup and use than bluetooth.

Btw, Max distances I listed are based upon my real world expierences, not the max listed by those wireless specifications.

[freakygreek]

Thanks for the replies as I understand it having a Wi-Fi router on my PC and a card in my Pda will enable both to sync. My current connection to the net is via Bell Sympatico's high speed provided through my phone line do these routers work with my set up or do I need to which to a cable provider or satalite. Do I need to set up different profiles one for home and one for hotspots.


PS: what brand should I be looking at for both the router and the pda card for wi-fi.


Many thanks

[freakygreek]

So I looked at a local venders website and found a several models from D-link, Linksys but none seem to answer my question about phone lines as my high -speed is through the phone line. The Linksys router needs an adapter as well it looks as though my quest for freedom is going to be expensive. I'm looking into buying a pci card that offers USB 2.0, a router,a wi-fi card and some sort of adapter.


If anyone has a cheaper way for me please do tell

Many thanks

[Thinkingmandavid]

Cost: aprox $30 to $100 for the CF Wi-Fi card or $95 to $150 for the SDIO Wi-Fi card and $59 to $150 for the Access Point or Router. Range: up to aprox 150 feet or so. Speed: up to 11Mbps.
If you look at his post it starts at 30 and at 59, that is around ahundred bucks for router and cf card. That isnt bad. Have you tried going to[/url]www.ecost.com they usually have some really good deals.

[Mark_Venture]

as I understand it having a Wi-Fi router on my PC and a card in my Pda will enable both to sync. Well sort of... the router is not on the PC. Its a separte device that sits between your DSL modem and your PC and also allows you to share your internet connection between more than just 1 pc.

Yes it will allow the PC and iPAQ to sync wirelessly. And also allow you to surf the web wirelessly with the iPAQ without having to turn the PC on.

My current connection to the net is via Bell Sympatico's high speed provided through my phone line do these routers work with my set up or do I need to which to a cable provider or satalite. "soho routers" like those by Linksys, NetGear, Dlink, SMC, Belkin, Microsoft and others are made to work with cable and DSL modems.

Now, it depends on your setup with Bell Sympatico's service. For example, my Verizon DSL line (before I moved) I could use a soho router. My Comcast Cable modem (where I live now), I can also use a router. But for my friend Chris, the DSL modem provided by his phone company will NOT work with a soho router.

Ok, I just did a Google search for Bell Sympatico and come up with... http://service1.sympatico.ca/Home/Home.cfm as a home page.. Is that your internet service? if so, based on... http://service1.sympatico.ca/ServiceDesk/ServiceDesk-Content.cfm?SDID=390&SDCategoryID=43&page=1 it looks like you can use a soho router without problems. They even suggest WIRED models from Linksys and Dlink. The models they suggest do NOT have wireless built in to them so if you got one of them, you would still need to add a Wireless Access Point. Also, from http://service1.sympatico.ca/ServiceDesk/ServiceDesk-Content.cfm?SDID=183&SDCategoryID=14&page=1 it looks like they might use PPPOE or PPPOA not just plain DHCP for assigning WAN side (aka internet side) IP addresses.

Do I need to set up different profiles one for home and one for hotspots.
Yes. Your home lan's Access Point will have its own SSID, and I'd suggest you enable WEP and give it a unique Wep Key. When you go to a "public" hot spot, those values will be different and must be changed in your wireless device accordingly for you to connect.

PS: what brand should I be looking at for both the router and the pda card for wi-fi. I'm kind of partial to Linksys. My BEFSR41 (wired only Cable/Dsl router) has been working great since May 2000. I just added Wi-Fi to it by purchasing a Linksys WRT54G and disabling some of its features to have it run as a Access Point only attached to the BEFSR41...

If you're on a budget, and 11Mbps MAX but more like 4-6Mbps real world speed is ok, then a Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless-B Router is a nice unit. Its like $55-$65 and works well. Its a combo soho router/NAT/In Bound Firewall, wireless access point and has a 4 port wired 10/100 ethernet switch built into one unit.

As for card for the iPAQ. I like the Ambicom card I got. It was about $59, but some have found it cheaper. Range is far enough. And when I needed to, I was able to use a CF to PCMCIA adapter to use the Ambicom in my laptop. Power consumption is slightly higher than the Socket Low Power card, but I still get about 4hrs continuous use of my iPAQ while using wireless. And considering the Socket card was $150 when I purchased my stuff, I think I made a good choice.

[freakygreek]

Thanks so much for the replies,

Mark thanks for the info and yes that is my service provider I followed the links and saw the suggested non-wireless routers.

What I wasn't sure about a router was if I needed and adapter or pci card that connects the router to my PC, and if it accepted a phone line connection. Yes you where correct that is my current service provider.
I saw the links and thanks for them but you lost me with the PPPOE,PPPOA and not not DHCP comment is this a good or bad.

As members on this forum might have noticed I'm to too literate when it comes to computingso please bear with me and my questions.

Many thanks[/quote]

[Mark_Venture]

What I wasn't sure about a router was if I needed and adapter or pci card that connects the router to my PC, and if it accepted a phone line connection.
Ok, lets put it this way.. Right now you have a phone cord coming from the wall to your DSL modem. Based on that site I found, you have an Ethernet cable coming from the DSL Modem to a network card in your pc, right? Once you get a router, just take that network cable out of the back of the PC and plug it into the router's WAN port. Then run another cable from the PC into one of the LAN ports on the router.

Yes you where correct that is my current service provider.
Good that helps us know what you have so we can make better suggestions on what might work for you.

I saw the links and thanks for them but you lost me with the PPPOE,PPPOA and not not DHCP comment is this a good or bad.
There are different connection methods. Many cable and DSL providers today use DHCP as it is standard built into TCP/IP and used in Windows, Macs, Linux, etc... Some cable and DSL providers take it one step further and require authentication to connect and get an IP address, that is where PPPOE and PPPOA come in. You just have to be sure what you have to so you know what to look for in a router. Since The Linksys BEFSR41W-CA was suggested on your providers page, knowing its features, I'd say you should be safe with ALMOST any soho router. But you still need to be sure because I said ALMOST ANY, I did not say ALL.

For good discussion about everything DSL or Cable internet.. see http://www.dslreports.com specifically for you, try... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/sympat :) They have some good Sympatico FAQs and discussions there. They can better suggest what router to get that will work with your current setup. You might need to get the model of the DSL modem you have just in case.

As members on this forum might have noticed I'm to too literate when it comes to computingso please bear with me and my questions.
Every body has to start somewhere, at some time. With computers and technology, there is always new stuff to learn, and no one could ever know everything. Hey we're all here to learn, share info we've learned, play, pull our hair out, uh... oopss did I say that out loud? :)

There are great discussion groups like this on the internet where you can learn. I stubled on this site by accident. But I am SO GLAD I DID. I knew nothing about PocketPCs before coming here. I thought they were a waste of money. But thanks to the helpful people here, I purchased an iPAQ, gathered a great selection of software and hardware. Now I'm doing things with it I never imagined.

[freakygreek]

Thanks Mark for being patient and answering my questions.
I now have a handle on how to connect hardware wise,but actually setting up the net-work is another matter best tackled at an other time. As it stands now I just need to buy a router and a wi-fi pda card.

Many thanks

[Thinkingmandavid]

Good job Mark :way to go:

[Mark_Venture]

I now have a handle on how to connect hardware wise,but actually setting up the net-work is another matter best tackled at an other time. As it stands now I just need to buy a router and a wi-fi pda card.
When you've decided on how you want to proceed and what to purchase, post again, and we'll help you get setup.

Setting up the PCs is easy. I've put together a step-by-step how I added Wi-Fi to my home network on my web site... Its still in progress and the Router/Access point instructions need work, but the iPAQ steps are complete, and include graphics. Hit the my WWW link below... Its with the iPAQ stuff.

[Mark_Venture]

Oh, btw for some good reading on suggestions of Wi-Fi cards for the iPAQ 2215 see... http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18462&highlight= there are also links to other threads in there that also discuss suggestions.