Bluetooth Access Point?

[esq7007]

I just bought a tecom bluetooth access point to connect my h1940 to the internet. Now I been reading that I could just buy a USB dongle and connect it to my laptop to get online. Is it easier to just use the dongle or should I keep the access point? Would the speed be faster browsing the web and getting emails using the access point?

[Janak Parekh]

The nice thing about the AP is that it works while the computer is off, and in general is probably a bit more stable than a LAN connection over a BT USB adapter. Unless it was expensive and/or I had a specific need for the BT USB adapter, I'd keep it.

--janak

[esq7007]

Thanks for the fast reply. I'll keep it since I dont like keeping my laptop on all the time.

[Mitchybums]

it should also be faster.
Bluetooth dongle needs to be setup as a dialup connection for network access, while the accesspoint is directly connected to the network.
(3x faster i assume)
I dont have an accesspoint, but when I compared my dongle on windows as a lan dialup connection to a linux install with dongle as lan access point, it's at least 3times faster

[ctmagnus]

Bluetooth dongle needs to be setup as a dialup connection for network access

:confused totally: I've got a lan access connection (not any type of pseudo-dialup) connection going here.

[freitasm]

I have both here... There's no speed difference really. Actually depending on what Access Point you have you problably will access using the old widcomm versions for embedded devices, which is a PPP over serial thing.

With the newer versions 1.3 and up installed on dongles the connections are either PPP over serial (called Network Access) or LAN access.

Either way I don't see much difference in speed. From my laptop I can watch streaming videos from the internet - either connected to my BT AP or to my desktop.

[senfeng]

The major difference may be the range. I think the Anycom BT access point has about a 300+ foot range. I believe that most BT dongles tap out at about 30 feet (not sure how accurate these figures are, sorry).

[ctmagnus]

Class C devices max out at 10m. Class A devices can reach as far as 100m. Most Pocket PCs (all that I know of at least) are class C so even if you have a class A AP or dongle attached to your PC, you'll only get 10m range max.