Best BT Access Point?

[lkawamot]

Hello!

I'm thinking of adding a BT Access Point to my home LAN so that I can use BT (lower power consumption and no additional card needed) on my 2215 to get on the network (without leaving my desktop on all the time).

Any suggestions as to the best (stability, TX/RX signal strength, cost, configuration, etc) unit to purchase?

[dmacburry2003]

I don't have any recommendations, as it is all based on your preference, but it would be a good idea to check out the BT devices for PPC here (http://www.mobileplanet.com/private/handango/listing.asp?cat%5Fid=902&cat%5Fname=Pocket+PC&pdept%5Fid=900102&dept%5Fid=5110&dept%5Fname=Access+Points) and here (http://www.mobileplanet.com/private/handango/listing.asp?cat%5Fid=902&cat%5Fname=Pocket+PC&pdept%5Fid=900102&dept%5Fid=5120&dept%5Fname=Connection+Solutions).

[Mitchybums]

basicaly you can use a bluetooth usb in a pc.
as long as the pc is on it's basicaly an accesspoint.
I usedto do it that way, and was thinking about an accesspoint, but I spend about US$120 on a cheap wallmart wifi router and a bestbuy ambicom wifi cfcard due to the range of bluetooth.
an added bonus is the speed as well.
Now I can watch movies over the wifi connection, while with bluetooth I could not even play mp3's off of a network share.

Powerconsumption isnt too bad.
I can watch a 2hr movie without a warning of power on a full charge.
(that is continious wifi usage and continious cpu usage)
With just browsing, the cpu usage is of course way lower thus lasting longer.

edit:
OK, didnt read.
Looked into the accesspoints, but wifi is more up my alley.

[Janak Parekh]

basicaly you can use a bluetooth usb in a pc.
Reread his post. He'd rather leave his desktop off. ;) Your points about WiFi are with merit, though. On the other hand, BT uses less power assuming the range is good enough, which increases battery life fairly substantially. And it's good enough for simple websurfing...

--janak

[lkawamot]

Yeah, I already have WiFi available on my LAN... I'm just trying to make it easier for me and my g/f to use our iPAQs -- this way, she can stay on IM and I can browse web sites more conveniently.

I also use a USB BT Dongle at the office -- my cube is surrounded by the conference rooms so no matter what meeting I'm in, I can always connect to my PC and get access to the net through it. I just don't want to use a dongle at home and leave my desktop on all the time (it works hard enough as it is when I'm playing games, it deserves some rest)

I'm probably gonna just order the Belkin mentioned above...

Man, I love Bluetooth!

[ctmagnus]

Man, I love Bluetooth!

Amen!

[freitasm]

I've posted reviews of two BT AP on Geekzone:

Bluetake BT300 (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=1261)
Belkin AP (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=1773)

The Belkin is quite cool because comes with a USB printer server - so you can print from any computer on your network (yes, because the Access Point is connected to LAN, right?).

The Belkin worked ok, and the configuration has more options. I personally use the BT300, and it works fine with my Dell laptop, h3970 and h4150.