Bluetooth and Routers

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:43 pm

My wife just got a new PDA. It says that it can connect via Bluetooth technology, but I don't know much about it.

I have a wireless router (802.11b), but the PDA is not finding the signal. Someone told me that I need to get a bluetooth adapter to plug into my PC or my laptop to be able to communicate and share internet connection with the PDA.

Does anyone have experience with this? Jambrea is starting to get on my nerves. . .okay, not really, but she'd like to be able to use her device to access email while in the house.

rezin · Post by **rezin** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:38 pm

my fried had this problem with his phone.

i think he just got a bluetooth adapter and plugged it into a usb port on his comp.

not positive though.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:54 pm

Nothing I read said that explicitly, which was confusing, but I think that's what I need to do. I think that the PDA has to communicate with my PC via the dongle which shares the internet connection being sent by the router to the PC. Kind of a pain in the ass, but oh well.

pltd · Post by **pltd** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:18 am

unless your pc has blutooth installed you will have to get a usb bluetooth adapter. also remember when you use the pda you will have to be fairly close to your pc b/c bluetooth is basically los (line of sight) technology.hope this helps.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:11 am

Yes, that confirms what I was guessing. I was planning on getting a class 1 or class 2 adapter to make sure that I get the 10 meter range since it's difficult to be anywhere in my house and be over 30 feet from the PC. The wife intends to use it while watching television when I'm on the PC, so that will work well. Thank you!

deek · Post by **deek** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:35 am

I picked up a class 3 (I think) bluetooth dongle for under $10 on newegg.com. They are pretty cheap.

Now the thing I am not 100% sure, is if you can actually share an internet connection via bluetooth. The device I used only allowed transferring some data between the two devices...so, before you make the investment (granted, its a small one), make sure that the internet is actually shareable, both on the PDA and from your laptop with the dongle...

Personally, I have not been all that impressed with bluetooth.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:42 am

Yeah, I've read that it's not really great technology, but at this point it's more about making the wife happy. She got a nice bonus from her work this year and we invested about 70% in the retirement account, put 20% in savings, and she's spent the rest on the PDA, so another couple $$ to get it doing what she wants isn't bad, as long as it works.

deek · Post by **deek** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:17 pm

Just make sure that internet sharing is supported...I'd think more often than not, it is not available through bluetooth.

bwohlgemuth · Post by **bwohlgemuth** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:56 pm

What kind of PDA? You may be able to find a small card to get 802.11b/g connection.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:11 pm

It's a Palm Tungsten T2. The manual says that you can connect it to a phone, a pc or a lan and the settings offer the ability to do so, but it looks like I'm missing a device in the chain. I thought that the PDA would be able to just pick up the signal, but I guess not. The thing was advertised as being able to access email and websites but their instructions on setting it up are left a bit lacking.

There's also a lack of information online regarding the device, bluetooth, and wireless connection.

It's been a major source of frustration. I spent nearly two hours yesterday reading worthless site after worthless site, and scouring the manuals for my router and the PDA. I'm going to kill something soon.

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:31 pm

not to pee on your parade.

But we both have PALM PDA's and have had nothing but bad luck synching up with anything else.

A qualified IT guy told the wife next time ditch the PALM and go with a windows based OS...ie Crackberry.

much less grief.

deek · Post by **deek** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:40 pm

Here's an article I just found:

http://www.whizoo.com/bt_setup/ -- looks like it is possible and this is a great setup, step-by-step

I don't know how much you shopped ahead of time or what you were looking for, but an Apple iTouch (the iPhone, minus the phone), is bad-azz...I know someone that has one and its wi-fi enabled...which means free internet whenever you can find an access point...very cool!!!

Yeah, I have to agree with OA, PDAs are kinda losing functionality to the newer wi-fi handhelds (devices and computers). A few years ago, everyone had their PDA, could sync to email and maybe even browse the web (even if it was just a cache). Palm used to be huge in that arena, but with many cellphones having just as much capability, if not more...well, you see where that is going.

I've been fascinated by http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... k=Eee%2bPC and http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI ... d_i=507846

That second one, the Kindle, I'd think your wife would use the hell out of it!!![/url]

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:12 pm

Well, we did quite a bit of shopping, actually, and Jambrea decided on this one because of the price, not necessarily for the connectivity. Yeah, she wants it, but it's not going to kill the deal if I can't get it worked out. Even if we are not able to get her wireless connection working the way she wants, her primary need for it was as an eReader and the extra functionality was just a plus.

We are not cell phone people, or at least I am not. Though there are many times I wish I had one to make a call, I absolutely abhor the expectation of availability that comes along with having a phone. People get all kinds of sh*tty if you don't answer their call. It's my phone. I pay the bills. I have it so that I can make calls when I need to, not so that other people can get a hold of me whenever they want.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions, though.

Oh yeah, deek, I found that site you sent. I skimmed through a lot of it, but at first glance, it didn't seem to meet my needs. I'll read it more closely now.

deek · Post by **deek** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:18 pm

Garr, scroll down to the step-by-step stuff. The first few pages are more just general setup...after that, it shows you how to set up the palm for bluetooth connectivity, internet sharing on your PC...all with screenprints and the like. There's a ton of stuff there and it really looks like it is walking you through the exact details needed to set everything up, either with built-in BT or a dongle...