Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a short range wireless digital communication technology. It was developed as a low cost, low power way of removing many of the data wires between devices. This concept is called a PAN or Personal Area Network.

The Scoop

Bluetooth can remove the wires from your printer allowing your computers or PDA to print directly to it wirelessly. It can remove the wires from your mouse, your joystick, your digital camera and can replace the cradle you drop your PDA into to synchronize your calendar. On an even more personal level, it can remove the wires between your cell phone and a hands-free headset.

Then there is the mobile Internet aspect. Why not push IP over this digital communication channel? Using a digital cell phone with Bluetooth and a Bluetooth PDA, you can wirelessly surf the internet or get your email. Sony even makes a camcorder that will surf the web over a Bluetooth cell phone using Bluetooth.

Networking
here are the facts. Bluetooth has a range of about 30 feet. It also has a maximum throughput of 1.5Mbps. Bluetooth might be good to put in a Web pad to surf the internet, but it's too slow to move good size files between your computers. A typical MP3 file is 3Mb. That would take about 20 seconds or so to move between two Bluetooth devices. In contrast, 802.11b could have moved 5-7 of those files in that time.

What are your opinions about using Bluetooth for networking?

- JMD Computer

Posted in: Connectivity,Mobile