Bluetooth (longish) Rant - Are there any GOOD Bluetooth solutions anywhere?
Posts: n/a
with my laptop using a 3Com PCMCIA card with retractable antenna. After a
rather shaky start (unintuitive and incomplete software from both 3Com and
SE) I have been able to sync pretty reliably for the better part of the two
years. I also bought a Bluetooth printer and can print perfectly to that
even though it is in a separate room, one floor above me. The best thing
about all this is that it all works with the Bluetooth antenna fully
recessed into the laptop - I don't need to extend it and so I have no
unsightly protrusions to get broken off while moving the laptop about.
I now have a Palm Tungsten T3. I am also able to sync this with my laptop
using Bluetooth and I can pick up emails and surf the net on the T3 via my
T68i.
So far so good. But..... often the Palm will not complete a Hotsync without
crashing part way through. sometimes it works fine, sometimes not. I can do
two Hotsyncs in a row and one will work and the other not. There appears to
be no pattern to this. My sync software for the T68i has also started
playing up for no good reason. Sync will run through OK until the last
record is processed, at which point the sync software crashes, repeatedly.
This means that every time I now sync it has to operate in "slow sync" mode,
which is very irksome. To add insult to injury the crash leaves my Bluetooth
software locked up and my phone thinking it is still in "sync" mode and thus
draining the battery like crazy.
I performed a clean rebuild of my laptop in January this year with Win XP
Pro, fully patched with Windows Updates, and I have not installed any
dubious software. I'm the only user so I know the laptop config is sound.
Thus these crashes are beyond my comprehension, unless the Bluetooth and/or
sync software is faulty, as the build should be perfect.
I also have read that I can create a "network" type connection from my Palm
to the laptop in order to use its broadband connection to surf the net.
While the benefits of this might be minimal, as a technical exercise I
thought I'd give it a go. But despite following various sets of instructions
very carefully on several occasions I have not succeeded in getting such a
connection to work. It seems that my 3Com card doesn't support the type of
access required (LAN Host?) so I'm never going to get anywhere with that.
I've checked the 3Com website and there are no further updates available so
I guess that's that.
Finally, I thought Bluetooth was supposed to operate at something like
768kbps to 1Mbps. But there is no evidence on my system of anything other
than a multitude of Bluetooth serial ports with options for standard serial
port speeds up to a maximum of 128kbps. How on earth do I unleash the
promised speed of Bluetooth?
If the price was right and the functionality and stability assured I would
be willing to change the 3Com card for something else. I checked the
Microsoft website to look for XP compatible.certified Bluetooth hardware. Is
that some sort of joke? There were just two Bluetooth integrated chips and
three USB devices - two on the end of bloody great leads. I HAVE A LAPTOP. I
DO NOT WANT TO TRAIL LEADS ALL OVER THE PLACE. I also don't want even a
stubby USB adapter sticking out, waiting to get broken off. And I can hardly
add an integrated chip.
I've done some looking and it really seems USB Bluetooth is all the rage but
I haven't a clue why. Is there anything out there that works reliably,
offers high communication speeds, has full functionality for all Bluetooth
profiles and does not protrude excessively? I guess I could live with a USB
stubby (reluctantly) if it was hinged and could be swivelled up behind the
laptop screen and not stick out backwards, rigidly, just waiting to be
snapped off. If these simple requirements can not be met then I guess I
shall just have to wait until I can afford a whole new laptop with
integrated Bluetooth.
Can anyone recommend a solution? Manufacturers, are you listening?
--
Email address is munged. Please reply to newsgroup.
Linear Mode
