Bluetooth and WI-Fi

[Greenstead]

I have been a Wi-Fi fan since Wi-Fi appeared, but never to-date used Bluetooth myself. I know what bluetooth does and where it is used but I have to admit an ignorance of how/if it works alongside Wi-Fi. Having decided to buy some bluetooth equipment I decided it was time I worried first about what it will do to my 802.11b/g network. I am going to find out.

I know both work in the same 2.4GHz range so I expect interference unless there is some clever channel avoidance in bluetooth. It will have to be very clever since I use wireless video at the bottem end of the spectrum, 802.11b in the middle and 802.11g at the top end. (Yes I know I could migrate to 802.11a, and thats probably what I will end up doing).

We will see.

Anyone who has practical experience of bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g working in coexistance, or not, please post.

/edit I just read this which seems to hold out some hope:
http://www.siliconwave.com/coexistence.html
It refers to bluetooth spec v1.2 with 'adaptive hopping', but I note all the products I have looked at quote bluetooth V1.1

[Greenstead]

No takers so far ?


I'm taking the plunge then.
Well having checked the market I have selected the only Bluetooth V1.2 headset Motorola HS820 Bluetooth Headset,
http://www.blueunplugged.com/Products/Motorola_HS820_Bluetooth_Headset.aspx
and to go with it (because to-date there is no V1.2 adapter) a low cost V1.1 USB adapter, Blueunplugged Bluetooth USB Dongle - 20M,
http://www.blueunplugged.com/Products/Blueunplugged_Bluetooth_USB_Dongle__20M.aspx
the later at the advice of blueunplugged.com

My inital objective is that they provide a voice/sound interface for on-line comms and video conf - my tower is in the corner of the room away from the flat screen I use.

My further objective is to use these with Skype on reasonable roam about, which is why I like the 20m range claim for the adapter.

One thing I am sure of is that there will be a problem with my 802.11b network since I have two 802.11b routers about 1 meter from the tower where I will plugging in the bluetooth USB adapter.

I have read that there are some isuses with Microsoft's bluetooth stack in XP SP1 which is improved in SP2, which I can easily get if needed.

Watch this space.

Anyone elses experience is welcome too.

[Greenstead]

I bought the bluetooth equipment.

For now I can say some things about it:
- It works with the dongle driver (widcomm driver).
- It does work with Skype.
- Range is very limited until voice quality falls. A wall between the dongle and headset is a killer. (the dongle is supposedly a 20m range).
- It doesn't work with the M$ generic bluetooth driver.
- It does interfere with a proximity 802.11 connection causing it to drop. e.g. if I use a WiFi PC card and bluetooth usb dongle on a laptop.

It seems you have to be careful to buy a dongle which includes the headset profile. Not all seem to.

I have just upgraded all my PCs to XP SP2 which introduces a new issue of the firewall. To allow communication I have disabled the firewall on bluetooth, which seems to me a little extreme so I need to find out how to breach the XP firewall for the headset profile only.

This further convinces me I have to consider changing my WiFi network to 802.11a to get out of the crowded 2.4GHz range.

Further updates to follow.

[Greenstead]

Update...

No other BT users around ? This is becoming a blog.

I recently got an HP tablet TC1100 which includes HP bluetooth (using widcomm driver) and 802.11b. The recent HP updates claim BT V1.2. Certainly the BT and 802.11 seem to work together alright. So its seems BT V1.2 does the job.

I also managed, after a lot of trying, to get a BT network connection working between the tablet and a LAN Domain via a networked PC with a BT dongle.

[veedub565]

Your not the only one on Bluetooth, I've just set up my home network useing bluetooth (tho not without probs - see shareing forum) it's not as fast as Wi-fi at only 1mb/s but it is cheap and should be quick enough to share a broadband connection
Range seems ok from one room to the next