Bluetooth vs. 802.11b

[Alphathree33]

I bought an 802.11b card for my laptop. Works great.

Now, I also want my laptop to be able to connect wirelessly (not with Infrared) to my new Palm Tunsgten.

Do I need to buy an additional card -- a bluetooth card? For some reason I thought my laptop ( Dell Inspiron 8200 ) had integrated bluetooth, but I guess not since my Palm is telling me there are no bluetooth devices.

No, I'm not an idiot and Yes, I have enabled ( or rather looked for things to enable ) in the control panel.

 

[Shagga]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
I bought an 802.11b card for my laptop. Works great.

Now, I also want my laptop to be able to connect wirelessly (not with Infrared) to my new Palm Tunsgten.

Do I need to buy an additional card -- a bluetooth card? For some reason I thought my laptop ( Dell Inspiron 8200 ) had integrated bluetooth, but I guess not since my Palm is telling me there are no bluetooth devices.

No, I'm not an idiot and Yes, I have enabled ( or rather looked for things to enable ) in the control panel.

Sorry to Cr@p on ya thread, but have you got the Tungsten "T" or "M"? Not sure if the "M" is available yet but wanted to see if it is likely to be better than the "T". The "T" supports Bluetooth and I thought you needed a Bluetooth device on your laptop.

 

[Alphathree33]

Originally posted by: Shagga

Originally posted by: Alphathree33 I bought an 802.11b card for my laptop. Works great. Now, I also want my laptop to be able to connect wirelessly (not with Infrared) to my new Palm Tunsgten. Do I need to buy an additional card -- a bluetooth card? For some reason I thought my laptop ( Dell Inspiron 8200 ) had integrated bluetooth, but I guess not since my Palm is telling me there are no bluetooth devices. No, I'm not an idiot and Yes, I have enabled ( or rather looked for things to enable ) in the control panel.

Sorry to Cr@p on ya thread, but have you got the Tungsten "T" or "M"? Not sure if the "M" is available yet but wanted to see if it is likely to be better than the "T". The "T" supports Bluetooth and I thought you needed a Bluetooth device on your laptop.

It's the T... now, on to my question...

 

[Shagga]

Now to your question. AFAIK Yes you do.

 

[merlocka]

Yes, you will need a Bluetooth adapter for your PC in order to wirelessly connect and sync with your T|T.

Bluetooth and 802.11b are complimentary, no "vs" required.

 

[igowerf]

I thought Bluetooth interferes with 802.11b signals since both are 2.4 ghz.

 

[ViRGE]

They're similar, but slightly spread I believe. Either way, Bluetooth is such a lower power signal that there's really no chance for interfearance.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
They're similar, but slightly spread I believe. Either way, Bluetooth is such a lower power signal that there's really no chance for interfearance.

If there are two signals on the same frequency, the signal with the lower power will be overriden much easier.

 

[ViRGE]

True, but at least something works.

Seriously though, we've used Bluetooth devices a couple of cubes down from a 802.11b base station without problems at work before, so I'm not worried.