Wireless Keyboard and Mouse - Decent Range

[oldskooladdict]

We've just moved offices and it seems our wireless keyboard and mouse doesn't like our new meeting room. (It's quite a bit bigger).

Stand next to the receiver and it works fine, sit down or walk further away and it's very jittery and rubbish.

So, what combinations are famed for their long range? - It's a logitech one we have now so I'm not keen to buy logitech again (I think it looks a bit rubbish too).

[jimbouk]

I've always been a fan of Logitech but never mind.

Bluetooth might be your best bet for range.

[Funkstar]

Bluetooth is definitely something to look at.

Or another thought: how about moving the location of the wireless receiver? get a 5m USB cable or similar and move the wireless receiver to the middle of the room instead of in the corner with the PC. You could even ceiling mount it so nothing obstructs it, or just place it next to the conference phone or whatever if there is already things in the middle of the room on a table.

If the receiver draws less than 500mA, you could use multiple 5m USB extension cables. Each one uses 100mA to boost the data connection (effectively turning the socket at the end into a single port USB hub) and you can go another 5m. It's possible to get 20m or USB cable doing this, and still have 100mA to run whatever you connect into it.

[oldskooladdict]

USB extension cables are a no no as it would look unsightly in our nice new meeting room! - The table is right in the middle so we could not hide it.

I know sod all about bluetooth, how would this work compared to the USB and how would I know whether the PC I'm using would support this?

It does seem connected to the position of the sensor though. It's currently above the line of sight for the table so I stuck it on the wall. This gives about a 1/3 of the table use of it, but then it dies if you move further out!

[Funkstar]

A nice new meeting room that you didn't get ducting or voids incorporated so you can run cables for equipment you might need in the future? That's rather short sighted isn't it?

Bluetooth will work between 10m and 100m depending on the power of the devices. Your PC doesn't need to be compatible as a BT keyboard will always come with a BT dongle of some description. Plug it in, load the software and away you go. Or on some systems you might just be able to plug it in, use the Windows drivers and BT subsystem and away you go. It should give much better coverage than normal RF

[oldskooladdict]

Ironically we did vga, audio, hdmi and cat5 - just not usb. hdmi sockets in the floor - cool! - just no bloody usb!

So we could probably get somebody to run such cables but would mean pulling the floor up again :/

Bluetooth 100% sounds like its worth a go. Cheers

[Funkstar]

or you could use an adapter to run USB over your ethernet cables

http://www.google.co.uk/products?cli...ed=0CC4QrQQwAA

[oldskooladdict]

That's an interesting option mate, I'll look into that!