Bluetooth networking

[Nick]

I've got two TDK USB Bluetooth adapters and I want to network my second machine to the first, which will also act as a gateway for internet access. I had the two machines working fine using NIC cards, but having moved the second machine I've switched to the bluetooth thingies.

The problem is the PCs can see each other on bluetooth, but I can't get the client machine to connect to the net.

I've tried using the XP network wizard, but the LAN icon for the bluetooth adapter shows as having a network cable unplugged. I have no idea how to 'plug in' something that is already plugged in and so I can't run the network wizard...

I've checked all the read me files for help and have followed the instructions for configuring the bluetooth devices, but still no joy...

I'm running XP Pro and Norton Personal Firewall. I'm wondering if Norton might be the reason, but I can't see any way of configuring Norton to allow access through the Bluetooth...

Help!

(In a brief conversation with Moby, he metioned bridging a connection. I have an NIC card in both machines, but internet access is through a USB ADSL modem, so I can't bridge to the NIC card as it doesn't go anywhere!)

[5lab]

try taking norton off for a bit and see if it works.

[Moby-Dick]

I'll give you a bell in a bit if you PM me your landline

[Nick]

Dont worry chaps, these things are toilet... can't get ANYTHING going with 'em, XP can't see 'em as a LAN connection and they only go at 700kbps... gonna go get two wireless NICs instead and run these useless bloody things back to the shop...

Cheers for the offer Moby, might beed to take you up on it when the wirelsess cards are in!

[Moby-Dick]

bluetooth wont go more than 1 mbps anyhoo - it's still fine for surfing though !

I take it you had no joy getting your phone to talk to them either ?

you should have more luck with the wireless NIC's

[Nick]

the phone worked 'ok'... but not brilliantly. Not really worth the bother tbh, I mainly wanted it for wireless networking... which is too damn ahrd to set up and this is the real kicker : EACH time you start up, you have to search for a bluetooth device, before you can connect to the net... no good at all when its a 7 year old who wants to play cartoon network.com!

[Aaron]

Bluetooth really insisted designed for networking computers together. The range and bandwidth is very poor.

For the same price you can get a 802.11b wireless network card and run it in ad-hoc mode. Great range, decent bandwidth, very easy to use and set-up.

[Steve]

I reviewed some Gigabyte Bluetooth Dongles some time back and found their networking capabilities were less than good, mostly because of the software they used.

I would say bluetooth is good for replacing PDA docking stations and stuff like that, rather than being used as a networking tool - that's what 802.11x standards are for.

[Enverex]

Range is poor on all the Models except the 100M ones, which excel compared to the others in every way. Doesn't stop them from having crappy 768k bandwidth though.

To network them you have to browse the other machines services via your "My Bluetooth Places" icon, and select the networking one. THEN they will be connected.

NS

[Rythmic]

Make sure you have different names set up for the two bluetooth devices - we had a problem in the office of two T610s with the same ID - Nothing would work. Took about an hour after changing stuff to make everything work properly again.

Make sure you've paired the devices - but don't expect two much in terms of bandwidth - Bluetooth isn't really designed for that.