Bluetooth Range Question

[Perceptes]

Hi everyone. I recently got Belkin's USB Bluetooth adapter for my Mac. I've been using it to surf the web wirelessly from my Palm Tungsten T. I noticed that I don't get nearly the range of reception that is quoted on the box. I got the Belkin one because it says it works up 100 meters instead of 10 like the D-Link one. However, I can't go much beyond my room without it losing its signal, so it's really more like 10 meters. Shouldn't I be able to get a signal from almost anywhere in my house with a range of 100 meters? Is this false advertising? Did I get a faulty adapter? Is there something in my room interfering with the signal? Should I use a certain placement for the adapter to maximize its range? Is this a limitation of OS X somehow?

Here's my setup:

Power Mac G4/466
OS X 10.2.5
Belkin USB Bluetooth Adapter (#F8T001)

Thanks!

 

[Freg3000]

I always thought that bluetooth had a range of 20-30 feet, which is basically up to 10 meters. 100 feet is way to far.

By the way, how did the set up with your Palm and wireless Internet go? I am trying to do something similar, but have run into problems.

Edit: I do see where the Belkin adapter claims 100 meters-that a football field. Sounds like false advertising to me.

 

[Computer_Phreak]

Re: Bluetooth Range Question

Originally posted by Perceptes
Hi everyone. I recently got Belkin's USB Bluetooth adapter for my Mac. I've been using it to surf the web wirelessly from my Palm Tungsten T. I noticed that I don't get nearly the range of reception that is quoted on the box. I got the Belkin one because it says it works up 100 meters instead of 10 like the D-Link one. However, I can't go much beyond my room without it losing its signal, so it's really more like 10 meters. Shouldn't I be able to get a signal from almost anywhere in my house with a range of 100 meters? Is this false advertising? Did I get a faulty adapter? Is there something in my room interfering with the signal? Should I use a certain placement for the adapter to maximize its range? Is this a limitation of OS X somehow?

Here's my setup:

Power Mac G4/466
OS X 10.2.5
Belkin USB Bluetooth Adapter (#F8T001)

Thanks!

I beleive that bluetooth's range is 30 feet. I'm sure that its NOT 100 meters.

 

[Perceptes]

Originally posted by Freg3000
By the way, how did the set up with your Palm and wireless Internet go? I am trying to do something similar, but have run into problems.

What sort of problems? It took me a little while to get it going, but not more than a few hours. I got it working based on the Mac OS X Hints tip (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021103062212288&query=bluetooth) and the Applescripts available at http://www.technohappymeal.com/archives/000070.html. Although I was under the impression that they both achieved the same result. I have discovered that I can only connect when I am using both at once- that is, use the Mac OS X Hints tip to start the PPP server at startup as it describes, then run the Applescript after your system finishes booting on top of that. When I use only the startup item, I can't connect. When I use only the Applescript, I get DNS errors once connected. When I use both, it works just fine. Good luck!