Got wireless router today. It’s Linksys and it’s good. It now gives me a lot more flexibiliy with my lappy. Previously it was impossible for me to take my lappy out of 10 feet range from my PC if I needed access to the internet. I had been connecting my laptop to my pc via bluetooth for last three months. I really enjoyed doing that. It was cheap and was doing the needful. Things are changing now, I need faster mode of communication for my laptop and an added distance from my PC. Thus, I get wireless routers.

I ran my bluetooth connectivity adventures using ITC BlueSoleil and here’s my experience :

Bluetooth connection is pretty descent. It won’t cost you more than Rs. 350 for a neat bluetooth dongle to allow your laptops to connect to your desktops. The configuration steps for bluetooth connection are fairly easy as well. You connect the dongle to PC, install drivers, make the device discoverable, seek your device (PC) from laptop, exchange passkeys and there… you’re now connected ! Share your PC’s existing internet connection, configure the network adapter settings and you’re on your way to surf the net off the bluetooth !!!

Simple it may be. But its SLOW. reminds of dialups. Forget the downloads, even PC-Laptop transfer speed is also low. You simply cant transfer files that are HUGE in filesize merely because such transfer will take HOURS and is not at all feasible to waste so much time. transfer of the same data via usb is a better option than on bluetooth connection.

Same goes for bluetooth internet. It is not good for streaming things online, downloading files that are larger than 2-4 MB or sending/receiving emails with descently bulky attachments. PLUS, you are definitely restricted by RANGE factor of the bluetooth dongle.

Now, I had some STRANGE requirement to go for a better connectivity solution. I wanted to teach things like Voice Chat and PC-to-PC calling to my parents. I did attempt to make do with bluetooth, but having a voice chat on the internet while sitting in the same room is just too much to handle.

I needed more range and preferably more speed to go further on Webcam features. Thus, after three months of bluetooth experience, I extended my arms (paws?) for the wireless router.

I happened to have some experience with configuring wireless internet connections at office. Wireless router configuration was not much of a hazzle. It completed in less than fifteen minutes with all necessary settings for port forwarding to support my website’s smooth running over this new thing routing network traffic.

now that I have these things set up, somewhere in the back of my mind, i’m planning to write tiny guides for bluetooth and/or wireless configurations. Currently am too lazy to do that.

Ultimately, why this post. The purpose of this post is less for bosting about the new device or my connectivity experiences. It’s more like I’m trying to justify the purchase of the device itself. Doesn’t really matter now, I’m connected, happy and wireless !!!

~JaguarNac~