Chapter 47. Using Wireless Bluetooth Devices
In a nutshell, Bluetooth is a wireless technology that provides wireless communications among computers, printers, mobile phones, PDAs, digital cameras, and other electronic devices. You can connect as many as eight devices together with Bluetooth, with one device acting as the master device and up to seven slave devices (this is called a piconet; you can have up to two piconets). For example, you could have a desktop PC, a notebook, PDA, digital camera, MP3 player, digital video camera, headphones, and mobile phone all linked together wirelessly. They could all share a high-speed Internet connection, share data, and use a single printer.
The World of Bluetooth
As of late 2009, the current Bluetooth version is 3.0. Bluetooth transfers data at up to 3 Mbps, which is slower than 802.11b (11 Mbps) and 802.11g (54 Mbps). So, if you're thinking of setting up a permanent wireless network between computers, you may want to stick with the 802.11 standards described in Chapter 51 of this book. But when it comes to connecting noncomputer Bluetooth devices, wirelessly connecting a printer, or occasionally transferring files between computers, Bluetooth can't be beat.
There are three types of Bluetooth ...
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