Bluetooth Vs WiFi, etc

[Prune84]

Hi, I am considering buying a PDA to help with studying and ward rounds etc. However, i also want to be able to use it to browse the web/pick up e-mail whilst wandering around my wireless network at home. Is it possible to set up a reasonable connection to the internet through a bluetooth connection through my home PC?
This would then save me a lot of money buying a WiFi card.
The choice between PDA is a Palm T3 or a HP 2210, and if I need to buy a WiFi card, it takes up the only slot on the T3 (and a SD WiFi card is twice the price of a CF WiFi card, the T3 only has a SD port).

Any thoughts, thanks.

[SEOMike]

A bluetooth connection is only good for about 33 feet. Don't expect to "go wandering around" you house.

it takes up the only slot on the T3

Not sureI follow here. You only have one slot on your T3 modem? You could get a hub to expand it.

I have an HP 4155 that is great! You could probably find one for cheap on Ebay. It supports 802.11b&g.

[SEOMike]

T3 only has a SD port

Oh... duh. Didn't realise you were talking about your potential palm.

[quotations]

Is it possible to set up a reasonable connection to the internet through a bluetooth connection through my home PC?

In addition to the distance constraint already noted above, speed of the connection would also be much slower than with WiFi.

This is usually not a problem with typical browsing that you would do from a PDA so it may work fine for you.

If you get Class 1 adapters, the power requirements would be higher but you would get a better range (up to 100 m) ... at that point, it might be better to simply buy one of the PDAs which come with built-in WiFi.

There are several forums on this topic which would provide more specifics but google has decided they are not important enough to actually list where they can be found.

[edward301]

bluetooth max speed 300kbs - good for a wireless printer

wifi (g) 54mbs - good for networking computers/internet connection sharing via a router

[pixelkat]

why not get an iPAQ 4150/55 or 4355 (same device, only with a thumb-size input keyboard. Both wifi and bluetooth are built in. getting connected is as simple as tapping a little orange button until it turns green. then watch the green network-finding light to search for your network, and within seconds, voila!

I love mine. Mostly I use wifi because there are so few bluetooth enabled devices and computers at my disposal, it's not worth the trouble yet.

my husband swears by Palm, although the company he works for as a Quality Assurance Manager develops software and hardware for unit dosing of pharmacy meds in hospitals using Windows technology because WinCE/Pocket PC seems to be the preferred mobile o/s choice of pharmacists and pharmaceutical industry. when I cruise the web for dev info, I find plenty of medical software for both Palm and PPC.

Expect to pay $400 - 450 for the 4150/55. it has 64mgs of ram and a 400mh processor which are great for better execution speed. if you expect heavy use of wifi connectivity, you need at least this much power at a minimum.

hope this helps.
kat

I chose a WinCE/Pocket PC because I develop web sites for pda using Flash, which is not yet supported by Palm O/S. Nor are other primary media formats supported, and as a media developer these features are vital to my profession.