What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is a wireless system, designed to link electronic devices with low power consumption to each other using an unlicensed short-rage radio signal. While 802.11b wireless networking is more appropriate for local area networks, Bluetooth is a quick and simple way to link mobile phones, printers, digital cameras and laptops together.

Bluetooth uses a globally unlicensed radio frequency of 2.4 to 2.485 GHz to connect multiple Bluetooth devices together in a relatively secure network, so long as the devices are in range of each other.

In a Bluetooth network, one device is considered the master, and the other devices are called "slaves." A Bluetooth network can support up to eight active devices, and is called a piconet. Data can be transferred from or to the master device from any of the "slaves."

In addition to active devices, a piconet can link to up to 255 inactive devices. The master Bluetooth device can deactivate an active device and activate an inactive device at any time.

Bluetooth earpieces, game controllers and other devices must be in range of the master Bluetooth device to access the network. Bluetooth comes in three classes, each with a different maximum device power and range:

Bluetooth wiring seems a contradiction: After all, Bluetooth is a remote wireless system. Some Bluetooth wiring or Bluetooth adapters may be required, however, to connect a computer or laptop as a Bluetooth network.

Many new PCs and laptops now come with built-in Bluetooth wiring. Computers that don't have built-in Bluetooth capabilities can add capabilities by using a Bluetooth adapter.

A Bluetooth adapter, or "dongle," is a small device that slots into a computer USB port. A Bluetooth adapter comes with installation software. Once the software is installed, simply inserting the Bluetooth adapter into a USB port provides the PC with Bluetooth capabilities.

An increasing number of electronic devices are now Bluetooth enabled or compatible. Bluetooth headsets and Bluetooth earpieces are very popular for computer to phone or computer-to-computer phone calls.

Mobile phones often come with Bluetooth earpieces. A Bluetooth earpiece allows people to keep both hands free when talking on the phone. The phone is usually attached to the belt, so the distance between the phone and the Bluetooth earpiece does not extend beyond the Class Three Bluetooth range.

The hands-free Bluetooth headset also allows people to drive while using their cell phones, a feature that made Bluetooth headsets one of the first commercial Bluetooth successes.

As well as Bluetooth earpieces and headsets, many other devices may be Bluetooth enabled, including:

Both Bluetooth and 802.11b are wireless systems. Of the two, Bluetooth is best used with small devices that can quickly be connected to the Bluetooth system.

802.11b offers greater speed and versatility for a local area network than Bluetooth, which as yet lacks the bandwidth and speed to function effectively as a LAN.

As Bluetooth technology develops, it is quite possible that Bluetooth will one day replace 802.11b as the wireless standard. At present, computer users tend to use 802.11b as their main wireless system, and maintain a Bluetooth network for easy communication between electronic devices.

By and large, Bluetooth is considered more secure than 802.11b. Security holes have been detected in Bluetooth networks, although few hackers have yet to really capitalize on these issues. The possibility does exist that hackers could access Bluetooth networks to access sensitive personal data.