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Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Bridge

 A bridge between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks
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This device would function as a network bridge, allowing users of Bluetooth devices that are able to use the Wireless Networking profile the ability to utilize Wi-Fi Hotspots. Because of the nature of Bluetooth networking, the device would have to accept PPP connections from Bluetooth PDA's, laptops, etc. and then simply forward those packets to an existing Wi-Fi Network. There would have to be an interface in the device that would allow the Bluetooth device to configure the wireless network (ie Network Name, WEP) probably a web-based interface. There would have to be a hardware method of pairing the Bridge to a Bluetooth device, probably similar to the way that Bluetooth Mouses are paired now (a hardware button is pressed and the device will pair with any device for the next 15 seconds without a PIN). Either that or the device would be plugged in to a USB port on a host configured and paired via a desktop application.

P.S. The recently approved Bluetooth 1.2 specification includes specifications to reduce/remove interference of Bluetooth devices using the 2.4Ghz ISM band (ie 802.11b/g)

—timepilot84, May 18 2004

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       I've heard that Philips has a plan for this. It would be great if cellphones with Java MIDP 2.0 and Bluetooth could connect directly to the Company.Net or chatting, browsing via Home.Net or even using them as VoIP handset without wasting money on those pesky cell operators.   

       Of course the phones of toworrow will have bluetooth/wifi combo or even entirely based on wireless net work technology such as 802.11n or 802.16
—eilathean, Nov 13 2004
   

       I have a rarely-used laptop running Linux to do exactly this, so we can use our Palms (T3 and Zire72) to do a quick Google or mail check without leaving the room to go to a PC.
—ian_mackereth, Nov 28 2004
   

       erm.. are these available on the market yet ? surely someone has made one ?
—neilp, Mar 03 2005
   

       There exist bluetooth-to-LAN bridges, and LAN-to-WiFi bridges, so in a sense yes.   

       However, this is a hideous kludge, so I'm not gonna call this baked.
—Chrontius, Mar 03 2005
   

       yeah, I'd want this to be a standalone device, about the size of a matchbox but about 70% battery, so I could leave it in my rucksack and my PDA, mobile and laptop can each access wifi networks.
—neilp, Mar 03 2005
   

       You realize that Bluetooth's bandwidth is far, far less than that of WiFi, don't you?
—Acme, Mar 03 2005
   

       1Mb/s is probably good enough for my purposes (it always makes me laugh when people with one PC plugged into a DSL connection upgrade from 802.11b to 802.11g). What's the bandwidth of Bluetooth SIG?
—neilp, Apr 13 2005
   

       [neilp] 802.11g also transmits to a greater distance than 802.11b.   

       Bluetooth bandwidth: 1 mbps. It gets boosted to 3 in future products.   

       It would be nice to have a tiny device to bridge the two protocols, but network traffic over both looks like ethernet. A bridge between the two using a computer is not kludgey at all. It's the same as any software ethernet bridge.
—joeforker, Jul 13 2005
   


 

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