Wireless Home Networking - Index of

Chapter 15: Using a Bluetooth Network
recommend), plug the power cord into your power strip and into the back of
the hub (a designated power outlet is there), and you’re ready to go! It’s easy
as can be. Now you can plug any USB device you have (keyboard, mouse,
digital camera, printer — you name it) into the hub and away you go.
Street prices for these USB Bluetooth adapters generally run under $40, and
you can find them at most computer stores (both online and the real brickand-mortar
stores down the street). Vendors include companies such as D-
Link (www.dlink.com), Belkin (www.belkin.com), and Sony (www.sony.com).
Understanding Pairing and Discovery
A key concept to understand when you’re dealing with a Bluetooth device
(like a cell phone or cordless headset) is pairing. Pairing is simply the
process of two Bluetooth-enabled devices exchanging an electronic handshake
(an electronic “greeting” where they introduce themselves and their
capabilities) and then “deciding,” based on their capabilities and your
preferences (which you set up within the Bluetooth preferences menu on
your device), how to communicate.
A typical Bluetooth cell phone has three key settings you need to configure
to pair with another Bluetooth device:
� Power: First, you need to make sure that Bluetooth is turned on. Many
phones (and other battery-powered devices) have Bluetooth turned
off by default, just to lower power consumption and maximize battery
life. On your phone’s Bluetooth menu, make sure that you have turned
on the power.
� Discoverable: With most Bluetooth devices (such as cell phones or PCs
and Macs), you can configure your Bluetooth system to be discoverable,
which means that the device openly identifies itself to other nearby
Bluetooth devices for possible pairings. If you set your device to be
discoverable, it can be found — if you turn off this feature, your phone
can still make Bluetooth connections, but only to devices with which it
has previously paired.
This setting has different names on different phones. On Pat’s Motorola
phone, it’s Find Me; yours may be different.
Some phones and other devices aren’t discoverable all the time. For
example, Pat’s RAZR phone becomes discoverable for 60 seconds when
you select Find Me.
� Device name: Most devices have a generic (and somewhat descriptive)
name identifying them (like Motorola V3 RAZR). You can modify this
name to whatever you want (“Pat’s phone,” for example) so that you
recognize it when you establish a pairing.
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