Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
162 of 169 people found the following review helpful.
Great looks, no driver headaches, & works like a charm!
By A Customer
If you own a bluetooth enabled phone, this is a MUST-HAVE accessory! I've owned this for two weeks and here's my experience w/it so far.
Installation was a snap! I am using Windows XP SP1. I downloaded the latest drivers from Linksys website and during the install process, it prompted me to plug in the dongle, then it finished and was up and working! That easy! I've read about others having driver problems w/other lesser name brands (Belkin, etc) but Linksys truly does live up to its name. I've also installed drivers on my laptop so I now have a Bluetooth enabled laptop also! It's easy switching the dongle from desktop to laptop because of the USB connector. Pairing w/my Sony Ericsson T610, I now have wireless internet access on my laptop anywhere I can get a signal on my cell phone!
Syncing w/Outlook is much faster than through IRDA and sending pictures/ringtones/games to and from the phone is a lot more convenient too because it doesn't require line of sight the way IRDA does.
The specs claim 100m but you've gotta remember that's unobstructed. I live in a 2800sq ft home w/two floors and this unit still picked up a weak to fair signal from one end of my house to the other. I would get strong signals from about 3/4's of the distance or closer.
You can probably save $10-15 going w/a generic or lesser name brand but full driver support from generics may be a hit-and-miss game. To me, paying a bit extra for fully compliant driver support and no installation headaches is certainly worth it! Plus, it looks cool and has that antenna for better range.
79 of 84 people found the following review helpful.
easy to install, great range!
By Nadyne Richmond
My household is a bit geeky. If you walk into my apartment, you'll find four laptops, two desktops, four Palms, two iPods, and two cell phones. Two of the Palms and one of the cell phones are Bluetooth-enabled, but none of the computers are. Until we bought this adapter, that is.
It works like a champ in all of our computers. For the record, we've used it on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux (the Gentoo flavour, if you care), and OS X. For the Windows computers and the Mac, it's pretty much plug-and-play. This adapter is quite happy talking to the Sony Ericsson T608 cell phone, as well as both Palm Tungsten T3s. I can work with it in any room in the apartment, and even into the hallway and a bit in the elevator. It's made getting telephone numbers into the phone a lot easier, not to mention keeping information updated between everything.
Unless we buy a new computer with a built-in Bluetooth module, I'm sure that we'll get another one of these.
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
Some setup issues with Windows XP SP2.
By dash-o
Let me start by saying that this bluetooth adapter works great under Windows XP and Mac OS X once is setup correctly.If you are using Windows XP SP1 then there is nothing to worry about. Make sure to first setup the drivers from the software CD, and then insert the adapter when setup requests it. The new Windows XP SP2 generic bluetooth drivers detect and install this adapter, however, there are some caveats if one wants to expose services to bluetooth devices, which instead requires the drivers on the software CD. Make sure not to plug-in the adapter or setup the software before reading Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 840635 "Cannot install a Bluetooth device after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2." See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=840635Mac OS X 10.3.5 was a non-event--just connect the adapter to the computer and the bluetooth icon will appear on the system menu, then click on the icon to pair the device and discover it's services. If you are planning to synchronize contacts and calendar entries make sure your phone is supported by iSync (1.5 as of this writing.) No that if your phone model is not explicitly listed (http://www.apple.com/isync) it will probably not work--as I found out with my Nokia 6620.Something to note is the antenna is a little fragile and will probably break from the excesive handling some of us give to memory sticks.Update Oct 6, 2004 - I was forced to return this adapter as "defective" today. I am not sure if I got a faulty unit or if there are compatibility problems between it and some motherboards--Asus P4C800-E. This is what I wrote to customer service: "The Linksys Bluetooth Adapter does not work after a computer cold boot. Windows detects a new device "CSR Generic Bluetooth Adapter in DFU State." Researching the problem found the device goes into "firmware update mode." Reinstalling Windows does not fix the problem. Tried both WIndows XP SP1a and SP2." Note this adapter works fine as long as it is plugged/unplugged while the computer is still running.
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