I came across an article several weeks ago in a PC type magazine's web site for a product announcement for a blue tooth system that claims a range of 10 km (KILOmeters). Wow! I always thought bluetooth had an expected range of only 10 meters (30 feet).
The manufacturer's web page is:
http://www.aircable.net/host-xr.html
Anyone know much about this? Presumably they have figured a way to maintain p15 compliance in the bluetooth format. But I do not understand how that happens.
Also, and primarily: any thoughts on using someting like this as an STL (studio to transmitter linek) or anything other application related to broadcastin in Part 15.
Bluetooth 2.0 is a new standard that is supposed to add greater range, more features, etc. Even with that, I question such long ranges.
Note that the tech specs say "Bluetooth 2.0 compatible with 802.11b tolerance". This means that the 2.0 spec still uses the same 2.4GHz spectrum. I would think that the presense of any 2.4GHz WiFi activity would kill the performance and usefulness of Bluetooth 2.0 over an extended range.
Besides, since they both share the same spectrum, I don't see what advantage Bluetooth 2.0 would have over WiFi for a long link. Bluetooth was designed for easy paring of devices in a very local area. After early problems were worked out, it does seem to do a good job at that.
Given the security problems with Bluetooth, I don't think I would want a cell phone or PDA with the ability to pair with another device from down the block. Things are bad enough with the short range of the current spec.