Recently, I wanted to be able to surf the net with Pocket PC via a Local Area Network (LAN) and using Bluetooth. These are the components needed:

- a Bluetooth USB Adaptor from ambicom.com ($50 USD)
- a Pocket PC with integrated Bluetooth
- a desktop or Laptop PC hooked into a LAN - it can be a wireless or wired LAN

The back of the ambicom USB adaptor has sort of a misleading diagram with the components you need:

I drew a red X through the items that are not required like: a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone and the Bluetooth Access Point. The computer ‘gurus’ at Best Buy told me that the Bluetooth Access Point was required, but actually it is not. You can connect through Activesync to the LAN through the Bluetooth USB Adaptor. The LAN does not have to be wireless. Here are the steps to set this up:

STEP 1. Install Activesync. This should have come with your Pocket PC software on the target PC (which is already working on your LAN).
STEP 2. Install the Bluetooth USB Adaptor software.
STEP 3. Insert the USB Adaptor into the USB port on the target PC when required in STEP 2.

STEP 4. Determine the COM port for the bluetooth SERIAL. This can be found in the Windows Device Manager. You can locate the Device Manager by going to START–>CONTROL PANEL –> SYSTEM. Choose HARDWARE and then click the Device Manager. Then click on the Ports and you should see the Bluetooth COM ports. On my machine it was COM 4.

STEP 5. Run the Activesync software and choose FILE–>Connection Settings. Make sure that only the first and last checkboxes are set. First checkbox should read: “Allow serial cable or infrared connection to this COM port:” in the dropdown menu - this should be set to the COM port in STEP 4 (in my case this was COM port 4). The last checkbox should read “Show status icon in Taskbar”. DO NOT CHECK the other checkboxes.

STEP 6. Turn on your Pocket PC and make sure that Bluetooth is turned on. For the Pocket PC I was using a flashing blue light indicates that Bluetooth is turned on and enabled.

STEP 7. Start the Bluetooth Neighborhood software and see that both the target PC and Pocket PC are discovered.

STEP 8. Create an Activesync link on the Pocket PC. This link can be created under the Bluetooth Manager. It will guide you through a series of screens where you click NEXT and then choose the target PC. If you get an connection failed, you might need to soft reset the Pocket PC (I did). A soft reset can be accomplished by inserting a pin or some other tiny object into the side hole on the Pocket PC. Then try to create an Activesync link again.

If all has gone well then the Pocket PC should now be connected to the target PC and you can go in and use the Pocket PC Internet Explorer to browse and interact on the web. Check out Script School:

Did this post make you go hmm?

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