Wi-FI vs Bluetooth, what do you guys think?

[JoeFrat]

The software company I work for is developing a windows based Dealer Managment system for power equipment dealers(the people who fix your lawn mowers) and we're looking to add hand-held pc/pda functionality.

My job is to design and test the hardware/wireless network implementation and after reading about both, I cannot decide which way to go. There are some people that say bluetooth is up in the air, as far as longevity but I don't see that when most of the available pda/pocket pc's have the ability to run it.

Since the program is being written in Visual Basic.net(C# I believe), the pocket pc w/ windows is the obvious choice because the proggy can be recompiled very easily for it.

I'd like to hear some experiences that you guys have had with both types of connections, pros, cons, and anything else you think might relate(including thoughts on the actual handheld units).

[SKI]

Class 1 Bluetooth (100mW) is going to get you a maximum of 100M range. Unfortunately it's not that common. Class 2 (2.5mW) range is at most 10M, with 8 devices max per network. This is the Bluetooth class you're going to get in most devices, and it is intended for a PAN (personal area network, like in a cubicle). You can run multiple Bluetooth networks in the same space if you need more devices. You can also extend range with equipment that creates a Bluetooth "cell" network (or so I've heard), but now things are getting complicated, as this is outside the Bluetooth standard. Finally, you run the risk of people walking into the store with some Bluetooth device and being able to access your network. There are many of these, but few, if any, hackers think of exploiting them.

(Now there's an interesting concept! You walk into a store, and get bluetooth access to marketing info on the stores' products over the bluetooth device you're carrying... what's on sale, right over your cell phone or PDA...)

Wi-Fi has better usable range (same as Class 1 Bluetooth), within a power scheme that palmtops can live with, but it will kill batteries faster than Bluetooth. Wi-Fi LANs can be extended by overlapping access points: the standard is designed for scalability, which Bluetooth is not. Security issues change from walk-in Bluetooth enabled devices to attacks from War-drivers who deliberately seek out hot-spots.

I think what it's going to come down to is what kind of range you need and what kind of battery life you can live with. I'd survey some sites that you're going to have to cover for size (bear in mind that there's probably going to be a lot of interference in the locations you're targeting). At the same time, I'd pick up an appropriate PocketPC, get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for it, and do a quick battery life test using both. How extensive you get with the testing is going to be driven by budget, of course. In any case you're going to find that Bluetooth is better on battery life.

I don't really think longevity is much of an issue: Wi-Fi is evolving fast too, so I think you can take your pick.

I'm betting that range is going to be your deciding factor...

If you can live with the range limitations, Bluetooth is probably going to be the easier and less costly choice to work with. You'll have a lot more hardware choices, better battery life, and likely fewer security issues. If you need more range then you're going to wind up using Wi-Fi. In that case, look for low power listening mode devices to maximize battery life.

HTH

[JoeFrat]

(Now there's an interesting concept! You walk into a store, and get bluetooth access to marketing info on the stores' products over the bluetooth device you're carrying... what's on sale, right over your cell phone or PDA...)

Ok can you say business oppotunity That's a brilliant plan, and I am going to mention it to the powers that be for the dealers as that would be a huge timesaver for them....

Here's a test scenario for ya, it might give you more insight into what the proposed idea is.

Small Dealership, 4-5 computers, 2500 sq ft. of space.

The sales people use pda's for pricing and writing up sales orders, including printing to a pc with a printer or even a print server.

The mechanics will have pda's to keep track of their work on a particular machine during repairs.

Delivery people will have pda's to record tme and location left(garage, backyard etc.) We'd also like to incorporate a GPS tracking system so that a dealer can know where someone is in case of an emergency pickup or field repair. These don't necessarily need to communicate while on the road(other than the GPS) but they do need to be able to upload upon returning.

The more I look at it the more Wi-Fi meets the needs, especially in the distance. I am concerned about battery life as these things will be used all day long, 8 hrs minimum. I do have a pile of wireless stuff coming next week to test, so I think I'll know better then about the battery life.

[SKI]

two words: removable batteries...

Yeah, you've got too much area to make Bluetooth work easily.

As for the other, look into ad-hoc mode with local hot-spots... what flashed the idea on me was that you could set up so that info in a particular area could be tailored... like standing among TVs in a store, you could Bluetooth out specs, inventory, comparison charts, sales and specials for TVs... then walk over to car audio and do the same for that department. Sweet for salesmen in retail: no dragging customers over to a computer to check stock and write up sales. You could also use it for direct marketing to customers on their own devices, but that would be more haphazard... Heck, you could pass out cheap Palms with anti-theft devices attached and let them browse around the store with info at their fingertips... cool for high-end retailers.

Come to think of it, you could do something similar with Bluetooth in your scenario, but security would be a BEAR, and you'd have to build a relatively sophisticated wired LAN behind it to get the various kinds of traffic to it's intended destination... way too complicated for the small dealerships you're looking at.

Tacking GPS on the Delivery devices actually should be easy in the hardware sense... but now you're talking about power issues, so consider power docks, chargers or whatever for the delivery vehicles...

Now, about my fee...

J/K!

[JoeFrat]

Ah yes the mighty dollar...LOL

The GPS stuff is pretty much done. Right now we have a system that tracks where you have been and records pickup/delivery times, location etc. It doesn't yet communicate with the home base, instead just logs to be uploaded for later use. The GPS is powered off the cig lighter in the truck, but in the future will be hard-wired.