Come back Bluetooth, all is forgiven

So last week I was off on one about how mobile data is, effectively, a useful method of connecting to the internet (data card, bluetooth via mobile and so on), but really, you need a Broadband connection if I want to do anything meaningful.

While I believe that this is still very much the case, I have been trying out Novamedia’s launch2net system to great effect. It’s a piece of software that sits on top of your Apple bluetooth internet connection interface and does all the nonsense for you.

You see, to connect to the internet via bluetooth on an Apple, you generally need or two little driver scripts if you’ve got a modern phone — i.e. the N90. I couldn’t easily get on the internet to download the scripts which are unofficially available, so whilst I was in the Apple store today, I grabbed a geek and asked what their suggestion would be — seeing as the new MacBook Pro doesn’t come with a PCMCIA port. Instead it comes with a next generation port — about 2/3 of the width of your standard PCMCIA port. Almost useful at the moment as no operator has released the smaller cards yet.

The geek suggested Novamedia’s software. I’ve used Novamedia’s iSync plugins to great effect so when he handed me the cd pack, I just said ‘yup’ and headed straight to the counter to pay. Got the software home, plugged it in, switched on the bluetooth on the Nokia and done. I was connected via my T-mobile service.

Now it’s not brilliant. It’s certainly not broadband speed. It’s not quite the standard of a Vodafone data card — but it’s more or less seamless — and it’s been working for the last few hours perfectly fine, enabling me to ponce about on the web and post blogs such as this one.

This stuff used to be rubbish. I can remember trying it two or three times a good few years ago and giving up pretty pronto — it was nothing short of pathetic. You’d spend 20 minutes trying to get a bluetooth data connection — and when you did, your cell would suddenly suffer a data purge and you’d face the agonising choice of maintaining your 0.2k/sec connection or trying to start it and your crazy Windows laptop again.

It’s all too easy to get dismissive of the technology. Things have improved all round! I’m delighted.