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D-Link DBT-120 USB Bluetooth Adapter
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By Larry Garfield, Wednesday 20 November 2002  
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With Bluetooth finally beginning to arrive on mobile devices, laptops and desktops need a way to connect, too. Larry Garfield decides that D-Link's DBT-120 USB Bluetooth adapter does the trick.
After years of promises, Bluetooth devices are finally beginning to appear. A few models of HP's iPAQ line of Pocket PCs now support Bluetooth out of the box, Palm's new Tungsten T is Bluetooth enabled, and there are add-on cards for both Palms and Pocket PCs to add Bluetooth capability. Of course, it takes two to tango, and to make Bluetooth work. Several companies are now shipping Bluetooth adapters for PCs, including D-Link with their DBT-120 PersonalAir Wireless USB Bluetooth Adapter (yes, D-Link likes long product names).
The DBT-120 is one of the smallest adapters we've seen for a desktop. Only slightly wider and thicker than a USB serial plug and only 3 cm long, it should fit into any space or USB port on a PC or laptop. A flexible extension cable is included as well for users who want the adapter more accessible.
D-Link provides drivers for Windows 98 Second Edition and above and Macintosh OS X 10.1.4 and above. Installation under Windows was straightforward, if following the included instructions. During the install wizard, the user is asked to provide what name the computer - as a Bluetooth device - will use when identifying itself to other Bluetooth devices. (It is safe to use the same name as the computer has on an Ethernet network.) The rest of the install is self-explanatory. After all the software is configured and the system has been restarted, the adapter should be recognized as soon as it is plugged in as a USB 1.1 device. We had no difficulty installing the adapter on our Windows 2000 test system.
 | Good things come in small packages
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The DBT-120 supports all major Bluetooth profiles, but as unfortunately is common with Bluetooth hardware it's easy for a user to get confused when comparing the list of Profiles supported with list of Local services. Local services are what a tasks user can actually perform, and are enabled by Profiles. The relationship between these is not made apparent through the software of the DBT-120, though, a common mistake by manufacturers who also frequently neglect to explain this relationship well in manuals. If a user is familiar with how Bluetooth works, it's not a big issue - but if not, confusion will quickly arise with the DBT-120 as with the majority of Bluetooth hardware.
Among its most important profiles, the DBT-120 supports Serial port connections (often used for printing and more importantly for handheld synchronization), Dial-Up client and server, and Network (LAN) client and server. It also supports general OBEX exchange for business cards, as well as exchanging calendar and contact items and synchronization of such information between two devices - as always depending on whether both devices support the right profile and service. Pairing with other Bluetooth devices was simple, as it should be. We had only to push a few buttons on both devices and enter a one-use pass key on each side (which can be as simple as a single character).
The control panel for the DBT-120, available via a system tray applet or the Control Panel, lets the user configure any number of services on various virtual ports. Unfortunately, the Bluetooth serial port profile will only accept COM 5 and COM 9 and up. That could be a problem when trying to use it with a desktop-based server program that only supports COM 8 and down.
We ran into that problem while testing our Palm Tungsten T, as we were able to set up HotSync over Bluetooth on COM 5, or Internet access through the Dial-Up connection on COM 5 using MochaPPP (which only supports COM 8 and lower), but had to shut one down in order to use the other. Syncing over Bluetooth, once set up, functioned properly but ran somewhat slower than direct USB HotSync (as was to be expected).
The DBT-120 also supports 128-bit encryption for secure communication to another encryption-supporting device.
Conclusion
Bluetooth is meant to be unobtrusive, simple, and "just work." For the most part, the D-Link DBT-120 does just that. Its small profile makes it a good choice for laptop users especially but for desktop users as well. Once the desktop driver is installed, it "just works". We wish the profiles were better labeled, inline or pop-up descriptions wouldn't hurt, and would like to see support for any COM port rather than just high ports. Otherwise, once installed the adapter can be safely forgotten, or swapped in and out as needed as it is fully HotPlug capable.
The DBT-120 PersonalAir Wireless USB Bluetooth Adapter is available now from the D-Link web site for $49.00 USD.
- What's positive: Small profile, stable driver
- What's negative: driver not as flexible as we'd like
Overall: 
Conclusion
What's positive:
What's negative:
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