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Actual Bluetooth Answers

Sorry there is so much misinformation out on the internet.

The fact is that Bluetooth is more-or-less a lower powered version of Wi-Fi. It was developed so that battery-operated devices (such as mice, keyboards, et cetera) would not drain the battery by using a 500mW transmitter (the Wi-Fi minimum standard). Therefore Bluetooth is limited to 50mW of transmitted power.

The next problem is the antenna. Even at Wi-Fi/Bluetooth frequencies (the exact same frequencies used in microwave oven, by the way), the proper antenna design for optimal connection is too large to fit into a mouse. While one *could* fit into a keyboard, it would be directional and have nulls in certain orientations that could potentially cause a loss of link if the keyboard were oriented improperly or too far away.

The low power limits the range, which is the only reason that the Bluetooth standard also limits the transmitted signal bandwidth. Since Bluetooth and Wi-Fi operate at the same frequency, they can support the same signal data transfer rate. It's just that the higher the data rate goes, the more difficult it is to maintain the connection.

In a way, increasing the bandwidth of the transmitted signal has the same effect as lowering the transmitter power - reduced range.

After that, everything comes down to consumer expectations. Nobody expects a Bluetooth wireless mouse to connect from 50' away. But they do expect Wi-Fi to connect from 50' away. Since Wi-Fi often will not connect from 50' away, they have been relaxing the standards and allowing more power to be transmitted via Wi-Fi, along with other "tricks" to meet consumer expectation.

There are at least two problems you will run into with the suggestions posted so far:

1) If you transmit your audio data via Wi-Fi (instead of a wired network connection), I have heard countless reports of sonic degradation that may be equal or worse than the sonic degradation imposed by Bluetooth's mandatory lossy compression.

2) The fact that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth operate at the same frequency as your microwave oven means that using either is literally turning your house into a low-level microwave oven. The health effects are currently unknown, although the WHO has already declared Wi-Fi as a "probable carcinogen". The studies are mixed, but if one separates them by source of funding, then over 80% of papers independently-funded find links between microwave radiation (including mobile phones as well as Wi-Fi/Bluetooth) and health hazards, while the percentage of studies funded by the military or the microwave industry have about the reverse portion showing a link. The result is about a 50/50 split, so that the microwave industry can claim that "the jury is still out".

Still Bluetooth is safer from two general standpoints - it is lower powered, and it almost always has automatic shutoff systems to conserve battery life when not in use. In contrast, almost all Wi-Fi (along with all modern cell phones) are constantly transmitting unless the user deliberately turns them off manually. (Pulsed or intermittent radiation in the case of cell-phones.) Caveat emptor.

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