D-Link DBT-120 Wireless Bluetooth USB Adapter
by D-Link
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Our Price: $50.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of D-Link DBT-120 Wireless Bluetooth USB Adapter
Customer Review: Horrible product. Terrible customer service. Bad all around experience.
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this dongle on a recommendation and it has been nothing but trouble. Because this is the only Bluetooth dongle that Apple recommends, I purchased it so that I could use it on both my Windows and Mac machines. I had emailed D-Link beforehand to make sure that it would be compatible with my devices, and their response was that the dongle was compatible with all compliant Bluetooth devices. So, I took that as a "yes" and bought the device. After installing the drivers on my Windows machine, it was revealed that it was in fact NOT compatible with my headset. The customer support web site instructed me to update the drivers, which I proceeded to do. The procedures to "correctly" install the drivers was completely strange and irregular and extrememly time consuming, and involved removing devices from the system hardware profile, among other irregular procedures. After about 2 hours of following directions and re-boots, it finally worked. Sort of. The dongle will sporadically not recognize devices. No errors, no explanations. They simply don't appear on the list of devices. About half the time when I use a headset, the other end only hears very loud white noise (and I mean VERY loud). This happens sporadically and unpredictably. This is completely unusable as it is.
Now, on the Mac, I figured that installation would be much easier since the drivers are built in to OS X. That indeed was the case, except that the dongle does NOT work with headsets. In order to have interoperability with Bluetooth headsets, they recommend a firmware upgrade to the dongle, which PERMANENTLY alters the dongle so that it no longer works with a Windows machine. This, unfortunately, is not stated in the upgrade.
This has been a TERRIBLE experience with a device that costs more than other comparable devices. I have the B4 version, even, which is supposed to be their newest best version of the product.
Shame on everyone involved with making this device.
Customer Review: Unreliable, and with disgraceful technical support
Summary: 1 Stars
Sometimes you just know that a product is going to be a disaster, and sometimes you know it will be a delight. Alas, I quickly started getting 'disaster' vibes - even during the installation process with the D-Link DBT-120.The installation (onto my XP Professional OS Dell laptop) was different on screen than suggested by the user guide on the CD and Quick Install Guide. A bad start. It required two reboots during the course of the install - surely unnecessary with Win XP. And, most objectionable of all, I had to key in a 32 character security code to 'register' the software - how stupid is that?
Anyway, eventually I got it installed and working, but it was very difficult to understand or use. For example, what do you think that an 'Object Push Link' is? Whatever it is, I have two of them now!
The software would occasionally generate error messages that sometimes didn't seem to mean anything, and other times probably did!
Anyway, after a month of not using it, I needed to use it again with my Nokia 3650. But when I went to use it, I could no longer get the devices to communicate, and after speaking with T-Mobile's helpful customer support, we identified the problem - a missing D-Link driver.
So, I called D-Link's misnamed customer 'support'. After 3.5 hours on the phone (sure, with several disconnects during that time) and speaking with four different people, none of whom could solve my problem, a supervisor interrupted to say that it wasn't their responsibility to fix the missing D-Link driver so that it would talk to the outside world!!! The 'level two' support person who'd been struggling to help me said he had to therefore end the call and couldn't help any more. He suggested I place a message asking for help in a news group!
The software interface is impossible to understand and when it doesn't work, you're on your own. Unacceptable in all respects.
Customer Review: Only useful under very rigid conditions
Summary: 2 Stars
I strongly recommend against purchasing this as a bluetooth solution. First and foremost, this particular adapter recieves serious interference from wireless networks (operating in the 2.4ghz range, ie wireless b or wireless g). This is understandable, to some extent. You might expect some static or clipping. In fact, it was unusable. Speech was horribly garbled as was incoming sound. If I turn off the router the problem goes away. If I put my phone at the same distance as this bluetooth adapter and use my headset with the phone instead, the reception is nearly crystal clear (the router still causes a bit of static, but it's easily tolerable). Draw your own conclusions from the above experiment.
Another thing that should be noted is that dlink does not actually support this adapter. Dlink has no drivers that will work with this device, though they will swear up and down that they do. Customer support suggested I return the product. After all, it must be broken if it doesnt work with their supplied drivers (the drivers on their website and cd are the same). I managed to get it working by figuring out exactly what kind of stack it required and downloading drivers for a bluetooth adapter that uses the same drivers (Toshiba 4.0 if anyone is curious). What I am saying here is that, while you might get it to work, you will only do so if you are really tech saavy and have about 2 hours to spend working on it. The adapter will work without the drivers, but it won't do stuff like let you connect to headsets.
Again, I strongly recommend against this adapter. I got it for $10 and I regret it.
Customer Review: Does work with Nokia 4 Stars
I bought this product for use with my Nokia 3650 (AT&T Wireless). Although the installation was somewhat difficult, the device works great.Download the PC Suite software from Nokia's website and install it. PC Suite will not work until you connect the cell phone to the computer for the first time, so don't bother opening it yet. Install the D-Link software. Ignore the boxes stating that the software is not supported by Windows XP, it does work. Turn on your cell phone and turn on Bluetooth, leaving it within a reasonable distance of your computer. Make sure the Nokia software is told to search ALL BLUETOOTH COM PORTS to connect. This can be accomplished by opening the system tray program "mRouter" and selecting all the boxes. Pair the cell phone and computer using the D-Link software. If you are running a firewall, either turn it off or click yes when programs start asking for internet access. Then, connect the cell phone to the computer using "My Bluetooth Places" (D-Link Software). A box will come up stating that the cell phone is connected on COM Port 0. Click OK. Almost immediately, a box will come up saying "The Bluetooth Serial Port connection failed: The remote device closed the connection." Click OK and completely disregard the error message. Open up the Nokia software and it will work.
I give this product 4 stars only because of the error box that comes up whenever a connection is made. Otherwise, everything works fine. Believe me, I spent quite a while shopping for a Bluetooth adapter, this is the best choice. If you have a Nokia 3650, it is an absolute must-have.
Customer Review: no help from d-link support
Summary: 1 Stars
update 12-05: it's still working, so there's something to be said, just about that! I have also used this with my bluetooth GPS receiver. I tried it with my bluetooth headset, to do voice over IP and it didn't work as well as when just using the laptop's speaker and mic. And I'm not just talking about sound quality, there was some sort of echo thing happening, no idea what was up with that.
update 12-04: I use this a few times a month, to get internet access via my t-mobile phone's GPRS service. it works fine for that. if you can get it for less than a jackson, not a bad deal.
original review:
I recently obtained a palm tungsten t3 and so wanted to make use of bluetooth for wireless sync primarily. I was able to install the D-Link DBT-120 easily enough but when I tried to make use of it on the palm, no go. I was able to go through the pairing process but was not able to sync via bluetooth and not able to set up an internet connection sharing either. So I called D-Link phone support and they were not able to help me, saying how they can't support this device or that device or any other device. Any "use" of the product appears to be considered advanced by them. If you get the product installed and activated, that's the limit of the help they can provide. After that you're on your own. If I call the palm people, I'm sure I'll be in the same boat "we can't be expected to support someone else's hardware..."
bluetooth is sort of stupid, for networking at least, I'm going to find something that works with WiFi.