Home > Consumer Reviews > D-Link DBT-120 Wireless Bluetooth 2.0 USB Adapter

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.

I would have given this item a 5 out of 5, except for the issue with generic windows driver installation with Win XP SP2 overwriting the D-Link driver during the initial setup process. Gives the user all sorts of weird error messages. You'll probably see one red and one blue Bluetooth "B's" in your system tray after the software installation.

The Solution (AFTER FINISHING THE INTIAL SETUP):
-Right-Click "My Computer"
-Select "Properties"
-Click "Hardware" tab
-Click "Device Manager"
-Drop down Bluetooth devices
-Right Click "Generic" one on the list
-Select "Properties"
-Click "Drivers" tab
-Click "Update Drivers"
-Select "Install from specified location"
-Select "Don't Search. I'll select..."
-Select "D-Link DBT-120 USB Bluetooth Adapter"
-Click "Next"
-And your Done!

You'll still need to setup the individual bluetooth devices by running the "My Bluetooth Places" wizard.

This product has been with me for years. I have the revision 3 and I believe they are up to revision 5 already. It has worked flawlessly with my old Sony Ericsson T610 phone. And it works even better with my current Nokia 6600 mobile.

I installed the product in my Apple PowerBook G4 and iBook Dual USB and it instantly recognized the product without any drivers. I also believe this is the same product found inside every Bluetooth-equipped Mac because Apple did release a firmware update to their internal Bluetooth and it included these external D-Link DBT-120 units, if a user had one. (The only problem is that if you updated the firmware that Apple provided, you will not be able to use the D-Link on a PC. I haven't updated mine and never ran into sync problems).

I sync my address book and calendar in Jaguar and Panther OS to my mobile phone and iPod without any hitches.

Pros:
1. Small, compact, light
2. No drivers needed for Mac OS Jaguar and Panther and Windows XP OS.

3. Price. This product used to cost a lot. Now it has dropped down to USD40. Which is great, because this very same product that is installed internally in Macs still cost USD45 for the option. Shouldn't an OEM product installed during production be cheaper? Furthermore, if it's installed internally then you cannot transfer it between computers. The external is cheaper and transferrable.

Cons:
1. The only difficulty I can think of is the implementation of the Bluetooth standard across products.

I love gadgets and find myself tinkering with anything technological so I usually don't have problems making one product operate with another.

The problem with Bluetooth is that there is no standard way to activate and access operation between products. Each product has its own graphic user interface to contend with. Bluetooth is being billed to consumers as an easy plug and play product. I'm sure it is - just not right now as manufacturers are still fiddling with how to integrate it with their products. Hence, other consumers will have to read the manual on how to access and use Bluetooth across products. In products that come with no manual, they will have to be used to fiddling the interface. Until then, I can't wait for the time where Bluetooth actually performs the way it is billed.

If it doesn't work the first time, try to understand the logic behind each product's interface. The problem is that if they can't get it to work, they blame D-Link. If you're computer recognizes the product upon install, then there is no problem. If it doesn't and the activity lights don't work, then send it back. Unlike Wireless/Wired Ethernet products, the user interface is not embedded in the Bluetooth unit. This Bluetooth product is only a vessel. The actual operation is dependent on the computer and interface it has been programmed to interact with Bluetooth.

Hunting down a Bluetooth USB can seem like a complicated task but is in fact a lot easier than you would expect if you learn two basic things - range and speed. All Bluetooth USB connections do the same thing. They are small dongles that slot into a USB connection. A Bluetooth USB is also sometimes called a Bluetooth Dongle. They will work with USB 1.1 and above. Bluetooth USB connections have a range of 10 meters to 100 meters depending on which brand you choose. 1 meter = 3.2 feet, so we are looking at Bluetooth USB products ranging from 30 feet to 300 feet. You can probably find Bluetooth USB Adaptors that have a longer range than 100 meters but all of this is about reading the product descriptions to find the kind of range you want. 10 meters is a big distance and so is 100 meters. It means you can have a wireless connection with your PC and Bluetooth device all the way down the road depending on the range you want. So after you have worked out the range you want you need to examine the speed. This is where Bluetooth USB adaptors vary considerably between 723Kbps and 3Mbps. The 723Kbps version is known as Bluetooth V1.2 and the 3Mbps is known as Bluetooth V2.0. V1.2 runs just better than half the speed of a standard USB cable connection. V2 is almost instantaneous, however the difference in terms of sending a big email from your PC to your phone is a matter of seconds, so both V1.2 and V2.0 are considered fast wireless Bluetooth connections. If you can get V2.0 you will have a faster Bluetooth connection. No harm owning a V1.2, you will still be using your Bluetooth device with speed. Some Bluetooth USB adaptors offer encryption but some do not work encrypted. They all use security passwords. If you want encryption you need to check that your Bluetooth USB adaptor has it. All Bluetooth USB adaptors simply slot into your USB connection. I do not know about Apple or Linux but with Windows XP SP2 you will have automatic detection; however it will take a few seconds to setup every time you use it unless you have a CD. In most cases the manual asks that you install the software from the CD before you plug-in the Bluetooth USB adaptor but XP may reject it in which case you need the adaptor in the slot before you install from the CD. CD installation will guarantee a onetime setup only and you don't have to install it again. Most Bluetooth USB adaptors will light up blue. The Bluetooth icon looks like a big letter B. It will appear in your notification area of Windows XP. Installation will create a new place in the `Other' section called My Bluetooth Places. Here devices can be detected and displayed as icons. This will usually give you the following abilities Serial Porting, Dial Up Networking, Fax, Headset, PIM Item Transfer, PIM Synchronization, File Transfer, Network Access, Audio Gateway and HID. It can also access more than one device at a time. Mobile phone users can enjoy wireless access to their phones and access their phone with whatever software they have been provided with. I personally own an MSI Star Key Bluetooth USB. The biggest problem is not with the Bluetooth USB adaptor setup or even with starting up Bluetooth on various devices but with setting up software to use your Bluetooth connection. That will only be as good as the software is. And to that I recommend Bluetooth especially for mobile phone users who have that function. You can work your phone from your desktop without wires.

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.