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Although I never tested the limits I will say that I had no problems with the signal travailing 20 feet through 2 interior walls which should be better than needed for 99% of all applications. I was able to use this adapter in a medium sized apartment without loosing connectivity anywhere. This adapter is not too tall for standard usb port spacing but may be too wide for standard usb port spacing if you have a flash drive along side it which is another reason this adapter is best suited for desktops. If you're looking for a cheep yet effective bluetooth adapter this is probably the product for you. There are smaller adapters out there that will be better for use on a laptop because they wont get snagged but for a desktop there is no reason to spend the extra cost. You will not find much better than this (and probably worse) with the smaller adapters.
Mine is listed as ATT V521. I don't know if there is a way to auto connect it. Follow the instructions on your Bluetooth headset to enable pairing mode to register it. Go to the audio tab and highlight your headset and click connect down at the bottom.
Next right click that and go to properties. Go into your App and test it out. Don't let Windows Vista install the default drivers for this. It should be working at this point.The first time I installed I didn't use the Driver CD so I was missing a few tabs including the audio tab, a quick google search helped me figure out what I had done wrong. You'll get a new little icon in your system tray for bluetooth. Setup is easy enough.
It will look like its working, but the audio tab will be missing from the headset properties and it will be impossible to make your bluetooth headset act as a sound device recognizable by your applications. Double click this to see how what devices are paired. Then go to the services tab and uncheck Handsfree Telephony and put a check mark on Headset. I seems like you have to go back in here and click connect every time you shut down your PC. I bought this with a Plantronics Voyager 520 Bluetooth Headset to use as a microphone for online PC gaming, such as Left 4 Dead 2. So install from the CD and just follow the instructions.
Hit OK to get back to the main bluetooth window and click Bluetooth settings.
The only drawback I can see is that the dongle does not come with a cover or cap for the USB connection end. Getting my phone to acknowledge the computer was more challenging- never having done this before. I bought this to transfer pictures from my LG 600 Net 10 phone to my computer. Installation was a piece of cake with the drivers CD for Windows XP. Once I figured it out the transfer was no problem.
Uninstalled, re-installed and works fine. It's mostly a trial and error operation. It's not intuitive at all. Something corrupted my original installation and while trying to find a work-around it crashed my PC. I've used this often to access my cell phones. The software could be easier to use. It only allows access to the photo and music sections of the phone but, it does make it easier to add information without having to have a brand-name software for the purpose.
That only worked on my XP computer. Rating:I'm so happy that I finally got a dongle that works with Vista 64. Then I remembered that someone on Amazon reviewed this product and stated that you need to download the latest drivers directly from IOGear. After the new drivers were installed, it all worked.Summary:Just download the drivers from IOGear first. It does, but only the 32 bit version. I wish I could give this a 5 star rating, but the useless product manual and CD would most likely cause non computer-savvy types to give up.
A quick review of Microsoft's Vista Compatibility website also states a download is required. Then plug in the dongle and get working. I first purchased the $1.00 mini dongle listed on Amazon. I specifically wanted it to work with my bluetooth headset.Review:The manual that comes with the product is outdated and wrong.
They are safer to use in laptop USB ports. They are only useful for taking up space in a landfill. The installation CD fails because it can't find setup.exe. Also note: this is my THIRD dongle.
Then I bought the BTT004 listed here on Amazon because user reviews stated it works with Vista. Things were not looking good. Ignore the manual. I also wish they had a micro version of this dongle.
Back Story:I specifically bought this dongle because the official Microsoft Windows Vista compatibility web page states that this product is compatible with my 64 bit version of Vista. As you can see, I really wanted this product to work. Don't use the installation CD.
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