OK, I need to know what Bluetooth is in laymens terms... I don't know much about computers but I just purchased a new Dell with dell/truemobile 1300 WLAN (802.11 b/g) 54Mbps mini pci card and also the bluetooth thing. I know a little about dialup internet when I'm within range of a router like my home (if I had one) or a hotel or airport but does bluetooth give me the ability to dial up from anywhere just like using a cell phone???

 

I don't know anything about Bluetooth either but a quick Google turned up this site among others that might help.

http://www.palowireless.com/bluetooth/

 

Bluetooth is a wireless protocol for communicating between devices over a very short distance. For example, to a printer or between a mouse and/or keyboard and the main box. It is not dialup, more like USB without the wire.

Your 802.11b/g is for wireless networking (WLAN, not WAN, which is a different thing). The 802.11b/g can be used to link into the internet from Starbucks, for example, or if you have your own wireless access point at home (like I do...have all my home computers linked by WLAN)

If you decide to use WLAN, be sure you know what you are getting into, because it tends to be a security risk, unless you know how to set it up so that it is not.

TS