Just bought my first laptop with built in BT. Lenovo
R61i
I've never owned ANY Bluetooth devices. Will a BT ear
piece designed for cell phone use work on this laptop?
Say I want to chat or use Skype or just listen to music
form the laptop.... can I buy a BT ear piece and will
work ok?
> Just bought my first laptop with built in BT. Lenovo
> R61i
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> form the laptop.... can I buy a BT ear piece and will
> work ok?
Yes and no. BT devices like headphones love to be connected up to ONE
device....and only one.
If the headset is paired with your sellphone, you'd have to repair it,
every time, to use it with your laptop and every time to pair it with your
desktop.
If the headset is paired, already, with your sellphone....and the sellphone
is already running....it will pair with the sellphone and you'll have to
unpair it, or easier turn off the sellphone before turning on the headset.
If the headset comes on and DOESN'T find the device it wants to connect to,
then it will go into FIND ME and start broadcasting for pairing so your
laptop can find it. You can then pair it with the laptop and from that
time on it will try to look for the laptop....ignoring the frantic calls
from the cellphone trying to pair with it the next time the sellphone sees
it is on.
So, the proper procedure to prevent the frantic calls from the last device
it was paired with is to UNPAIR with the headset....then pair the "free
from pairing" headset with the new device.
This is done to make pairing automatic with one device....and that works
great. But it sucks as it will ignore all others. There's no solution I
know of.
dold@03.usenet.us.com - 14 Jul 2008 07:14 GMT
> Yes and no. BT devices like headphones love to be connected up to ONE
> device....and only one.
> If the headset is paired with your sellphone, you'd have to repair it,
> every time, to use it with your laptop and every time to pair it with your
> desktop.
I agree that the single-paired headsets are such a mess it isn't worth the
trouble. But then the quality of a BT headset on the PC isn't great
anyway, even if it does work.
I've had a slew of sub-$100 headsets, including the Plantronics 510, which
has "multipoint technology lets you easily switch between them with the same
headset". These were all mono headsets, although there are some USB stereo
headsets.
http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/mobile/bluetooth-headset
s/voyager-510
None are as good as the Plantronics DSP-400 wired USB headset, which is
stereo.
http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/computer/voip-headsets/a
udio-400-dsp

Signature
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5
me@privacy.net - 14 Jul 2008 14:39 GMT
>I agree that the single-paired headsets are such a mess it isn't worth the
>trouble. But then the quality of a BT headset on the PC isn't great
>anyway, even if it does work
Well you are making good argument for forgetting ANY
wireless headset for computer use. yes?
Larry - 14 Jul 2008 21:07 GMT
> Well you are making good argument for forgetting ANY
> wireless headset for computer use. yes?
Yes. My best Skype headset for use on PC or laptop is a behind the head
headband from Logitech. It was on sale for about $12 at the time. The
soundcard of the PC is NOT involved as this headset has its own
soundcard in a little self-powered bubble behind the USB plug that
powers it. This means you can still play TV/Radio/MP3/Divx movies on
the big sound system plugged into the PC's sound card....while
SIMULTANEOUSLY talking full duplex on Skype because you can tell Skype
to use whatever sound system it finds....such as a USB Logitech
headset...and not the main PC sound card.
This works really great....and is SO much cheaper than any BT setup with
all the BT licensing going on....
me@privacy.net - 15 Jul 2008 00:36 GMT
>Yes. My best Skype headset for use on PC or laptop is a behind the head
>headband from Logitech.
have model number handy?
Larry - 15 Jul 2008 16:16 GMT
>>Yes. My best Skype headset for use on PC or laptop is a behind the head
>>headband from Logitech.
>
> have model number handy?
Sorry. I looked at Logitech, Best Buy and buy.com and it must be
discontinued....no joy.
Almost any USB headset is a good choice. Get one that's comfortable to
wear for you. What's better about USB is the decoder is matched to the
headsets, which is better than having a 32 ohm analog headset plugged into
the speaker power amp on a soundcard jack. The USB doesn't suffer from
these manufacturer mismatches. Its mic also is matched better. Buy a
headset with a "noise cancelling" mic as Skype is usually way too sensitive
on its automatic mic volume control and the noise cancelling will reduce
hearing the fans running on your mainframes across the floor....(c;
I don't see any numbers on my headset. It just says Logitech....
dold@03.usenet.us.com - 15 Jul 2008 02:23 GMT
> soundcard of the PC is NOT involved as this headset has its own
Any of the USB or BT headsets would be like that. I would stay away from
the simple mic-and-speaker-jack headsets, as they take all of the sound.

Signature
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5
dold@03.usenet.us.com - 15 Jul 2008 02:22 GMT
> Well you are making good argument for forgetting ANY
> wireless headset for computer use. yes?
I think so. One of my tests is to leave myself a voicemail.
I call from VoIP to Voicemail, Skype test123, cellphone, and the house
phone. I can then retrieve the various voicemails and hear roughly what
some other end caller is hearing from my headset.
Some of the BT headsets have poor range for my laptop, much better to my
Nokia 6126, some have good sound, too much echo caused by ear-to-mic loop,
verified by muting one or the other device. Some sound okay, but have a
constant popcorn noise in my ear that the caller usually can't hear, but
sometimes can.
I thought the Plantronics was going to be "it", but it developed a buzz
that is bad enough that people ask me to mute my phone on conference calls.
One side of my Plantronics DSP-400 cut out, from being set down onto the
wire on the left side for a couple of years. But I think I'll get another
DSP-something. I wish BT handsfree was as good, but it's not.

Signature
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5