Santa Cruz (CA) - Bluetooth specialist Wireless Cables Inc (WCI) has announced its latest innovation, a USB Bluetooth dongle with a range extending nearly 19 miles.

The Aircable Host XR, when installed professionally, can achieve a range of 30 kilometers (approximately 18.64 miles), says WCI.  The device connects via standard USB and is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Most Bluetooth dongles offer a range of around 33 feet, according to Wireless Cables, which is enough for basic wireless commication between a mobile device and a PC in the same room.  Extending the range to over 18 miles, though, allows users to take Skype calls and remotely operate their computer from the other side of the city.

However, the included antenna only allows a range of around one kilometer (0.6 miles).  A separate antenna is required to make use of the 18-mile functionality, and according to WCI it requires professional installation.

The Aircable Host XR dongle is available for a list price of $129.

Wow!

Jul 03, 2007 12:34     

With or without the antenna that's huge! I Wonder what the data transfer rates are though. Still pretty cool.
James Jones report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

...why?

Jul 03, 2007 13:47     

Woo! An 18-mile range on a low-bandwidth peripheral-oriented protocol. Pointless. $129 seems like a good price with the antenna they include. Not sure I'd want a high-power Wifi AP *and* a high-power bluetooth AP in my house though and my WiFi is not going away anytime soon.
Flasher702 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Wow2!

Jul 03, 2007 13:51     

what the...... will these radio frequencies post a threat to ... all the frequencies around the air? o.o I dont kno alot about how it works...
eeto report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

re Wow2!

Jul 03, 2007 14:04     

Yes they will. It's an easy thing to do, it just shouldn't be done. All you have to do to get longer range is use a higher power transmitter and a larger antenna. Hopefully this won't be something that is used because it will cause more interference with other peoples wireless comm equipment. And the 19 mile thing would be using parabolic dishes that would have to be pointed right at each other(this is why it requires professional installation).

Dave report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: Wow

Jul 03, 2007 14:16     

Data rates should not be affected.
6sringer68 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What about reception of signal?

Jul 03, 2007 14:37     

What is unclear is what the reception of signal will be like. Because the device can transmit signals 30 km does not mean it can receive the signal at that distance. The question thens remains if it is practical? Also, eeto, I would imagine it would disturb significantly in the frequency space that bluetooth operates in....
ano report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Interference

Jul 03, 2007 16:40     

IIRC, wasn't there something about bluetooth devices taking down 802.11b/g networks because they occupy neighboring/overlapping spectrum? I think I'll buy one of these and aim it at my a**hole neighbor who keeps taking down my wireless network with his overusage of the available spectrum. Its war time!
Andrew report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

frequency hopping

Jul 03, 2007 18:37     

BlueTooth uses frequency hopping on 625 us time intervals. Every 625 us it hops to one of hundreds of frequencies based on its BDADDR (BlueTooth equivalent of MAC address), which allows simultaneous BlueTooth networks to coexist.
jason report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

It's a marketing trick

Jul 03, 2007 21:45     

No headset is going to have enough power to propagate the signal that far. It's the same problem if you have a high power AP an a lousy wifi-adapter in your laptop. It's not going to work. Because you need bidirectional communications, it's not broadcast TV. A lot of people get scam with all this crap all the time.
NiKo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What about blujackers?

Jul 03, 2007 23:04     

Am I the only person that realises the security related mess if bluetooth devices become standard as having 1 mile range? Say goodbye to your privacy.
R report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Cool! Think of the keyboard sniffing capabilities

Jul 05, 2007 14:09     

...a little SW work and an installation on an unknowing target...wow. Sniffing what is going on the compromised target system without the sys-admin knowing anything is going out of the building!
The Anti-paladin report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0