Bluetooth Profiles and Data Connectivity

[psykon99]

I am familiar w/ the various bluetooth profiles (Headset, Handsfree, OBEX, and Dial-up networking), but I am confused about a few things - or rather I am hearing different stories.

I understand that OBEX is the profile used for object transfer (phonebooks, calendars, pictures, etc...) from a phone to a computer and vice versa.

What I am unsure of is this: can the Dial-up networking profile be used for object or data transfer as well to and from a pc and/or PDA?

Some have said you can, however, the information I am finding is that data is only transferred via OBEX.

Can anyone help me out on this one?

[Shun]

Yes, you can, but you have to setup your PC or PDA as a dial-up server and do the file transfer using File Sharing, FTP, WebDAV, Remote Access, etc, etc.

[psykon99]

Got it. So it's royally tricky is what you're saying? How does one set up their computer as such?

[Shun]

No, not tricky at all, you needs to have some basic networking knowledge.

Locally, you can either use a Bluetooth modem or a PC with Bluetooth Dial-up networking service enabled. For the remote PC, enable the RAS service. That's all, you can now use the client device to connect to the local Dial-Up Networking service and dial-up to the remote system. After it is connected, the remote system behaves like a network point, you can use any networking techniques to access the remote information.

(PS: your client device must be capable of connecting to dial-up networking service. It is quite common on PDA/PDA phones but not on smartphones)

I'm assuming that you're trying to access some remote system because accessing local system with dial-up networking doesn't make any sense, there are other ways to do it, eg. PAN, Bluetooth access point.