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I want to make an app that connects to devices in the near vecinity and exchanges data. I want to have as high range as possible using the phone's hardware.

1.What can I use and which is better: the bluetooth or wifi?

2.What is the range I can expect?

Mihai Bratulescu
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    WiFi requires an access point. Bluetooth only allows 7 slaves. WiFi has longer range and throughput. I'd say WiFi if Ad-Hoc networking were available out-of-the-box. – bblincoe Jan 09 '14 at 18:41
  • what is this access point more precisely? – Mihai Bratulescu Jan 09 '14 at 18:48
  • I should correct myself - a router would be required. An access point could be a router that then connects to the Internet through a wired Ethernet connection. – bblincoe Jan 09 '14 at 18:58
  • cant the satelite that gives internet be used for this? or is there a free API I can use for free to send some string data? – Mihai Bratulescu Jan 09 '14 at 19:02

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For relatively small networks (fewer than 8 nodes), Bluetooth would work, but would have very limited range (~10m).

WiFi would be a good solution if you can guarantee that you're going to have a wireless router available to route messages. Currently, Android does not offer an Ad-hoc solution for small networks using standard WiFi. Range of WiFi can differ based on a lot of factors, but you can expect 35-100m.

You should probably take a look at WiFi Direct (WiFi P2P). It is similar to Bluetooth in terms of creating a network, but has longer range. It is important to note that WiFi P2P is only supported on newer Android devices (API level 14 and up).

bblincoe
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