Here's my setup:
I have an n810 which I can tether via bluetooth to my Kyocera Strobe/Switchback (same device, different names), which is on the Cricket network.

I'm able to connect most of the time, but when I do connect it's really slow. I've tried running websites through skweezer which helps a little, but that's not much better than just using my phone's browser. I'm wondering where the bottleneck is? The network, the phone, or the bluetooth connection between the devices?

If it's the phone rather than the network then I can always upgrade to a different phone. I realize I'm not going to stream video or anything, but it would be nice to access sites more quickly and possibly stream some music from time to time.

I've searched on tethering, and while the forum has been great for helping me get it set up, this is more of a technical question about networks and phones that I haven't seen here before. Any ideas?

If I remember correctly, bluetooth tethering will cap you to 120 KBps (that's kilobytes per second). Usually your network should be able to max that out, but as you haven't given any metrics it's pretty hard to tell.

Would it be possible for you to run some bandwidth tests, and see from there? Also, what kind of connection are we talking about? GPRS? EDGE? 3G?

I'm afraid we'll require a bit more information if you actually want opinions on the matter.

Sorry about that. I'm just not sure what info is important.

I'm not sure about the connection type. I went to speedtest.net through my phone and got 0.63 Mb/s down and 2.34 Mb/s up.

You had a faster upload speed than download speed? Are you sure it wasn't the other way around? Just curious

Nope, that's it. I haven't tried through my router, but I just assumed this was something the cell providers do to keep the network traffic low.

bt 2.1+edr gives about 3megabit/s. Tho how much of that can be tcp/ip is a different story i guess.

still, it should be able to handla a couple of slots of edge i think. and maybe also the lower end of hspa.

but this all hinges on both devices supporting bt 2.1 and edr...

This all might be moot if I can find a faster data plan. I mentioned it in the thread at http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=7036&page=9 but it's relevant here, as well. Sprint has a data-only plan that's 3G, $30/month, and tethering is allowed up to 5G/month, (www.sprintrelay.com). If I can tether the NIT and use DialCentral on this then it's a fast unlimited everything plan for $30/month.