Bluetooth Speaker Question (Page 1/2)
James Bond 007 MAY 20, 06:03 PM
Anyone experience signal drift from their bluetooth speaker. My music fades out occasionally (Ihome bluetooth speaker, its a cheepy).
Patrick MAY 20, 06:09 PM

Out of curiosity... how far is the speaker from the transmitter, and how many walls in between?
MidEngineManiac MAY 20, 06:10 PM
All the time. I mostly use my tablet (amazon Fire 8) as a movie screen or juke-box over a bluetooth speaker. Drops signal and re-connects every 8-10 minutes or so from about a foot away (tablet is in a gooseneck stand and speaker is on the desk)
theogre MAY 21, 12:24 AM
BT is using 2.4GHz same as WiFi and a F-lot of other things.
Then "Max Range" is like 10 Meters... that's "FCC Max" on paper... But Very Few things reach that limit even now with everything running newest version but many still running very old versions. (BT5 legal limit 40+ Meters but often devices can't that either.)
Because Most BT things are make cheap (Often Cheap to make not to sell) and have crap "antennas" even when the "chip" is 1 of good ones.

Example: I had very expensive BT Zebra printers and Metrologic Barcode scanners that only had ~ 10 Feet of Range before can't see each other.
Why? 1 or Both likely have "weak" radios to save battery time and other design issues.

So "Your Problem" can be cause of these and nothing is going to "fix" them.

And that's ignoring "new" Bluetooth Low Energy. BLE is for other things not connected for hours or longer.
Example: I think many "Smart" water and gas meters use BLE or similar just so whatever utility doesn't need staff to read them. My Water Meter uses 1 battery that last 10+ years. Neither can remote shut off power or other functions like Smart Electric meters.

------------------
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James Bond 007 MAY 21, 10:08 AM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:
Out of curiosity... how far is the speaker from the transmitter, and how many walls in between?


Outside. Distance anywhere from 2 feet to 15 feet. No nearby cell towers or satellite dishes.
theogre MAY 22, 12:46 AM

quote
Originally posted by James Bond 007:
Outside. Distance anywhere from 2 feet to 15 feet. No nearby cell towers or satellite dishes.

Those don't matter here because wrong bands.

Again.... 2.4GHz.
Anything else like WiFi easily "kills" most BT things radio range and doesn't matter where the pieces are.

Your Home and everyone else WiFi routers/gateways and devices nearby along have much stronger then nearly all using BT.
Even if ALL your WiFi things connect on 5GHz band, Default setting on routers still run 2.4GHz. Doubtful because most IoT only supports WiFi B, G or R 2.4GHz that many now have. WiFi A and B are rare now but G and R/4 will stay around for years still.

Example: Very Likely your Cell Phone now supports "WiFi Calling" AKA Voice over IP not just for Data that using you router/gateway. Most models for 5+ years default to use this to save Tower Bandwidth for real owners of the Cell Network meaning Verizon ATT and T-Mobil. All others in US are subcontracts that resell service for them.

Get www.vistumbler.net etc to list most WiFi things not just routers to connect.

MW ovens and hundreds more uses 2.4GHz band too because Unlicensed by FCC and most others worldwide as well as some 5GHz and 6GHz bands use by WiFi too.

5GHz and 6GHz hate going thru walls etc far worse then 2.4GHz. Is why you see a lot of routers on 2.4GHz and not on 5GHz in most places even less w/ 6GHz but most can't see or use 6GHz now. (Need AX+ or better as NIC and Router to use 6GHz. AC/5 or "normal" AX/6 can't use the band.)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 05-22-2023).]

James Bond 007 MAY 23, 12:24 AM

quote
Originally posted by theogre:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by James Bond 007:
Outside. Distance anywhere from 2 feet to 15 feet. No nearby cell towers or satellite dishes.

Those don't matter here because wrong bands.

Again.... 2.4GHz.
Anything else like WiFi easily "kills" most BT things radio range and doesn't matter where the pieces are.

Your Home and everyone else WiFi routers/gateways and devices nearby along have much stronger then nearly all using BT.
Even if ALL your WiFi things connect on 5GHz band, Default setting on routers still run 2.4GHz. Doubtful because most IoT only supports WiFi B, G or R 2.4GHz that many now have. WiFi A and B are rare now but G and R/4 will stay around for years still.

Example: Very Likely your Cell Phone now supports "WiFi Calling" AKA Voice over IP not just for Data that using you router/gateway. Most models for 5+ years default to use this to save Tower Bandwidth for real owners of the Cell Network meaning Verizon ATT and T-Mobil. All others in US are subcontracts that resell service for them.

Get www.vistumbler.net etc to list most WiFi things not just routers to connect.

MW ovens and hundreds more uses 2.4GHz band too because Unlicensed by FCC and most others worldwide as well as some 5GHz and 6GHz bands use by WiFi too.

5GHz and 6GHz hate going thru walls etc far worse then 2.4GHz. Is why you see a lot of routers on 2.4GHz and not on 5GHz in most places even less w/ 6GHz but most can't see or use 6GHz now. (Need AX+ or better as NIC and Router to use 6GHz. AC/5 or "normal" AX/6 can't use the band.)

[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll unplug the WIFI for Halloween (sound effects). Hopefully any of the neighbors WIFI wont interfere with the speaker. Microwave shouldn't be a problem. Good to know.

[This message has been edited by James Bond 007 (edited 05-23-2023).]

ls3mach MAY 24, 06:53 AM
I don't have this issue, but know it. Most wifi is 2.4 like Ogre said.... it's not all that useful of information in my thoughts though.

I would isolate the issue. If the speaker is cheap, does it happen with other more expensive ones or from different sources...

My building I work in, has a conservative estimate of 10k+ Bluetooth and wifi devices operating constantly 24 hours a day. Dropouts happen, but it is virtually always hardware and rarely interference. Wouldn't guess how many florescent lights we have on top of that. Before Ogre says business class devices,HARDLY 1000 people running headphones and smart watches all at once also make up that 10k guesstimate.

We could troubleshoot from a real tech standpoint, but if the speaker is cheap and it clearly isn't mission critical try isolating the root first.
theogre MAY 24, 04:49 PM
as I said above...
Often is hardware made "cheap" for different reasons.

The Example w/ Zerba and Metrologic cost well > $200 each and still won't "reach out" more than a 10-20 feet depending how much other things are in 2.4GHz band. Even with near nothing hogging the band the units made maybe 30 feet.

Because Vast Majority of BT devices you see is for PAN use... Many know WAN and LAN for Internet and Internal nets, Wide Area Net and Local Area Net respectively. PAN is Personal Area Nets that often limits to actual Person or within 6-10 Feet max.

Both in the Example expect you're carrying the small printer and scanner to print things as you move like Shelve Price labels at Wmart etc. I programed them to print inventory control marks for a big company. Wmart uses "Smart" scanners to access the Store LAN at same time but BT is likely has very limited range for same reason. So If you leave the printer on a cart and walk away 10-20 feet is likely stopped printing. Even w/o other things killing the signal.

"You" can make BT to reach long distance 100 meters to BT5 400 Meters but not with very small antennas built into most things. A lot of BT antennas are just squiggles of copper on the circuit board or other tiny internal antennas and have deal w/ own case and other parts in them just to get a signal.

IOW Even If you get best Speaker made for longer distance then very likely the Phone, Tablet, Laptop and more only work for short distance and maybe see the speaker to pair w/ but can't send packets for long range.

This "Fact" is missing on many sites covering BT. Big problem is Also missing this data on any packages or doc's for X device so many never know most BT won't work for longer distance let alone try reaching 100 meters. Most BT5 and up devices will never see 400 meters and bet barely reach the minimum of 40m. Side Note: Is likely Easier to Pass FCC etc testing for the short range BT too But that's an other rabbit hole.

Relative: Is Why Many WiFi routers/gateways have large External Antennas. To help everything get a better signal but only helps a little because tiny internal antenna(s) built into most things. Many Laptops have 2 or more internal antennas for decades but other only have 1 because of space. Even if you buy better WiFI NIC w/ external antennas, you still find USB2 and/or 1 Antenna units that limit bandwidth in other ways.
ls3mach MAY 24, 05:26 PM

quote
Originally posted by theogre:

Isnip



I didn't mean my response to be snitty.

I very agree. Little device antennas suck, but who wants the aerials of the 2000s? I do miss my Treo 650, though.