Editor-DN
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Why is Bluetooth still so bad?
Anonymous asks:
Bluetooth has been around for over 25 years and is still unreliable compared to Wi-Fi or cellular. I have had nothing but buffering and connection issues unless I use Apple or Samsung compatible equipment. Why is this still happening in 2024?
Thanks in advance
Hiya! I understand your frustration and agree that bluetooth seems to have more problems than wifi and cellular (provided you have a good connection). sometimes. That’s the key word here, sometimes. And for some people, in some places.
Short answer for those not interested in going deeper: Bluetooth uses a huge chunk of frequency, which depends on several different proprietary technologies, and different devices have different additions on top of it all.
If you’re in the right (wrong) place at the right (wrong) time using the right (wrong) equipment, you’re going to have a bad time. Otherwise, Bluetooth can be reliable and great—it is for millions of people.
Bluetooth is a bit like a layer cake. A basic, bare-bones implementation can be open source and openly available using mostly open hardware, and that’s great. But almost no one uses it that way because it will be exactly what is described above — unreliable — most of the time.
Companies like Intel, Apple, Qualcomm, and other tech groups have made useful enhancements that make Bluetooth better, more reliable, and faster at the same frequency due to better compression.
If you buy a set of iPhone and AirPods or a pair of Galaxy S24 and Galaxy Buds, you’ll probably have a great experience because on the hardware front both sides use the same software and especially Made to work well. with each other.
That doesn’t mean they won’t work well with other devices. It just means that they are designed to work best with each other. Other, often cheaper accessories and devices, may not have the same enhancements to Bluetooth and may not take advantage of higher output power or better compression, and the experience won’t be the same.
Chances are it will still be good, as the biggest issues with Bluetooth depend on the other devices around you.
It’s getting crowded here.
Without getting into the complexities of numbers and buffers, or CSMA/CABluetooth operates in the same “airspace” as 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and plenty of unmanaged devices. Channels in these frequencies are often crowded and can be messy when some devices make no effort to intelligently work with other devices.
The biggest culprits when it comes to Bluetooth network interference are microwave ovens and old cordless landline telephones (believe it or not). Both emit signals in the 2.4GHz range (in the case of microwaves, this is a byproduct) and will interfere with both 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Microwaves are especially problematic because they don’t know they’re causing interference and simply don’t care. Push the button to start them up, and they leak radio waves through the old defunct seals all over the place.
Bluetooth and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi can also interfere with each other, but that’s where CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) comes into play. It’s a network protocol that devices use to actively avoid interference, and most of the time it works well.
Audio buffering, connection issues, and connection drops can occur when Bluetooth signals experience interference. There is nothing you can do about it except move elsewhere.
As old equipment is phased out and old equipment is replaced with newer and more efficient equipment, the problem will “fix” itself.
These seemingly minor problems can cause Bluetooth to be bad for one person and great for another. Equipment and your location are important pieces of the puzzle. Don’t write off technology because it obviously works well for millions of people, even if it works badly for you.
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