iPhone 4/iOS 4 bluetooth muffled on other end

I have an outstanding Bt headset: a Plantronics Voyager Pro. I've owned more than a dozen Bt headsets and you can't get much better than this one. I had a BB 9000 before getting my iP4 earlier this month. The Voyager PRO actually sounded BETTER than the built in 9000 handset according to people who would call me and calls that I would make (and I spend several hours a day on the phone). NOW, with my iP4, I'm getting nothing but breakups, dropped connections with the phone, callers saying "huh?", "can't hear you", "sounds like you're a robot" and the like. The connections are worse on incoming than on outgoing but bad on both as far as I can tell. As for connectivity with the base, I can't get more than 5 feet from the phone without callers telling me that I'm breaking up or they're losing me. When I do get paired with a clean connection, the phone is constanly dropping the connection with my headset. It is HORRIBLE. My 30 days aren't up yet. My BB is still sitting here on my desk on charge as I continue to pull some information off it. I may just be returning my iP4 and going back to my BB. Apps are nice, but I really need to be able to use this thing as a PHONE or I'm going to start losing business.

Has anyone tried iOS 4.1 beta 2 that was made available to developers last night?

I have iOS 4.1 beta 2 running on my iPhone 4 now. The bluetooth connection is horrible. The sound starts to cut off as soon as the iPhone goes into sleep mode. I love its new audio forward/rewind feature, but not this lousy chopiness.

Sorry to hear that iOS 4.1 beta 2 doesn't cut it. I wonder if any traffic court judge would accept "I have an iPhone 4" as an excuse for violating CA's hands-free law.

I called Apple today about this issue and was told officially there as no known problem with the Bluetooth on iOS4/iPhone4 however unofficially they are starting to get calls about it.

The lady I spoke with said if I knew other people having this issue to call in and report it. She also said that many people dont know they have this issue because they are hearing the caller on the other end fine... however they have no idea that they are sending out garbled sound.

I believe this is a problem for almost everyone who has an io4 device and uses Bluetooth, but most people do not know they have a problem.

If you have this problem PLEASE call in and report it. Also report the issue to your favorite tech blog. I wrote about it myself in my on blog today at http://www.scottg.me/2010/07/apple-has-another-problem/ If we can get the press into picking up on this issue (which I believe is a SAFETY ISSUE) then Apple will get this issue the attention it needs.

Again PLEASE call if you are having this issue.

I'd like to echo the importance of folks calling this issue in to Apple.

I'm working an open defect with development (as are several other devs) so they know about the issue. It does seem better in my testing of iOS 4.1 Beta 2 but it was always hard to reproduce for me on my IP4 test units so I can't say for sure it's fixed.

I have had good luck reproducing this problem on my end by switching my phone to speakerphone and then back to bluetooth. I can usually hear a very noticeable drop in quality.

I just sent this to MacFixit (CNET):

Intermittent low and muffled volume on phone calls with bluetooth headsets.
Problem showed up immediately after installing iOS4 on my iPhone 3GS which had worked perfectly for a whole year. Problem persists with iPhone4 and iOS4.01.
There are 18 pages about this problem at:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2481487&start=30&tstart=0

WHY IS THERE NOTHING ABOUT THIS ON YOUR OR OTHER APPLE-CENTRIC SITES????

Good! Slashgear and Apple Insider covered it briefly for a day in one post each, but been quiet since..

Here is a post i left on the Plantronics web forum


Well Since they (APPLE) would not let me return my iphone 4 because i had swapped it out twice for this problem. What happened to" if you don't like it return it"? but any way i ended up getting a different Bluetooth HEADPHONE set, the rockfish MAB2. Well, sound is decent, just not loud enough for me but it works! For the phone calls and music, or any sound the iphone can make. I can now talk on the IPhone with a Bluetooth aging. has great distance 30 to 40 feet, and the other people can acutely here me now. I bought it because i lost my voyager pro and it was on sale. Yes plantations you lost a sale, i know the main problem is with OS4. but you guys have said nothing. and i am upset with you and apple. so for now, i do not purchase anything from either of you. I want even buy and app or a song, like i said they get nothing from me until they can at least act knowledge the problem.

add me to the list. I am having the same problem with 2 bluetooth headsets. At least I know now that it is not my headset or just MY phone. Hopefully Apple will address this somehow, and soon.

Same problem

Iphone 4 and jawbone icon


"you sound like you're so far away"
"you sound like you're underwater"

Please apple, fix this !!!

Okay, I see there are 18 pages of comments as I write this but here is my experience with bluetooth headsets and iPhone 4: I bought several of the original Apple bluetooth headsets because I really like them. I haven't had any problems using them with original iPhone, 3G, or 3Gs. But they are unusable with iPhone4 because I can barely hear my caller and my caller can barely hear me. Yesterday I bought the Jawbone ICON and it works fine. I like it so much that I consider it a good replacement for the Apple headset but I have three of those, including one new in the box, and I would hate to lose my investment in them. BTW the iPhone 4 bluetooth works fine in my car, a 2009 model.

Wow - this is sad to hear. Four iterations of a device and Bluetooth still isn't robust & reliable?

I'm on the verge of buying an iP4 for the wife and I am dreading how disappointed she will be with the Bluetooth, coming for her (genuinely) incredible Sony Ericsson W810i dumbphone and its Bluetooth capabilities. Sigh.

The Jawbone Icon doesn't work fine with the iP4. You may not have noticed the problem yet since you just bought it, but it's inconsistently muffled/tinny just like all the others. Give it time.

I've tried both the Icon and Voyager Pro and they're both terrible on occasion and fine on others. Never had this problem with my iPhone 3G once!

I REALLY hope everyone who is experiencing problems is calling Apple and/or filling out the feedback/bug report online (calling is better).

Feedback:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

My Jawbone Icon taunts me....


"Jawbone is ready, what's with the phone??"

in the "Hero" voice....


Grrrrrrrrr..


What is with the phone?