Bluetooth device disappears from list only at work, but not at home.

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Level 1

8 points

Bluetooth device disappears from list only at work, but not at home.

I have a Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) running Mac OS Mojave and I have a rather "interesting" problem with Bluetooth headphones. I use the laptop at home and at work. And the headphones can only be connected at home and not at work!

Details:

I paired the headphones with the macbook at home first and I have no problems there, I can connect/disconnect and everything works.
Once I am at work, my already-paired headphones just disappear from the Bluetooth menu under "Devices", as if they never existed.
Tried resetting the bluetooth module, turning on/off, cannot even "pair" them again at work as it cannot find them.
I go back home and open the macbook, I immediately find the headphones still on the list under "Devices" on the bluetooth menu and can connect them without problem

My suspicion: My macbook is connected to my work's Active Directory domain and my user account is a managed network account. The account has admin rights and is a "Mobile" account as well, this is how I can use it at home outside of the office network. I have a feeling this has something to do with connecting to the office network it but I'm clueless where to start checking.

Anybody has any hint what I can debug or how I can work around the problem?

MacBook

Posted on Oct 2, 2019 12:26 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

133,315 points

Oct 3, 2019 5:52 AM in response to MoStone

Using a different dock or adapter at work?

Why do I have difficulty with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth devices when USB 3 devices are attached to my computer?

Some USB 3 devices can generate radio frequency interference that can cause Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices operating in the 2.4GHz band to have issues communicating with your computer. Here are some tips to avoid this issue:

If your USB device has a cable long enough that you can move the device, place it away from your Mac—and make sure not to place it behind your Mac, or near the hinge of its display. The antennas for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are located there, and USB 3 devices placed there might interfere with your wireless connections.
If you're using adapters or dongles on a Mac computer with Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, plug them into the front port on the left side of your Mac, or into the ports on the right side (if your computer has them). These ports are the farthest away from the antennas, making interference less likely.
To avoid interference on the 2.4GHz band using Wi-Fi, try using the 5GHz band instead. You can change this on your wireless base station. Bluetooth always uses 2.4GHz, so this alternative isn't available for Bluetooth.

from:

Using USB devices with your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

MoStone Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2019 2:03 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for the hint about attached USB devices. Even though I'm not exactly sure if it was really "wireless interference", it definitely put me on the right path. Here's what worked for me:

I don't use a dock or adapters at home. At work, I normally connect 2 USB devices (keyboard and mouse) and 2 external monitors attached via mini display port (Thunderbolt 2.0 I guess). I always plug these in as soon as I get to work, then boot up the MacBook. Then I'd normally fail to connect the headphones as described above.

This time around when I arrived at work, I changed the order. I booted up the MacBook before connecting any of those devices, then I was able to successfully connect the headphones. While keeping the headphones on/connected I proceeded to connecting all 4 devices as usual, and it kept working :)

Not sure what precisely did the trick there, but it's working so I can't complain! Thanks a lot for your helpful hints!

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Answer 3

Oct 2, 2019 12:39 PM in response to MoStone

Bluetooth uses the very crowded and interference-prone 2.4 GHz band shared by the most popular Wi-Fi band. Although it does channel hopping to avoid interference, if your work environment is a very busy 2.4GHz Wi-Fi neighborhood, there may not be any ability to talk bluetooth anything.

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Answer 4

MoStone Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 3, 2019 12:39 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

That's a good point, but I'm not sure if this is issue, especially since the same headphones can connect to my smartphone (non-Apple) just fine at work at my desk, it's only with my MacBook that I face the issue.

But it's definitely worth verifying, this gives me the idea of trying various other devices with other computers, e.g. keyboards, a colleague's computer, etc... Will try to report back tomorrow

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Bluetooth device disappears from list only at work, but not at home.

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