How can I extend the reach of Bluetooth to connect better with my wireless mouse? My Mac is under a metal desk (I don't really want to put the Mac on top of my desk), and it doesn't connect very well with my Apple Magic Mouse. Is there a device or some other way to extend the reach of the Bluetooth reception in the CPU to above the desk for a better connection with my mouse?
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)
One of the "features" of Bluetooth was use of low power transmitters for low battery consumption, and short distances so less interference to other devices. But unfortunately for you, that low power transmitter can't penetrate materials as well. Basically, it's a "line-of-sight" technology.
That said, you may just want to try moving the Mac around a little. You might find that a few inches may make a difference. And even fresh batteries can make a difference. (Or recharging more often, if using rechargable batteries.)
You could also try a USB Bluetooth dongle and use a USB extension cable to bring the dongle above the desk. I have never used it to connect the keyboard/mouse to the Mac so I don't know if there will be interference between the two Bluetooth transmitters (the dongle and the Mac) or confusion by the keyboard, etc. (I use the Bluetooth dongle for virtual machines where the dongle is NOT controlled by the Mac.) Of course, you'd also need to find a dongle that has Mac drivers. (Many of the cheap dongles are Windows only.) Otherwise, the obvious:
FWIW I use a BT dongle (IOGEAR - GBU421) plugged into the back of my monitor.
There's also a disscussion about poor BT reception here.
Finally some people have replaced the internal BT antenna with an external antenna connected to the internal BT card (e.g., here).
Thank you for such a concise and clear answer!
I can't switch to a different desk, and the space for moving the Mac around is limited so, if some repositioning doesn't improve things I think I'll try a USB Bluetooth dongle.
Thank you.
I can't really mess with the internals (it's not my Mac) – but I'm going to try out the BT dongle you suggest, also plugged in to the back of my monitor.
(BTW, if not for the desk, the connection seems pretty good. For instance, if I use the mouse on a book or other surface just below the desk, it works just great, but on top of the desk the response is sketchy, though it's a pretty thin metal desk. The Mac is a brand new Mac Pro.)
Just a little heads up here. I don't know if this is specific to the GBU421 or BT USB dongles in general (since the GBU421 is the only one I ever tried), or just a quirk of my machine, but be prepared for the mouse not being seen about (estimating here) 15% to 25% of the time when you wake your machine from sleep (I always sleep never shutdown). In those cases I need to flick the mouse switch and it eventually reconnects. I'm fond of saying this is equivalent to telling my machine "hey, over here stupid" :-) I generally don't see this problem coming up after (re)booting.
How can I extend the reach of Bluetooth to connect better with my wireless mouse?
