How to improve Bluetooth signal strength on 2010 Mac Mini?

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How to improve Bluetooth signal strength on 2010 Mac Mini?

I have a 2010-model mini connected to 2 displays in 2 different rooms. It's paired with an Apple bluetooth trackpad and keyboard.

The first display is directly above the mini and I'm operating it from about 10ft away with direct line of sight. The responsiveness of the trackpad and keyboard is perfect (bluetooth strength for both devices shows an RSSI in the minus 60s)

For the second display I'm sitting about 30 feet away through a couple of stud walls. Responsiveness - particularly from the trackpad - is poor with a jerky mouse pointer that's pretty much impossible to use. RSSI is down in the minus 80s.

Both devices are described on the Apple website as having a range up to 33ft, but I suspect this is best case with a direct line of sight, so I'm conscious that I'm probably pushing over the upper end of the realistic range.

I tried using a Bluetooth 4.0 external USB dongle to see if this would improve matters over the inbuilt Bluetooth 2.1, but it didn't (I guess the trackpad and keyboard - which I've had for about 2 1/2 years - are only Bluetooth 2.0, so whether I could have expected to see any improvement is up for debate).

So - question is - have I reached the limits of what range the trackpad and keyboard (and possibly my Mac) can cope with, or are there any tips for beefing up the Bluetooth signal strength so I can operate the mini reliably from the second room? (When googling the problem I saw a neat DIY someone had done to improve bluetooth reception on a Mac Pro by fitting an external antenna to the bluetooth card through a hole drilled in one of the PCI slots - but I imagine this would be a much more tricky mod given the lack of space in the Mini).

Thanks

Greg

Mac mini (Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), RAM Upgrade 8Gb, HDD upgrade 1.5Tb

Posted on Dec 28, 2013 7:57 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 28, 2013 10:45 AM in response to browngreg

So - question is - have I reached the limits of what range the trackpad and keyboard (and possibly my Mac) can cope with,

Yes

Options for Keyboard and mouse are:

WiFi

usb extender cable

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Answer 2

Mar 21, 2016 10:17 AM in response to browngreg

I have had this same problem using my Apple Wireless Keyboard and Trackpad for home theater use with my 2010 mini.

I followed this: https://justhackme.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/adding-a-ble-bluetooth-4-0-dongle-to -mac-os-x-mavericks/

I used some old, very tiny generic Kensington bluetooth dongle and while it didn't technically improve reception it definitely improved quality of use. I can go to the back of the room now with signal getting as low as -80dbi and it's still responsive and smooth. Before adding the dongle if the signal dropped to -70 I would get frequent disconnects and laggy cursor and keypresses. For reference I'm running El Capitan now and I have no problems with the selection in Bluetooth Tools switching back to built in bluetooth after a restart and I have no problems using the keyboard or trackpad waking the mac mini from sleep when connected through the external dongle.

Lets face it, the wireless design on these machines just suck, who builds an antenna and then decides to drop a tin can over the top of it? I was going to try modifying the case of the unit to support an external antenna before I came across the above linked blog post, had an old dongle lying around and decided I had nothing to lose.

Also! Remember to repair your keyboard and trackpad you'll need them powered off and then hold the power button until the lights start to blink.

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