User profile for user: Ikester
Ikester Author
User level: Level 1
36 points

Bluetooth interferes with WiFi in Yosemite 10.10 (reproducible)

There is a long (40 pages so far) thread about WiFi issues with Yosemite. However, I believe it has become a catchall thread for all kinds of connectivity problems and a growing number of "solutions" address only a few of them.


So I wanted to start a separate thread about a very specific issue I found to be easily reproducible: turning on Bluetooth in Yosemite 10.10 interferes with WiFi, lowering the bandwidth in a measurable way. I have tested this on two different MacBook Pro Retina (mid-2011 and late-2013) and an Apple Airport router.


To test is yourself do the following:

  1. Move away from the WiFi access point so the signal is not at full strength
  2. Turn Bluetooth Off
  3. Visit speedtest.net and run a speed test a handful of times (average the results discarding the outliers, i.e. the fastest and the slowest)
  4. Turn Bluetooth On
  5. Repeat Step 2 and compare results


In my case I see a 30% drop in download speed and about a 50% drop in upload speed. I'm not a hardware/radio engineer but I think it's pretty clear that the WiFi and Bluetooth drivers for the initial release version of Yosemite are causing some kind of interference. This is obviously wrong. Unless there is a programmable parameter that can be tweaked for these drivers, I doubt there is anything we can do about it until Apple releases an update with 10.10.1.


Turning off Bluetooth is an obvious fix for the WiFi issues but it is clearly not useful if you depend on Bluetooth accessories and defeats the purpose of may cool Yosemite features like Handoff.


Is anybody else seeing this in their environment?

Posted on Oct 28, 2014 3:44 PM

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19 replies
User profile for user: Geffreybos
Geffreybos
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 29, 2014 11:17 AM in response to Ikester

I am having the exact same problem. Although I am a really thorough problem solver I could not seem to fix this one either. I have tried resetting the router, the modem, a "Kext Fix", changing the Service & Preference Order, Resetting SMC and PRAM, I have reinstalled the Wi-Fi Interface and deleted system configurations.


Nothing worked. It really is too bad. Hoping for a quick fix.

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User profile for user: canecaster
canecaster
User level: Level 1
77 points

Oct 29, 2014 4:30 PM in response to Ikester

I've been following the longer thread as well, but my WiFi issue seems to essentially be a Bluetooth issue. At work I connect my MBP to my Verizon Mifi LTE hotspot, and upon upgrade to Yosemite noticed very slow wireless speeds. Turning off Bluetooth instantly gets me back to normal speeds. Interestingly, though, turning Bluetooth back on doesn't slow my speed down in a predictable way - sometimes the slowdown occurs right away, other times it may take minutes or even a few hours to slow down (I've noticed days where I'm good in the morning but in the afternoon my speeds slow). Regardless of how long it takes the problem to manifest, I get instant relief by turning off Bluetooth.


Lately I've taken to replacing my trackpad with a wired mouse, just so I could keep Bluetooth off. Not ideal, obviously. I've also tried setting the MiFi to use different channels (with no particular benefit noted). Today, just for the heck of it, I decided to leave my laptop open (I usually close the lid because I'm connected to a Thunderbolt display), and observed good speeds for several hours even with Bluetooth on. I tried closing the lid for a while and within 15 minutes I was slow again. I turned Bluetooth off, opened the lid, got my speed back up and turned Bluetooth back on - and my speed stayed up the remainder of the day.


A limited data sample, to be sure, so I'm not sure whether the lid position has anything to how the Bluetooth and WiFi signals are interfering. But I'll try tomorrow again and keep the lid up and see how it goes.


One other observation. At home I have no trouble maintaining good speeds connecting to my Airport Time Capsule. Bluetooth is on, of course, but I'm not actively using any Bluetooth devices when I'm on wireless at home.

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User profile for user: Ikester
Ikester Author
User level: Level 1
36 points

Jan 30, 2015 6:10 AM in response to darrenhill

I also still see the problem with 10.10.2

I posted these stats in the WiFi problems thread (>150 pages by now) but I'll post it here as well:

## Bluetooth OFF ## Average: 66.12 Mbits/sec ## (max and min values discarded) IkeMBP:local$ iperf -c herobrine -t 120 -i 10 ------------------------------------------------------------ Client connecting to herobrine, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 129 KByte (default) ------------------------------------------------------------ [ 5] local 192.168.1.162 port 55484 connected with 192.168.1.30 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 5] 0.0-10.0 sec 80.2 MBytes 67.3 Mbits/sec [ 5] 10.0-20.0 sec 79.4 MBytes 66.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 20.0-30.0 sec 79.0 MBytes 66.3 Mbits/sec [ 5] 30.0-40.0 sec 77.9 MBytes 65.3 Mbits/sec [ 5] 40.0-50.0 sec 76.5 MBytes 64.2 Mbits/sec [ 5] 50.0-60.0 sec 78.5 MBytes 65.9 Mbits/sec [ 5] 60.0-70.0 sec 80.0 MBytes 67.1 Mbits/sec [ 5] 70.0-80.0 sec 78.4 MBytes 65.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 80.0-90.0 sec 74.6 MBytes 62.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 90.0-100.0 sec 78.5 MBytes 65.9 Mbits/sec [ 5] 100.0-110.0 sec 79.9 MBytes 67.0 Mbits/sec [ 5] 110.0-120.0 sec 80.8 MBytes 67.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 0.0-120.0 sec 944 MBytes 66.0 Mbits/sec ## Bluetooth ON and no device connected ## Average: 58.40 Mbits/sec ## (max and min values discarded) IkeMBP:local$ iperf -c herobrine -t 120 -i 10 ------------------------------------------------------------ Client connecting to herobrine, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 129 KByte (default) ------------------------------------------------------------ [ 5] local 192.168.1.162 port 55491 connected with 192.168.1.30 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 5] 0.0-10.0 sec 70.0 MBytes 58.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 10.0-20.0 sec 71.0 MBytes 59.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 20.0-30.0 sec 68.6 MBytes 57.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 30.0-40.0 sec 70.4 MBytes 59.0 Mbits/sec [ 5] 40.0-50.0 sec 72.9 MBytes 61.1 Mbits/sec [ 5] 50.0-60.0 sec 70.2 MBytes 58.9 Mbits/sec [ 5] 60.0-70.0 sec 72.2 MBytes 60.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 70.0-80.0 sec 70.0 MBytes 58.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 80.0-90.0 sec 62.5 MBytes 52.4 Mbits/sec [ 5] 90.0-100.0 sec 70.1 MBytes 58.8 Mbits/sec [ 5] 100.0-110.0 sec 66.5 MBytes 55.8 Mbits/sec [ 5] 110.0-120.0 sec 67.4 MBytes 56.5 Mbits/sec [ 5] 0.0-120.0 sec 832 MBytes 58.2 Mbits/sec ## Bluetooth ON and Magic Mouse CONNECTED ## Average: 38.08 Mbits/sec ## (max and min values discarded) IkeMBP:local$ iperf -c herobrine -t 120 -i 10 ------------------------------------------------------------ Client connecting to herobrine, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 129 KByte (default) ------------------------------------------------------------ [ 5] local 192.168.1.162 port 55481 connected with 192.168.1.30 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 5] 0.0-10.0 sec 46.4 MBytes 38.9 Mbits/sec [ 5] 10.0-20.0 sec 46.6 MBytes 39.1 Mbits/sec [ 5] 20.0-30.0 sec 52.6 MBytes 44.1 Mbits/sec [ 5] 30.0-40.0 sec 46.1 MBytes 38.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 40.0-50.0 sec 46.1 MBytes 38.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 50.0-60.0 sec 45.5 MBytes 38.2 Mbits/sec [ 5] 60.0-70.0 sec 40.5 MBytes 34.0 Mbits/sec [ 5] 70.0-80.0 sec 38.1 MBytes 32.0 Mbits/sec [ 5] 80.0-90.0 sec 43.4 MBytes 36.4 Mbits/sec [ 5] 90.0-100.0 sec 46.8 MBytes 39.2 Mbits/sec [ 5] 100.0-110.0 sec 45.9 MBytes 38.5 Mbits/sec [ 5] 110.0-120.0 sec 46.6 MBytes 39.1 Mbits/sec [ 5] 0.0-120.0 sec 545 MBytes 38.1 Mbits/sec ## 802.11n (5GHz) - Bluetooth ON and Magic Mouse CONNECTED ## Average: 38.08 Mbits/sec ## (max and min values discarded) IkeMBP:~$ iperf -c herobrine -t 120 -i 10 ------------------------------------------------------------ Client connecting to herobrine, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 129 KByte (default) ------------------------------------------------------------ [ 5] local 192.168.1.162 port 53924 connected with 192.168.1.30 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 5] 0.0-10.0 sec 94.9 MBytes 79.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 10.0-20.0 sec 98.8 MBytes 82.8 Mbits/sec [ 5] 20.0-30.0 sec 98.1 MBytes 82.3 Mbits/sec [ 5] 30.0-40.0 sec 98.2 MBytes 82.4 Mbits/sec [ 5] 40.0-50.0 sec 98.4 MBytes 82.5 Mbits/sec [ 5] 50.0-60.0 sec 97.6 MBytes 81.9 Mbits/sec [ 5] 60.0-70.0 sec 98.2 MBytes 82.4 Mbits/sec [ 5] 70.0-80.0 sec 98.0 MBytes 82.2 Mbits/sec [ 5] 80.0-90.0 sec 97.5 MBytes 81.8 Mbits/sec [ 5] 90.0-100.0 sec 98.4 MBytes 82.5 Mbits/sec [ 5] 100.0-110.0 sec 99.6 MBytes 83.6 Mbits/sec [ 5] 110.0-120.0 sec 50.9 MBytes 42.7 Mbits/sec [ 5] 0.0-120.0 sec 1.10 GBytes 78.9 Mbits/sec

Also noticed the consistency and stability of the 5 GHz test

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User profile for user: DonOz
DonOz
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jan 31, 2015 9:55 PM in response to Ikester

Thanks Ikester, and also darenhill. I too have these problems, not fixed in any way by the recent update. I am in Melbourne, Australia. I recently began using my MacBook Air with a monitor and bluetooth keyboard and mouse (Apple); I berated my internet retailer for pathetic wifi performance speeds, only to discover that the speed increased five-fold when I disconnected my bluetooth keyboard and mouse by turning off bluetooth. I am appalled by the deterioration of performance and equally appalled by the apparent lack of a fix. Otherwise, I am a long-term Apple user, using every device...but thing Apple should be ashamed to allow this gap for so long. Thanks for your reinforcing that this is not my imagination!

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Bluetooth interferes with WiFi in Yosemite 10.10 (reproducible)

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