Problem with low Bluetooth speed transfer

Question

Level 1

129 points

Problem with low Bluetooth speed transfer

Hi all,

I have a Powerbook G4 (Bluetooth v1.1), a T-Mobile data card and a K800i SonyEricsson mobile phone.

When I connect to the internet with my Data Card (PCMCIA using Launch2Net software by NovaMedia) I can download at a max speed of 120 KB/S (as reported in Safari).

When I connect to the internet using my mobile phone via Bluetooth, I get a max speed of 45kb/s.

I thought that for some reason this was being capped by the 3G access of my phone, so I transferred a photo from the K800i to the Powerbook and both times (I initiated from the phone and the second time from the Powerbook) the max speed was 45kb/s.

On wikipedia it says that Bluetooth 1.1 should transfer at a max rate of 125kb/s.

Could there be something wrong with my Mac or is it possible that the speed is somehow capped from the phone or the Mac (some setting that needs to be changed)

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mac Mini 1.47, PB 17, iBook G4, Powermac G5 2.3GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Feb 9, 2007 7:55 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 9, 2007 2:09 PM in response to Nic P

It could be a number of things and I don't have an easy answer, but Bluetooth will experience interference from, among other things, microwave ovens and Wifi networks. (Yes, seems a bit daft that Wifi and Bluetooth, which go hand in hand, interfere with each other, but there you are.)

I'd try disabling any onboard Wifi cards and ensuring there are no other Wifi appliances nearby, and see if that helps.

You could also check to see if you are near a microwave transmitter; I live about a mile from a microwave relay station and in the past it's played havoc with wireless connections.

Also, be careful of the difference between kb/s (kilobits per second) and KB/s (kilobytes per second). 1 KB/s = 8 kb/s. If you're mixing the two together, you may not be making a direct comparison.

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Answer 2

Nic P Author

Level 1

129 points

Feb 13, 2007 4:34 AM in response to David French

Hi David,

I tried switching off all wifi points in the house and the wifi on the Powerbook. No difference at all.

I then tried it on my MacBook which has Bluetooth v2 and again the speed of transferring files was capped to 50KB/s as in Kilobytes, where I should be able to send/receive at over 100KB/s.

I am starting to think this limitation is on the phone side so perhaps I may need to upgrade its firmware.

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