Bluetooth connectivity issues

Precisely. Which is why I say Buster works for Apple. That is Apple’s default go to. You’re using it wrong even though you’ve used other Apple stuff precisely like this before and it worked perfectly. We at Apple do not make mistakes. When we at almighty Apple screw up you must adapt and change your normal operating procedures. Buy another dongle!

I had these issues and they seem to be fixed by update to 10.14.3 which is weird, I was convinced it was hardware. Same usba hub now works with devices charging off it and I can use all the usb ports without interference. Would love to know exactly what caused the issue and how they fixed it. Anyone else find the update has fixed it for them?

No, you simply do not understand the forces at play here.

Equipment Authorization Procedures

... is a good place to start if one desires to begin gaining knowledge into some of the forces at play here. After reading that, one should start to understand why Apple can't "just fix it", and the rules governing Apple's behavior are most definitely fluid.

Truth be told, it's a minor engineering miracle that Apple has done this well.

It is a lot better, but I still get a mouse failure about every third day now. It appears to happen when the fan spins up and the CPU is busy. It's even more interesting that after the fan calms down after the process that caused the heating stops, the mouse does not recover. Software handling a power problem, I imagine they pulled out the earlier handler just in time for the Mac Mini to need it again.

Usually when we first have connection issues, turning BT on and off, forget the device, ... etc, can clear some of the hiccups and these problems, not a hardware one, can be addressed after OS update because in the process everything is rebooted. This is not because the new OS has a specific “fix" for BT.

Thanks for taking the time to reply but I am puzzled by your response as the link doesn’t answer the questions posed. Having read conflicting suggestions about the cause on different forums (bluetooth module, power supply to usb, fan, rf interference etc). It seems from the experiences of other posters that most if not all of these hardware design issues are causing the problems but the significant improvements I have noticed since update have been caused by software changes. Has the update improved your experience of the issue? Any idea how software changes could have helped to mitigate these hardware issues? It’s ok if you don’t understand the problem well enough to explain it, I’m sure somebody will eventually.

I do believe that during a reboot, or forgetting your Bluetooth device and reconnecting, an initialization routine is run. For a while I bet they reinitialized every so often, for reliability. I think they removed this section of code at one point to make Bluetooth gaming response faster, since their hardware had all the kinks worked out. Then, the Mini. Whoops!

Going farther out on a limb, Apple appears to be having classic IT-itis. IT is an interesting beast. First thing they do is to compartmentalize, and implement a ticket system so they can review their workers. Sounds great, right? Actually, this is terrible. At that point, IT is more interested in IT than the company. Why was Steve Jobs so great? He would not allow an IT group to fester at his company, you made a mistake, you were fired. No hiding in a bureaucracy. So, how does this fit our Bluetooth problem? Easy. The error crosses between two IT groups, hardware and software. In the classic IT help ticket system (which they always use), it is impossible to create a ticket where two different support compartment groups work together on a problem. Yup, that's all it is, and it's everywhere at Apple now.

Hey you think Apple is bad? Comcast gets "worst company on the planet" awards every year for exactly the same reason. :-)

Hi, BeekeeperDan !

The link was intended to enlighten those who wanted to know a) why the newest crop of Apple products has this problem but older ones do not, and b) to show that Apple has to live up to governmental regulations that can, and do, shift with regularity. It was not intended to provide a solution, but rather to point out how we got here and why Apple can't "just fix it".

The primary tenet - at least as I understand it - for getting a consumer device 'approved' by the FCC is the device must accept interference, and cannot cause interference. The rules as to what is, and is not, interference change over time, as well as how the device handles that interference. In my mind, that Apple has done as well as it has among these shifting rules is a minor engineering miracle, especially in light of Apple's traditional engineering culture of 'follow the standards'.

I hope this clears things up.

Please, no apology is necessary as there was no offense. We are all learning something new every day about this ongoing issue, and I had thought it may provide context as to how we got here. If that was not clear, then I am the one who should apologize for not making the intent crystal clear.

I have the same issue. AirPods frequently drop connection, MagicMouse2 slows down, does not move smoothly. I reported this to apple support in the first week of purchase (Nov, 2018.) Many phone calls, discussions later, it is now the month 4 of purchase. In the meantime, I had it repaired, nothing has improved. Apple replaced the logic board (they say they could not reproduce the problem, but as a possible solution replaced the logic board.) I can't believe this explanation.

I Tried lots of different configurations, from no wireless, wired connections (except bluetooth) to re-installing. Nothing works. Apple support people always point out the interference as the problem. My iPhone, MacBook Air, iMac all in the same location, never had a similar issue.

Now as there is no solution, I asked apple to refund. Apple says it is company policy not to refund unless it is in the first two weeks of purchase. Is this my problem? I contacted Apple in the second day of purchase. Why not give me this option then?

I can't believe Apple trying to get away with this. You are an unsatisfied customer, they can not solve your problem and they can not give refund you either, which means you are stuck with the product that does not satisfy you.

"I had it repaired, nothing has improved. Apple replaced the logic board (they say they could not reproduce the problem, but as a possible solution replaced the logic board.)"

Indeed if you follow the discussion here, you would see that the problems may be outside your Mac. Have you systematically examined your wifi router and all USB-3 devices? Hardwares incompatibility is not uncommon. Just because your old Macs works with those 3rd party peripherals does not mean a brand new computer came out a few months ago will be backward compatible with older (sometimes cheap) third party devices.

Apple also offered to "repaire" my Mac but I decided to wait it out in case the problem is not inside the computer as Macs generally are very reliable. It turned out that all my BT problems were caused by a single USB-3 hub that costed $10.

"Have you systematically examined your wifi router and all USB-3 devices?"

Yes, exactly. In fact, I tried it with no WiFi, no external device, no bluetooth keyboard or mouse, no added software. Only an external monitor, a usb keyboard and just plain Mac mini as it came out from repair.

Have you been able to discover the connection between the USB-3 hub and the BT issues? Is it radio interference? If so, doesn't it tell you something about Mac mini's weakness to such interference?

I am not jumping to conclusions. I wish I could find a culprit other than the Mac mini but no matter I tried I couldn't. So far Apple support couldn't either. All my other devices (Macbook air, iMac, iPhone) work fine in the exact same location.

Have you been able to discover the connection between the USB-3 hub and the BT issues? Is it radio interference? If so, doesn't it tell you something about Mac mini's FCC-MANDATED ACCEPTANCE OF interference?

Fixed that for you.

"no bluetooth keyboard or mouse, no added software. Only an external monitor, a usb keyboard "

Didn't you have issues connecting to Apple BT devices? Since this may be caused by third party USB devices, I don't understand why you were testing this without any BT devices attached but an USB keyboard (Apple?) was attached instead?

You should plug in just an Apple wireless BT keyboard or mouse (one at a time to make sure the problem is not in the keyboard or mouse itself) and tested it w/o any USB devices or wifi connected to the Mini and see if the connected Apple BT device works. Keep in mind that for the lack of a better term BT connection can be "corrupted" at the software levels so make sure you do the regular things, such as forget device, re-boot, etc to rule that out. Instructions for this are available on line.

BT and Wifi routers are well known to be affected by USB-3. Just Google it. For example:

https://www.bluetoothandusb3.com/the-explanation

https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/315173/wireless-witch-the-truth-about-usb-3-0-and-wi-fi-interferen

So the question is who is responsible to make a device that is immune to all the interference created by all the devices ever made? May be this is more difficult with the Mini because its physical dimension? I don't know, but once I threw away that cheap USB hub, my mini is working like a charm.