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Bluetooth
5 min read

Understanding Bluetooth Range and Interference

Why a ten-metre spec turns into three metres in practice, and what you can do about it.

At a glance

  • →Your body is the most common obstacle
  • →2.4 GHz is a shared and crowded band
  • →Re-pairing fixes many mysterious dropouts

Bluetooth advertises around ten metres of range, measured in an open space with nothing in the way. Real rooms contain people, walls and furniture, and the 2.4 GHz radio band it uses is absorbed very effectively by water — which is most of a human body.

That band is also shared. Wi-Fi, microwave ovens, wireless keyboards and every other Bluetooth device nearby compete for the same airspace, and in a busy café that competition is fierce.

Devices cope by re-sending lost data, which you hear as a stutter. Reduce the obstruction or the competition and the stutter disappears.

Common causes

  • Body or bag between device and headset
  • Crowded 2.4 GHz airspace
  • Low headset battery
  • Multiple simultaneous Bluetooth connections
  • Old or corrupted pairing profiles

Troubleshooting tips

  1. 1Keep the source device in line of sight where you can.
  2. 2Move away from routers and microwaves when audio stutters.
  3. 3Disconnect Bluetooth devices you are not using.
  4. 4Charge headsets above 20% before long sessions.
  5. 5Re-pair devices after major system updates.
  6. 6Prefer the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band at home to free up 2.4 GHz airspace.

Key takeaways

  • • Your body is the most common obstacle
  • • 2.4 GHz is a shared and crowded band
  • • Re-pairing fixes many mysterious dropouts

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