You would think that a wireless technology that is offered on mobile devices, TV’s, motor vehicles, sound systems, and now home appliances like fridges and hood fans would be more advanced after over 20 years since being first implemented. Or is it that the radio frequency spectrum limits Bluetooth from being any better than it is?
In: Technology
It’s really nothing to do with inherent limitations of the technology, or with spectrum issues. A lot of devices have very good Bluetooth. It’s mostly due to the fact that there are a buttload of devices using very cheap, poorly designed Bluetooth controllers, crappy antennas, and/or lousy software driver implementations.
Consumers want Bluetooth connectivity (sometimes) and they want low prices. Very few consumers are going to research how good a device’s Bluetooth connectivity is; it might even be hard to find such information. So some manufacturers just implement the cheapest hardware that they can get, and put minimal effort into the firmware.
After all, you don’t buy a refrigerator for its Bluetooth connectivity quality. You’re also unlikely to return it because the Bluetooth is a piece of crap. It’s like Ford back in the 60’s figuring out that if they used cheaper bolts in their cars they could make millions of dollars in savings each year without noticeably driving off consumers. At least, not immediately.
**TL;DR** – The race to the bottom.
Bluetooth is in the ISM band(industry science and medical) . It’s an unlicensed band that the FCC has for consumers and businesses. Same as wifi same as your microwave oven, baby monitors, your little drones. It’s very congested.
Like land, you can’t make more space in that area. So you have to accept the interference, because the ISM band is like the Wild West of radios, the bigger radio wins. This might mean someone using a microwave oven will knock everything off the network right next to it.
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