Bluetooth

Aaron's kids play a lot of Fortnite on the Xbox, but it's only a one-player game and he has two kids. So he bought a refurbished Dell computer for $150 and added a graphics card to it. Is there a way to hook the Xbox controller to the computer? Leo says you can, even wirelessly. But recently, the Xbox controller has stopped working even though it works with Microsoft's Xbox app. It doesn't work with Fortnite. Leo says to try using Bluetooth, but it's possible that Anti-Cheating features are blocking it because desktops may have an advantage through tricks and hacks like Aimbots.

Paul recently bought a pair of Aftershokz Trekz Air headphones. Leo says they are fine. Not great, but good enough. Paul complains though, that after ten minutes, the sound drops and gets garbled. Leo says that's a Bluetooth issue that's likely specific to that model. Worth returning or exchanging. Leo says he has the older version, which works well. He may want to try the Aeropex.  At the end of the day though, Bluetooth is just terrible, because it handles far more bandwidth than it was designed for. 

Jim has a Motorola car kit for Bluetooth, but his iPhone 8 won't pair to it. Leo says general Bluetooth software may have been updated beyond what the car can support. The two products are probably incompatible, unfortunately.

Sonny wants to know if wireless headphones are safe. Leo says that WiFi is inherently low power and there's no evidence that WiFi or even Bluetooth is dangerous to health. 

Caller is having network issues with his Windows computer and a minport driver via bluetooth. Leo says that BLuetooth is notorious for dropping out, forcing you to reconnect regularly. But since he's using the Epson EcoTank, he can connect via WiFi, and that's far better. 

Drew has a Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard, but sometimes it stops working and loses connection. Leo says he had the same problem with his Surface studio. That's why Leo doesn't care for wireless keyboards. Bluetooth is notorious for that.  It requires you to remove and re-pair. 

Ann has an iPhone running iOS 13.3 and she can't see what her battery level is for her Beats headphones anymore. Leo says that the headphone profile is corrupted, and he recommends starting over. Remove the Bluetooth connection by unpairing it in the settings, and then re-pair. That should solve the issue.

Gary needs to turn off his T-Mobile modem and reboot it sometimes because it slows down until it's almost unusable. So rebooting it gets it back to high speed. But it will eventually slow down again. Leo says it's a very common problem with routers. Leo thinks it's because the router overheats. But it could also be a crashing modem. Look for a firmware update.

Scott's company is shifting to using the iPhone from laptops and needs a keyboard for it. Rich says any Bluetooth keyboard will work, and he recommends the Logitech K480 ($50) or the Logitech Keys to Go. Is there a wired option? Rich says it's possible that you could get a wired to Bluetooth adapter. But if your company locks down the Bluetooth, you may be out of luck.