Bluetooth

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.

Fred called in to say that there's a new wireless microphone for the hard of hearing, which can connect to your mobile device via Bluetooth and Quatro hearing aids so that those with trouble hearing can participate in group conversations. Leo says that's a great feature. Leo loves that modern hearing aids can interact with your mobile phones in order to listen better.  Check them out here - https://www.resound.com/en-us/hearing-aids/bluetooth-hearing-aids.

Emily has a store business and she uses Square to process credit card sales. But it keeps disconnecting. Leo says that square uses Bluetooth and if people have their Bluetooth on, it could cause interference. Doctor Mom says hers failed all the time, and it has to be very close to your paired device. Leo says to forget the device and then repair it. Make sure the card reader firmware is updated. ScooterX in the chatroom says that the firmware should be vs. 2.29.6. After that, the next move is to call Square.

Jeff has seen old time radios that have had a bluetooth receiver put in them so you can use them as a cool, retro bluetooth speaker. Leo says those a really cool idea. Is there such thing as a bluetooth extender? Leo says there is, but bluetooth is designed to be short-range. WiFi is a lot better and has five times the range. There are plenty extenders though that boost the range. Miccus makes a bluetooth extender with 160-foot range for $40.

Check out these old time radio bluetooth receivers at Wavelengthantiques.com

Jon complains that U2 will start playing when he puts down his phone and gets into the car. It's very annoying. Leo suspects that it's the free U2 album that Apple gave to everyone a few years ago. It's called Songs of Innocence and it's probably in iCloud. Apple created a special tool to delete it, he can get it here. But the larger issue is that when he gets rid of it, his Bluetooth audio in his car will just play something else.

Matt wants to know if there's a Bluetooth wireless printer and what's the best one? Leo says that most of the ones that promise Bluetooth connectivity use the Cloud to print. So that's not going to work. It's possible that a sole Bluetooth connection may not be possible due to the bandwidth of transmitting data.  Brother makes a laser printer. The HP4650 is a portable Bluetooth printer. 

Ron has a Channel Master Play Plus DVR and he notices that his voice-activated remote will cause popups of suggestions. What's going on? Leo says that the remote has Bluetooth LE (low energy) and it's possible it's picking up errant Bluetooth signals if around 30 feet. He can maybe dumb down the Bluetooth by turning off scanning.