Bluetooth killing WiFi...?

[darkstrike]

Hi all - I have an odd problem with my laptop that I just found out about last night. I was given a Samsung HW-K360 sound system from a friend which is Bluetooth capable. I have an HP Pavilion TouchSmart 14 running Linux Mint 19 64-bit MATE that has Bluetooth.

Connecting up to the Samsung system is fine and the music plays through it no problem.....but whenever I am CONNECTED to the Samsung via Bluetooth (whether or not I am even playing music), my WiFi completely dies and websites won't load. If I leave Bluetooth turned on on the laptop, but DISCONNECT from the speakers....my WiFi starts working properly again...?

I've never heard of such an odd problem....? Anybody have any ideas what is going on or how to potentially solve it? I THINK the WiFi card in here is one of those Bluetooth/WiFi combo cards, if that has any bearing...?

Cheers and thanks for any help!

[Lord Boltar]

The problem you are experiencing could be due to interference caused by RF overlapping channels your Bluetooth and WiFi are both running on 2.4GHz. The 2.4-GHz band is broken down into 11 channels for the FCC or North American domain and 13 channels for the European or ETSI domain so if the channels are close enough together you get overlapping causing one or the other to go offline

I would try and change your channel on your WiFi and see if that makes a difference more info on that can be found below - generally use channel 1, 6,or 11 which seem to have the least overlap

https://www.lifewire.com/wifi-channel-n ... nce-818208

Hope this Helps

[darkstrike]

Huh - didn't know they operated on the same frequencies. I had the router set to Channel 10, will switch it to Channel 1 and see if the issue persists.

[BG405]

Some routers (esp. those with replacement firmware e.g. Tomato) can scan for other networks so it's easier to find a clear channel, although it will probably still need some experimentation. There also exists software which can perform this function; haven't looked into this so far, therefore unable to give specific examples just yet.

[darkstrike]

I use LinSSID to show me other networks in the area, but I am in a semi-rural area, so there ARE no other networks but my own. The odd issue is Bluetooth killing my WiFi, not other networks interfering....LinSSID doesn't seem to pick up Bluetooth connections though.

[BG405]

Has changing the channel on the WiFi router made a difference? Appreciate your mention of LinSSID; I was looking for something like that.

It would be helpful to see what card you have; the output of Terminal command inxi -n will show this. In case your card and router support 5GHz, you could use this as it avoids this spectrum conflict.

[darkstrike]

Hey,

Actually haven't had a chance to check yet, but the speaker system is sitting in my living room on the floor for me to set back up again when I get a chance.

No 5ghz support sadly. You're welcome for LinSSID - helpful program!

The card is:

Code: Select all

Card-1: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 130 driver: iwlwifi
           IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: dc:a9:71:95:47:b9

[darkstrike]

Has changing the channel on the WiFi router made a difference? Appreciate your mention of LinSSID; I was looking for something like that.

It would be helpful to see what card you have; the output of Terminal command inxi -n will show this. In case your card and router support 5GHz, you could use this as it avoids this spectrum conflict.

OK, finally got around to testing things today. WiFi was on Channel 10 before, so I moved it to Channel 1. Internet still drops out a LOT when streaming via Bluetooth to the speaker system, although pages will now at least load EVENTUALLY.

Any suggestions or ideas?