HTC Incredible - Bluetooth drops when WiFi status changes...

[david-woodward]

I'm having a consistent problem with my HTC Incredible when using the Google Listen app.  I haven't tried other apps, yet to verify that it's a problem with the phone/firmware/OS and not the app, but I thought I'd go ahead and post the problem to see if anyone else is having this issue.

Here's how you can reproduce the proble (at least on my device):

1) Make sure you have a remembered connection to a WiFi access point (wireless router or whatever).

2) Connect to a bluetooth headset (in my case I'm using the Microsoft Sync connection in my car)

3) Start playing a pod cast or something in the Google Listen app (or other apps?) through your bluetooth headset

4) If you're connected to WiFi then get out of range or turn the access point off.  If you're not connected then get in range to connect or turn the access point on or whatever.

That's it.  As soon as the WiFi status changes (from connected to disconnected, or disconnected to connected) the bluetooth will disconnect from your headset.  To make it worse, you can't even reconnect to the headset afterwards. You'll have to turn the phone's bluetooth off and back on again before you can connect.

[david-woodward]

Well, it figures that as soon as I make a post about this I go home for lunch and the problem DOESN'T happen for once.

The fact that it didn't drop the bluetooth connection may actually be another clue though.  Once I went in my house and tried to browse the web on my phone I realized that although my WiFi was working, my internet provider was not (Charter bites!).  Also, even though it didn't drop the bluetooth connection it did stutter for a moment as if it were going to drop it.

Obviously I'm going to have to do some more testing, but maybe it's some app or part of the OS that kills the bluetooth connection once it's able to the internet over a WiFi connection?  Sounds like a long shot to me, but you never know.

Another thought I had is that maybe the problem only happens when it's trying to download the podcast when the switch from 3G to WiFi happens.  (The podcast I was listening to today had already been completely downloaded before the switch occurred)

Please let me know if you are or are not having this issue so I'll know if I'm even headed in the right direction.

I'll keep everyone updated on what I figure out just in case I'm not alone on this issue.

Thanks.

[bravebear]

This explains what I am seeing too! As soon as I leave my neighborhood my bluetooth drops, never to return until bluetooth is cycled off/on. It drops again just I am getting home. No fix for this eh? Kind of sucks. I have also found navigator wont speak while bluetooth connection is active. As soon as I get home bluetooth drops and navigator starts chatting. Not very useful. Starting to miss my iphone.

[david-woodward]

Finally!  Someone replied to confirm or dispute the issue.

Though I almost wish it was someone saying they DIDN'T have the problem since I haven't found a REAL fix for the issue.

I do have two work arounds you might want to try though.

First and simplest is to just turn off your WiFi before you get in your car.   I've still had it drop Bluetooth occasionally even with WiFi off, but it happens so infrequently that I haven't been able to narrow down the cause.  (And it's probably just Android's notoriously bad Bluetooth support)

Second, you can try using one of the profile apps to setup a location/state profile for when the phone is in your car with settings that turn off the WiFi and/or go through whatever steps needed to reset the Bluetooth radio.

The application I'm looking at using for this purpose is Tasker:

Home:

http://tasker.dinglisch.net/

Download:

http://www.dinglisch.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1260702666

(Tasker is still in beta though.  So, there may be other more mature products out there though.  I just haven't invested a lot of time into this lately - a lot of other projects going on at home)

So, for example you might be able to setup a profile for your car that triggered actions like "Bluetooth Off -> WiFi Off -> Bluetooth On".  That would handle turning off WiFi and cycling your Bluetooth connection.

However, I haven't looked at all the "Context" options to determine what I should use to dictate whether or not to apply the "Car" profile.  Right now I'm considering using an inverse "WiFe Near" state context.  But the "WiFi Near" state context takes a while to go into effect... hmmm...

Gotta get back to work now.

Thanks again for the reply!  [ Kudos! ]  It's nice to know I'm not alone.

[oceanjunkie]

I have a Moto Droid that does the same thing.  I see your post was from a couple months ago....are you still having this issue or have you found a fix?  I basically leave my wifi off now and just turn it on when I need it....kinda stinks.

[david-woodward]

Nope. Still got te same problem.  Even after the froyo update.    It does seem to be a LITTLE bit better.  About half the time the bluetooth audio just gets choppy and cuts in and out rather than dropping the connection all together.  But it's still frequent enough that I've made it a habbit to disable WiFi when I get in the car.

[Deb-BuchananTX]

I'm new to these forums but have been searching for answers as to why my Bluetooth keeps dropping.  I do NOT keep my WiFi connected and it still drops.  This did not happen with my previous vehicle but got a new Infiniti in September and shortly thereafter upgraded to 2.2 which is when the problem began.  HTC says that it is a software incompatibility issue since there are no industry standards on Bluetooth.  Couldn't give me any idea when new updates would be available.  Looking on HTC forums this seems to be quite a common problem.  Just wondering if anyone else had this problem and might have found a work around....