Bluetooth Range Problem

[Dark Dragoon]

Well I've finally got my Mac Pro back from the Apple authorised repair shop, they couldn't find anything wrong with it.

But Bluetooth was definitely still not working properly, so I swapped the antenna leads myself. And now Bluetooth seems to be working properly. Though the Wi-Fi signal still seems a bit weak.

 

[quasar720]

Swapping BT antenna for Airport?

I posted this over on the Apple Support forums but I thought I would pose the question here too. Isn't there a chance that all this mod does is swap a possibly too weak/short BT antenna for a more robust, longer Airport antenna? It would make sense that the #1 wire would be attached to a stronger antenna due to the fact that a wireless access point is more likely to be further away than a mouse and keyboard. Are we just foregoing our Airport signal strength for a maxed-out bluetooth signal boost? I mean, people are reporting being able to use their bluetooth devices from outside their homes and multiple floors away, that can't be right and I'm not sure it's even desirable. What happens if you have another computer user in your home/office who wants to use bluetooth? Isn't there a chance that your boosted signal will cause interference?

I would really like to hear what Apple has to officially say about this situation...

 

[Dark Dragoon]

I posted this over on the Apple Support forums but I thought I would pose the question here too. Isn't there a chance that all this mod does is swap a possibly too weak/short BT antenna for a more robust, longer Airport antenna? It would make sense that the #1 wire would be attached to a stronger antenna due to the fact that a wireless access point is more likely to be further away than a mouse and keyboard. Are we just foregoing our Airport signal strength for a maxed-out bluetooth signal boost? I mean, people are reporting being able to use their bluetooth devices from outside their homes and multiple floors away, that can't be right and I'm not sure it's even desirable. What happens if you have another computer user in your home/office who wants to use bluetooth? Isn't there a chance that your boosted signal will cause interference?

I would really like to hear what Apple has to officially say about this situation...

After I swapped the cables around the Bluetooth signal strength increased and the Airport signal strength remained moderate but usable.

Compared with my Mac Mini G4 1.42 the Bluetooth range is still shorter even after swapping the leads around. With my Mac Mini I can get a good signal 3 floors up, the Mac Pro now manages 2. From what I remember depending on the class of bluetooth device you have, Bluetooth can work up to 100m.

I don't think that the increased range is anything to worry about.

 

[Cowinacape]

I would really like to hear what Apple has to officially say about this situation...

I'm with you there, I gave up on the BT mouse and KB and went with a MS wireless 6000 combo key board and mouse. Once again MS delivers another great product, (really am a fan of their mice and boards) now just to sort out the interference problems with my better halfs Logitech wireless combo mouse and KB (it's always something) Hopefully Apple will have something to say about this issue sooner rather than later.

 

[johneymac]

Well I had the Bluetooth card installed in my Mac Pro by the Apple store here in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. It worked excellent! I had very, very good range with it and I ran my new Apple Bluetooth Mighty Mouse and my new Apple Bluetooth Keyboard no problem! Then about a week later I got a call form the store asking me to bring back my Mac Pro because they thought that they might have put the wrong wire on the Bluetooth Module so I returned to the store with my Mac Pro and they took the wire that was on the Bluetooth module off and put the "BT" wire on the Bluetooth module instead. After returning home with my Mac Pro and trying to use my mighty mouse and keyboard the range that I had first enjoyed was gone. The keyboard would not work very good and the mouse was worse. I opened the Mac Pro and put the wires back the way that they where and everything is back to working fine now. So I say to all who are having problems with their Bluetooth, take the "BT" wire off the Module and put the black wire on the one with no label and see if that fixes the problem. It did for me!!
Here is a link to a page that even backes me up http://guides.macrumors.com/Adding_Bluetooth_and_Wireless_to_a_Mac_Pro