Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

BT dropouts under heavy wifi access

M

monty77

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 4, 2005
594
173
UK, South Coast
Hi all,

Just bought a 23" dell monitor and BT keyboard (already have wireless Logitech mouse) to use with my late 2008 MBP.

Almost immediately I noticed I was getting frequent 'Connection to Keyboard lost' errors, almost 100% of the time this happens the Wifi is under heavy use moving large files to my NAS for example.

I searched Apple support and this appears to be quite common and 1 suggestion was to change my airport extreme base station to use 5GHz instead of 2.4GHz for the network. This tweak seems to have solve the issue 100%, the only downside is not all of my kit can use 5GHz .. for my work laptop I've invested in a new wifi adapter that'll cope but my Apple TV and iPhone can no longer connect to the WLAN.

Anyone else have an alternative solution for this? Or is it pure and simple down to BT interference and I should perhaps ditch the BT keyboard for a wired one?

Thanks!
Monty
 
Bluetooth and WiFi operate on the same frequency (2.4GHz), so odd effects are to be expected.
Switching to 5GHz WiFi will fix any problems regarding the two signals operating on the same frequency. You can pick up a dual band router if not all your gear supports 5GHz,
 
geoffreak said:
Bluetooth and WiFi operate on the same frequency (2.4GHz), so odd effects are to be expected.
Switching to 5GHz WiFi will fix any problems regarding the two signals operating on the same frequency. You can pick up a dual band router if not all your gear supports 5GHz,
Click to expand...

Granted, but my thinkpad doesn't have the same problem and it's sitting next (literally) to my MBP.

Can the apple airport extreme base station do this?

...looks like my only choice is to select 802.11n only @ 5GHz.

Thanks,
Monty
 
Only the current generation Airport Extreme and Time Capsule can do simultaneous dual band. I would recommend you set your current Extreme to 5GHz and buy a cheap wireless G router for 2.4GHz (I recommend Linksys WRT54G)
 
1ne said:
I don't mean to be rude or a jerk but if you are using 802.11G, there are only 3 non-overlapping channels. Channel 1,6,11.
Click to expand...

I switched my Airport Extreme to Channel 9 after experiencing the same mouse lag. All is well for me. cheers!
 
Thanks everyone, more expense either way ... to keep box count down I'll most likely invest in a current AEBS - pretty annoyed my premium apple product can't do something my Thinkpad can!

Cheers,
Monty
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back