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sansfil's avatar
sansfil
Aspirant
Apr 22, 2017

Please help Orbi interferes with Bluetooth Headphones/Speaker

Hi everyone, I have not found an answer on the forum so far and therefore I hope this post helps me and others experiencing interference issues. Since I updated from my Netgear R7800 with an EX7300 extender to Orbi (RBK50 + RBS50) the speed doubled, but I am also experiencing major Bluetooth interference with my B&O wireless headphones (H8) and wireless speaker (A1) both on updated firmware. I tried changing the 2.4 channel to 1,6,11 and 12, turning off 20/40 MHz Coexistence, lowering the Transmit Power and still, nothing helps. When I turn off WiFi on my iPhone the interference only occurs every other minute, but with WiFi enabled about every 10 seconds for about a second, sometimes in succession — this makes listening to any music wirelessly unbearable. The further I move away from the satellite, the more frequent the dropouts become. The Hue lightbulbs on ZigBee Channel 11 have not caused any issues before and can be neglected as a source for this issue?

Any ideas, recommendations are really appreciated and thank you for your help in advance.

Troubleshooting

4 Replies

  • st_shaw's avatar
    st_shaw
    Master
    Apr 22, 2017

     

    Bluetooth, Zigbee, and WiFi all use overlapping channels in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.  If you are trying to use all three technologies at the same time you might not be able to get things to work. With careful planning you might be able to get things to work OK.

     

    For things to coexist you need to hard-wire as many things as possible, physically separate the devices as much as possible, use the lowest power possible, and manage channels to minimize overalp.  In the end, you might need to eliminate some devices.

     

    To minimize WiFi interference, you can turn off the Orbi 2.4 GHz radio and connect all your WiFi devices using the 5 GHz band.

    • sansfil's avatar
      sansfil
      Aspirant
      Apr 22, 2017

      Thanks st_shaw, I was not aware that Zigbee also uses WiFi channels. What still bothers me is that everything used to work without interference before (with the R7800 and extender) and unfortunately some devices need the 2.4 Ghz frequency and can not be upgraded. Any further ideas are more than welcome.

      • peteytesting's avatar
        peteytesting
        Hero
        Apr 22, 2017

        just try changing channels on the 2.4 gig , try ether ch 1 , 6 or 11 and see if that helps