UKC

Sorry for lack of question mark in title; limited number of characters in titles. 

This has come up before and I think the answer is "yes"

I used to find it nearly impossible to connect an old Macbook or my Dell laptop, to a Bluetooth speaker, a few years ago (when connected, it was a poor connection), yet my iPhone, Android phone and tablet always worked fine. 

Macbook has been replaced with a Macbook Pro which seems to connect quite well to either of two Bluetooth speakers or a new Tao-Tronics Bluetooth receiver I have connected to the AUX input of my hi-fi. 

However, my Dell laptop (work computer) remains woefully inconsistent. I have seen it connected (at separate times!) to both Bluetooth speakers and to the receiver. But, far more often, it lists these as paired but will not connect. I have removed and "re-paired" them so it's clear that it can detect them, but approximately 90% of the time now, it just says it won't connect. These devices are virtually next to the laptop so it's not a distance issue. Is it just something one has to put up with? I can not see that I am doing anything wrong!

Might be obvious but have you disconnected from the other devices?

Chris

Hi Chris, thanks, it is a good point but yes, was disconnected from other devices. 

I've got a Microsoft Surface Pro - it's useless with bluetooth speakers or my fancy bluetooth-streaming hearing aids.  Phone is fine and other laptops seem fine.  It drives me up the wall.

I only learned about these neat little Bluetooth receiver-transmitter things recently whilst working out how to sort out my totally non-tech-savvy Dad with wireless headphones for his television. Got him some fairly cheap (£40ish) headphones and the same Tao-Tronics thingy. Working fine. So is this all just a Microsoft thing? It doesn't make sense but it doesn't seem uncommon!

Yes, it can be difficult, my macbook struggles. From my research it's seems it's caused by both the wifi and bluetooth working on the 2.4 GHZ frequency.  

You're router may give the option to split the 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ frequencies into two separate wifi signals with different addresses.  It may work if you can get your computer to use the 5GHZ for the internet and then leave the 2.4 GHZ for bluetooth.  May not though, doesn't for me, so I given up and play music through my phone.

Thanks, I will look into that. It's not massively important, just nice sometimes to Bluetooth the audio from the work laptop but actually I bought that receiver-transmitter mainly to play music from my phone and from my Macbook Pro (because the earphone jack on the Macbook Pro has lost audio on one channel, although possibly that could be an easy fix anyway....)

There are several editions of Bluetooth. The current one is 5.2?

I believe my watch won’t connect to anything earlier than 4.0. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

Two things spring to mind:

Bluetooth versions may be incompatible, particularly if you are connecting a new laptop to an older device or vice versa.

Sometimes power settings on laptops can interfere with bluetooth settings (this is also a common cause for wifi dropouts on laptops) - check that you laptop isn't in some power saving mode.

Thanks. I’ll check it but I don’t think it’s compatibility as it has all been seen working. Power setting I’ll check but the thing is plugged in to mains...

Mac's are awful for this, my new one and my old none refuse to connect to either my headphones or my external speaker but have no trouble connecting to my external (Mac) keyboard.  It's frustrating given how much they charge for these things.

I would check this anyway. I have seen intermittent connectivity as a symptom of this before with my old laptop.

Is there a simple way to change the 5/2.4GHz thing? Laptop is sitting fat and happy on 2.4 and just gives me a steely, grey look if it looks as though I want to change anything.  Earphones drop in and out as regularly as a metronome - unworkable.  The earphones are state of the art - bonkers expensive,* and the laptop is about two years old.....

*in the Before Times, people in the office just thought I was a deaf old duffer, until they realised that the deaf old duffer was also directly plugged into the playlist du jour (adjusted for my high tone deafness) whilst also turning them right down.  Hearing aids?  Best thing ever!  Wife not so happy - "I know you can hear now, but you're just not bloody listening to me!"

If I go in as admin on my router I get the option to split the two frequencies into 2 seperate wifi signals.  I think it's under advanced settings on mine, although it's really simple so don't be put off.

The problem I have is my mac doesn't like 5ghz so no joy for me.