I have two Plantronics BackBeat FIT earbuds I connect to an iPhone XR.
Sometimes the hearing seems to go out on one side or the other. At
first, I could pause the playing, and upon resume it would work again
for awhile. Initially, I thought the earbuds might be going bad, so I
would switch to the other set. Finally, it happened on both sets and I
decided to shut down phone and restart after a few minutes. This did
fix the problem and both sets worked fine. It started the behavior
again yesterday, and I'm starting to think it could be the devices
bluetooth radio going out. Can't remember how long I've had this phone,
but it must be 5 or 6 years.
Anyone heard of this happening before, and is there any options to fix
it? Is there anyway to check the connectivity with a computer that
would do some testing?

thanks.

--
Stand With Israel!

On 2024-03-27, sticks <wolverine01@charter.net> wrote:
> I have two Plantronics BackBeat FIT earbuds I connect to an iPhone XR.
> Sometimes the hearing seems to go out on one side or the other. At
> first, I could pause the playing, and upon resume it would work again
> for awhile. Initially, I thought the earbuds might be going bad, so I
> would switch to the other set. Finally, it happened on both sets and
> I decided to shut down phone and restart after a few minutes. This
> did fix the problem and both sets worked fine. It started the
> behavior again yesterday, and I'm starting to think it could be the
> devices bluetooth radio going out. Can't remember how long I've had
> this phone, but it must be 5 or 6 years. Anyone heard of this
> happening before, and is there any options to fix it? Is there anyway
> to check the connectivity with a computer that would do some testing?
>
> thanks.

You may also want to rule out other more likely factors, such as
environmental (radio interference).

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

On 2024-03-27 11:32, sticks wrote:
> t.  Can't remember how long I've had this phone, but it must be 5 or 6
> years.
> Anyone heard of this happening before, and is there any options to fix
> it?  Is there anyway to check the connectivity with a computer that
> would do some testing?

I'd do some basic defrugulation first:

In the iPhone settings disconnect ("forget") both sets of earbuds;
Re-start the iPhone; then re-connect only one set and see how that
behaves for a while before attempting to connect the other set.

Once that is stable, try the other set.

I haven't looked at JR's reply but predict he'll say something along the
lines of looking for interfering sources such as a nearby WiFi/Router.
This is valid, but once you're several metres away should not matter.

--
“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first;
nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.”
- Charles de Gaulle.

On 3/27/2024 1:09 PM, Alan Browne wrote:
> On 2024-03-27 11:32, sticks wrote:
>> t.  Can't remember how long I've had this phone, but it must be 5 or 6
>> years.
>> Anyone heard of this happening before, and is there any options to fix
>> it?  Is there anyway to check the connectivity with a computer that
>> would do some testing?
>
> I'd do some basic defrugulation first:
>
> In the iPhone settings disconnect ("forget") both sets of earbuds;

I will try removing each device and reconnecting them, but I don't see
how that should make any difference on how the bluetooth radio is
working. The phone and headphones just store the necessary information
allowing them to connect as far as I can tell, and once connected it
does not affect the radio portion of the hardware.

> Re-start the iPhone; then re-connect only one set and see how that
> behaves for a while before attempting to connect the other set.
>
> Once that is stable, try the other set.
>
> I haven't looked at JR's reply but predict he'll say something along the
> lines of looking for interfering sources such as a nearby WiFi/Router.
> This is valid, but once you're several metres away should not matter.

I had thought about interference, and since the location I use these is
mostly in the gym, there's probably lots of that going on. Between all
the electric motors on various pieces of equipment, the gym wifi, all
the televisions running, and just about everyone in the place using cell
phones and wearing headphones of some sort. But as the problem only
showed up fairly recently, and everyone else is using headphones, I kind
of ruled it out.

I was really interested in knowing if anyone was aware of something like
a troubleshooting and hardware testing utility. Perhaps if I took it in
to have looked at the only thing they would do is open it up and put in
a new radio. I know they're probably minimal in cost. Just wondering
if they would actually do anything to test it out.

--
Stand With Israel!

sticks <wolverine01@charter.net> wrote:
> I have two Plantronics BackBeat FIT earbuds I connect to an iPhone XR.
> Sometimes the hearing seems to go out on one side or the other. At
> first, I could pause the playing, and upon resume it would work again
> for awhile. Initially, I thought the earbuds might be going bad, so I
> would switch to the other set. Finally, it happened on both sets and I
> decided to shut down phone and restart after a few minutes. This did
> fix the problem and both sets worked fine. It started the behavior
> again yesterday, and I'm starting to think it could be the devices
> bluetooth radio going out. Can't remember how long I've had this phone,
> but it must be 5 or 6 years.
> Anyone heard of this happening before, and is there any options to fix
> it? Is there anyway to check the connectivity with a computer that
> would do some testing?

I've not had this with my phone, but I have with my Mac and Cambridge Audio
ear buds. If I'm on a longish call they sometimes just drop out.

I just put this down to BT not being a very solid specification. I and many
others have all sorts of problems.

On 2024-03-27 22:20, sticks wrote:
> On 3/27/2024 1:09 PM, Alan Browne wrote:
>> On 2024-03-27 11:32, sticks wrote:
>>> t.  Can't remember how long I've had this phone, but it must be 5 or
>>> 6 years.
>>> Anyone heard of this happening before, and is there any options to
>>> fix it?  Is there anyway to check the connectivity with a computer
>>> that would do some testing?
>>
>> I'd do some basic defrugulation first:
>>
>> In the iPhone settings disconnect ("forget") both sets of earbuds;
>
> I will try removing each device and reconnecting them, but I don't see

As I said: do one at a time and see how the first fares for a while
before connecting the other.

This is information gathering about the behaviour of the system.

> how that should make any difference on how the bluetooth radio is
> working.  The phone and headphones just store the necessary information
> allowing them to connect as far as I can tell, and once connected it
> does not affect the radio portion of the hardware.

[AAA] Shocker: the s/w that controls this may have a weird bug that
doesn't account for some oddball state of the system and then doesn't
manage the devices correctly. So, re-starting things resets those states.

>
>> Re-start the iPhone; then re-connect only one set and see how that
>> behaves for a while before attempting to connect the other set.
>>
>> Once that is stable, try the other set.
>>
>> I haven't looked at JR's reply but predict he'll say something along
>> the lines of looking for interfering sources such as a nearby
>> WiFi/Router. This is valid, but once you're several metres away should
>> not matter.
>
> I had thought about interference, and since the location I use these is
> mostly in the gym, there's probably lots of that going on.  Between all
> the electric motors on various pieces of equipment, the gym wifi, all
> the televisions running, and just about everyone in the place using cell
> phones and wearing headphones of some sort.  But as the problem only
> showed up fairly recently, and everyone else is using headphones, I kind
> of ruled it out.

I would pay attention to this as a potential issue, but I doubt it is this.

>
> I was really interested in knowing if anyone was aware of something like
> a troubleshooting and hardware testing utility.  Perhaps if I took it in
> to have looked at the only thing they would do is open it up and put in
> a new radio.  I know they're probably minimal in cost.  Just wondering
> if they would actually do anything to test it out.

See above[AAA]

--
“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first;
nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.”
- Charles de Gaulle.