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Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

The last few years, I have not had trouble with BT, but maybe it's because I simplified my use cases to ones which work after early failures. Here's what works for me and never fails:

- Macbook to Apple bluetooth mouse

- iPhone 6s to late model Mazda infotainment system

- iPhone 6s BTLE connection to Garmin Forerunner watch

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That hasn't been my experience -- the same physical devices work for a while and then fail usually after an OS update.

My iphone6 paired inconsistently with my car until iOS 10.2 then it failed completely. Then the dealer did a routine maintenance and it started pairing again. Until 10.3, and now it's hit and miss.

Plantronics headset used to be my foolproof solution for Google Hangout and Bluejeans meetings. Now it won't pair successfully with the MacBook at all. Nor with the iPhone 6.

It's the "moving target" aspect that is most infuriating for me.

That's been my experience with BT as well... basically it's the "Swiss cheese model" where every BT implementation has problems, but you can sometimes find pairs of devices which don't hit each others holes, and once they work, tend to keep working. So you keep trying different sets of devices, and then once you've found the right ones, cling to them like a drowning man to a rock :)

Seconded (thirded?). Daily user of BT keyboard, mouse, and headset. Nightly user of BT connection between phone and speaker. I had my fair share of lumps in the beginning, enough to put me off of it completely until 4 or 5 years ago, but it's been a primarily pleasant experience ever since.

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