Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Starlink for better blue tooth phone calls with AB CI

22 replies627 viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
Reply

Hi all. I am with Advanced Bionics Marvel and Phonak Marvel Link . I live in a rural area with wifi as the only way I can get service in my phone. It seems my bluetooth connection somehow blips in and out with our wifi signal and I have trouble with longer phone calls staying connected. Wondering if Starlink residential service might help with this. But I am not clear on where it issue is. Anyone use Starlink with their devices with success or have more tech knowledge than me? (all of you will)

10 people in this conversation8 min readJump to latest

Some clarification. What your hearing aids “see” of your wifi connection is dependent on both your internet connection (which Starlink is an example of) and your wifi router. If you have a poor internet connection (highly variable speeds and high latency) a fancy router won’t help any or if you have a great internet connection, a crappy router could destroy your connection’s quality. (Your phone could also come into play but I’m guessing you have a pretty decent phone?

Suggestion. Run some internet speed tests. Hopefully you have a computer with a wired connection. Running a speed test on it will give you an idea of how good your internet connection is. The run a speed test on your phone using wifi. Comparing the results with the wired connection will give you an idea of how well your router is working. Also, when your connection blips in and out is your phone with you and are you staying in the same place?

In reply to @MDB

We have fiber optic connection for internet with good speed, but I notice it blipping on my laptop as well when on Teams video calls. It usually pops back on but with the hearing gear it must be enough to switch programs which is annoying. Then towards the end of a longer call it will often start blipping out longer then eventually the call fails. We have a good router and extension. Using an iphone 16. My phone is with me. I do notice it works better in certain areas of the house so I try to avoid walking around (extremely difficult as I’m a phone pacer!). We live in a mountainous area - there is blank spot for internet on our road for some odd reason. Maybe I need to set my phone to not roam when I am on a call. I think its set to wifi over roaming, but is that the best setting? Now that I think of it the calls cut out when I lose the general signal even on wifi calls…

I would not switch from fiber internet to Starlink. Fiber should be much more stable. I don’t think it should matter if your phone is set to roam or not because you’re using WiFi, not the cell signal, but caveat, I don’t know much about cell phones. If you’re fiber connection is stable (it should be) I’d be inclined to think the issue is between your router and phone or something interfering between phone and hearing aids. Any chance you’re using the 2.4 GHz frequency on the router? That could interfere with the Bluetooth (as could a microwave) I would test internet connection with both a wired PC and your phone using speed.cloudfare.com1

In reply to @joanhawsey

Try using airplane mode with WiFi on. If that works you can make a shortcut to turn off cellular when on your WiFi.

You mention the computer having issues too so perhaps you have interference. Test changing the WiFi channel in the router.

Edited

Hi Joan,

You can use a USB-C to ethernet adapter to connect an iPhone 16 via cable connection to your router as a way of overcoming wifi interference. The iPhone 16 supports plug-and-play connections with USB-C Ethernet adapters utilizing standard Realtek or ASIX chipsets that use iOS/iPadOS built-in USB Class drivers. Apple sell this option.4

If you’re still having problems after that it’ll be the bluetooth connection between your hearing aids and your phone. Sometimes unpairing, deleting the connections, rebooting your phone (and your hearing aids) and then re-pairing is the best way to solve the problem.

From skimming the thread, I’d guess your router just isnt sufficient for your home. If you’re on fiber optic, you almost definitely won’t see benefit from switching to another provider. Fiber optic is as fast and reliable as is available.

Can you add a bit of detail? How large is your house and is it multiple stories? Are you using the router given to you by your provider? Is the house older or newer? What are the interior walls made of? (Drywall, some form of plaster, bricks, etc)

If you can, doing a speed test on a device that has the issues and posting results would definitely be beneficial. If you are having network stability issues, it is almost definitely a router issue, from what you’ve described.

Feel free to send me a message if you’d like! I’d be happy to try and help diagnose and nail down a possible solution :slight_smile:

Thank you so much for the helpful hints. Seems the answer to my Starlink question is no. I will do some testing - cable, airplane mode (I think this might help!).

@Siloko Appreciate the offer and I may message you after I try some things. Our house is new (5 years old), drywall, one level, 2000 sf. Very open layout. Speed test showed in the 400s Mbps download.

Thanks. This information might help the more tech smart people.

I have tried a couple different extenders. They were not expensive. They also did not function well. I eventually got rid of them and took them off the pairing list on my phone. This fixed my Wi-Fi issues. Not saying it will help you but it might be worth trying.

In reply to @joanhawsey

People can mean multiple different things by an extender. Unless it is wired to your router it could induce a notable delay. I’m not familiar with Evolution routers although it looks like they are often used by internet providers. I can suggest 2, possibly 3 approaches. 1) Contact your internet provider and describe the problem you’re having and see if they can diagnose the problem. 2) Hire an internet consultant and have them set you up, likely with a new router. Routers supplied by internet providers are not known for their capabilities. 3) You can also take a deep dive into this and educate yourself but I don’t sense the interest. (No offense intended. This just doesn’t seem to be your thing)

In reply to @MDB

@MDB said:

If you’re fiber connection is stable (it should be)

If you believe the fiber vendor (I wouldn’t). A neighbor (hardware/software engineer) who recently got fiber (nominal 1 Gbit up/down) has had all sorts of problems with random dropouts, network going down, etc. His fiber vendor’s solution was to purchase a cellular internet as backup (automatic fall over) - that didn’t work either (insufficient cell signal at his house inside the city limits in a flat area).

So having someone who is an independent network consultant might be a helpful first step. They might also be able to suggest configuration of the router to optimize wifi calling or a better router. (The fiber vendor’s provided router may not be adequate for good performance with wifi calling.) Before I retired, our research group put in a WiFi network that required a satellite connection at a remote field site (no power, phone, or cell service). Even our University network experts had some trouble correctly configuring the (very expensive and capable) router, WiFi AP with directional antennas, and satellite connection for reliable operation using end-to-end encryption.

Ask Google something like “iPhone wifi calling quality of service” to get a few suggestions of things to check. If correctly designed mesh systems require enabling specific options for reliable wifi calling, I expect a wifi extender will be even more problematic.

Are you having any luck with the Bluetooth issue? My hunch is it’s the router. I like MDB’s idea of contacting your internet provider that gave you that router. See what they say. They will want to run tests on it to see if it’s functioning properly. Hopefully they will get you going again.

In reply to @joanhawsey

It is often overlooked that older homes that have lath and plaster walls most likely have a “chicken wire” layer that acts like a faraday cage just soaking up signals, so if it is an older house that may be an issue.

As others have said, it appears that you have a WiFi router coverage issue in your home. I would suggest you find a tech guru who can check signal & interference levels around your home.

If possible, you might experiment with moving your router to a different (more central) location. If that doesn’t work, you might try a better router (buy it where you can return it if it doesn’t help). You can also try buying an Access Point (preferred, but requires a physical connection to your router) or a WiFi extender.

Thanks so much for all of the info. I truly appreciate it. The last few long calls I’ve made I turned my phone to airplane mode. I assume that leaves us strictly to the wifi signal. So far I’ve had no blips of my dropping and reconnecting to Bluetooth that way. I will keep trying this and hope it’s the solution! Trouble is remembering to toggle back off but that will become habit.

Related discussions