I purchased my first Bluetooth device in 2002 and I purchased my first WiFi (802.11b) device in 2003 and I have been using both technologies since, but I never realized, until now, how horribly they work alongside each other.

WiFi and Bluetooth use a similar band of frequencies in the 2.4GHz range and even though WiFi is fairly neighbor friendly with other 2.4GHz devices, Bluetooth isn't. Bluetooth frequency hops among the 79 channels in range often interfering with other 2.4GHz signals in the area.

I know this because I have done everything in my power to reduce wireless noise in my house. My daughter's baby monitor operates in the 900MHz range, my wireless network operates in the 2.4GHz range, and my cordless phone system operates in the 5.8GHz range. Then, I saw the new device I have been wanting for years. A Panasonic cordless phone system that allows you to make and take calls on one or more Bluetooth enabled cellular phones, but did not use the 2.4GHz band for base to phone communication. The Panasonic KX-TH1212 uses the new cordless phone DECT 6.0 standard that operates in the 1.9GHz range. In the U.S. GSM cellular networks use the 1.8GHz band instead of the 1.9GHz used almost everywhere else.

So I hooked up the new phone system and had everything running smoothly. Both my wife and my cellphones can be connected at the same time and though one phone system we can take phone calls from our cell phones and the landline (abet only one at a time) no matter where the cell phones are at in our house (as long as they are within 10 meters of the base station).

Over the past few weeks I have been noticing that my wife's LG has been connecting and disconnecting at will from the base. My phone also did this, but much more rarely being a Nokia with the best Bluetooth implementation of all cellular phones. I also stream video using Netflix over my wireless network and I noticed that the movies have been buffering for longer and more often. Finally I checked my WiFi router yesterday and it had backed the wireless speed down to 11Mbps from 54Mbps because it was fighting for space on the 2.4GHz spectrum with the Bluetooth enabled base.

I finally realized that Bluetooth was not neighbor friendly. Even though I have been using Bluetooth longer than WiFi, I have never used it to keep a constant connection for very long in a WiFi environment. It makes me wonder how things like Chrysler's uConnect system system is going to work in a car with a Bluetooth Handsfree setup.

After reading some articles, it seems that groups have been working to correct the Bluetooth / WiFi issue since 2002. Since I haven't seen any results yet, I must assume that they are the same group that is working to make 802.11n a standard...