Well, it could work… but I’m not sure why you would want one. Why do I say that? In order to understand, you’ll need to understand what cell phone signal boosters do, and what they don’t (or shouldn’t do.)
It all started with…
One of our customers asked if there were a cellular booster that boosted Bluetooth signals instead of cell signals. That way, you could leave your phone on the charger, or leave it where the cell signal is good, and walk around with a Bluetooth headset. Sadly, I do not know of such a device. I even went to the trouble of looking for something, in case I was wrong. None of our vendors offer something like this. It may be technically possible but it’s not the way anyone wants to do it.
The whole point of Bluetooth is actually that it is a short-range protocol. Part of the reason Bluetooth is hard to hack is that you really need to be pretty close to whatever it is that you’re trying to intercept. This isn’t like someone from three buildings away can pull your Bluetooth signals. Realistically Bluetooth will work pretty well within about 10 feet and while theoretically that does mean someone on the other side of the wall could hack you, that’s not as bad as Wi-Fi, which covers quite a distance and is easy to hack if you have a password that’s easily guessed.
The most modern versions of Bluetooth will go out about 50 feet under ideal circumstances. This will help folks who don’t want to take out their earbuds when they need to go to the other side of the house while watching TV. But at that distance, it’s not always reliable, and that’s exactly as designed. You don’t want your Bluetooth signal carrying out much further.
But what if there was such a thing?
If Bluetooth signals did carry for a long distance, there would be an increased risk that your keyboard, headset, mouse, or any other device could be easily intercepted. I know, no one thinks it’s going to happen to them, but this sort of thing could be pretty scary if you think about it. Someone who could hijack your keyboard could take control of your computer quite easily and someone who could hear all your calls could literally ruin your life if they wanted.
There are other considerations as well. Bluetooth is designed for extremely low latency. In other words, the signal gets to your devices as fast as possible. If it didn’t, then people’s voices would be out of sync when you watched TV with earbuds. Pressing a key on your keyboard would feel laggy. You’d constantly overshoot things with your mouse. If there were some sort of go-between device akin to a cell booster it would have to be very expensive in order to deliver that level of performance. My guess is that there would be few takers at the price they’d have to charge.
Shop for… other stuff
So no, there’s not a Bluetooth booster that I know of, and that’s probably a good thing. But if you need cell phone signal boosters, antennas, or anything else to help you live your best digital life… shop at Solid Signal. We’re a different kind of web site. No we don’t offer ten million products like some of the ones you shop at. What we offer though… is real customer service. We actually answer the phone when you call during East Coast business hours. We’re here to help with real experts in our Novi, Michigan corporate offices. Give us a try! Call 888-233-7563 or if it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.
