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Bluetooth audio stutters when downloading

tn flag

I've been happily using Ubuntu for several years now but am finally inclined to ask about an annoying thing that has happened on both 18.04 and 20.04.

While playing audio through a Bluetooth speaker, if something starts downloading at more than a MB/s or so, the audio will stutter until the download completes. (The sound will pause for irregular periods; once the download completes, it jumps to wherever the computer has gotten in the meantime.) This does not affect internal speakers or those connected to the headphone jack. I've tried three of different brands of speaker.

There are various questions that mention similar playback issues, but never related to downloading. The solutions are "restart the service" or "(re)install bluez/bluetooth", neither of which have worked thus far.

I've learned to live with this, but I'm curious what's causing it? Am happy to share whatever system details, etc are useful. My current setup is using pulseaudio 13.99.1-1, bluetooth/bluez 5.53.

in flag
How do you connect to your network? Is it via Ethernet or WiFi? If it’s WiFi is it using a 2.4GHz-band? If so, this is the result of radio interference as BlueTooth and many of the older WiFi frequencies overlap.
deathrayoperator avatar
tn flag
I connect by WiFi, but the stuttering continues after turning off the 2.4 GHz band of the router.
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