I'm having a problem that I wouldn't expect to be having with my HFL and Treo 650: The range of the BlueTooth seems too good. When I get home, my phone seems to stay paired with the HFL even after I get into the house from the garage. I have to go a few rooms away from the garage to get it to release. If I get a call or try to make a call after I'm home, I'm able to dial/answer, but the other person can't hear me. I look at the display and see the headset icon as if I was paired to the HFL. The car's not on and I don't know how long the HFL stays active after the car is off and the driver's door is opened.

Today, I got a call just as my wife was pulling into the garage. I was in the family room (connected to the garage) and my Treo rang. When I answered it, the caller couldn't hear me and I saw the headset icon on the display. When my wife walked into the house, she said the HFL rang in the car as she was pulling in.

Has anyone else had this happen? How long does the HFL and the phone stay paired after I'm "done" with the car? Any tips, besides a Faraday cage around the garage, to keep this from happening? I suppose I could disable BlueTooth except when getting into the car, but that's a hassle.

 

The HFL and phone can stay paired at least half an hour, and possibly until a battery [hopefully phone rather than car] runs down, if you remain in range of the car. This is convenient if you want to continue a phone conversation with the ignition off after arriving at a destination, but not if the phone rings as you exit the car.

Other than walking out 30 feet away from the car, your other options are disabling the Bluetooth or parking further away from the house. My phone hangs on for 20-30 feet before releasing, but has always released when I get to the other side of the dining room opposite the door nearest the car.

I set up a 3-button shortcut on my Moto V551 to disable the Bluetooth on my phone to extend battery life and shut it off, when I remember, while away from the car for more than a couple of hours. Maybe you can set up a Bluetooth activation shortcut on your Treo as well.

 

One button on my W600i to turn on or off my bluetooth

 

My Sony Ericsson S710a will not allow me to disconnect bluetooth when the phone is connected with HFL. The "Turn off Bluetooth" option is grayed out. I've forced disconnects by simply powering the phone off. This is very rare though.


Most of the time, once I close my doors, lock the car, and walk away, the HFL disconnects. Try also locking your doors with the key FOB once you get out.

 

I parked my car at my apt. Walked inside to the 3rd floor and my phone was still connected but thats only if the engine is running. If the engine is off and car locked, my phone (Moto Razr) would drop the HFL when I get halfway up the stairs.

 

I do lock my doors with the FOB when I leave the car, but does that shut down the HFL? That would be a nice feature if it worked like that. Presumably, you don't need it any more once you've exited and locked the car.

 

I am not sure if that is a feature of the HFL, but I've noticed that the HFL disconnects soon after I lock my doors (press lock twice to hear the confirmation beep).

 

No. I usually use the fob to lock the car, but my phone stays linked until I'm 20-30 feet away. The "beep" from the phone unlinking helps remind me to turn off Bluetooth when I am going into office or house for a while.

 

Weird. I notice my RAZR beeps to confirm it has disconnected as soon as I walk into the house (probably 10 feet from the car).

 

Everyone should get into the habit of shutting their phone's bluetooth off whenever you get out of the car unless you're using a bluetooth headset. Leaving it on will use up the phone battery faster.

 

Only when its connected to something. I leave my Bluetooth all the time since I have a headset also. But when I'm not using neither by battery last longer. It only drains fast when I'm connected to Acura TL or Headset.

 

My wife's Moto V551 will drain within the day if she leaves the Bluetooth on, so we've set up a macro for toggling it. On my Treo, I can leave Bluetooth on all the time and barely make a dent in the battery life.

 

It sounds like your wife's phone needs a new battery, as my 9-month old V551 lasts for at least 3 days on 24/7 standby with the Bluetooth activated and less than 1 hour in conversations. However, previous phones used to last 6-10 days on standby, which is why I also use the toggle/shortcut to turn off Bluetooth.

Either that or your wife uses the phone a lot more than I do...

 

When you leave bluetooth on, even though it is not connected to another device, it constantly tries to discover other bluetooth devices. This in turn may cause your battery to drain faster than when bluetooth is off.

Also, you are more prone to bluetooth "hacking" with your bluetooth on all the time. It depends on phone, but sometimes its very easy to send some unknown person a file without them knowing it. With a PDA, you can get even more creative with bluetooth, such as browsing the contents of someone's device.

That being said, I usually keep my bluetooth off until I need it.

 

whenever sending music files through bluetooth from my razr v3i to my moms v551 u have to make the phone discoverable, then u have to accept any incoming files be4 they can be downloaded.

so, it doesnt search for all bluetooth signals unless they're set-up. it only will search for the HFL unless u have any other devices paired. i dont think it uses up too much battery life as far as i can see.

 

Her v551 is pretty old. We got it when they first came out and it never worked well with the Bluetooth and battery life. It's apparently been fixed in newer versions of the phone. Her brother has the same phone but much newer and the menus and screens are much different. He can leave his BT on all the time without it killing the battery.

 

My HFL Bluetooth usually drops between 5 and 10 feet away from the car. I always assumed this was because I locked it with the fob, but I never tested that theory. Currently, I have a Nokia 6102i and had a Motorola v330 before that. With both phones, I left Bluetooth on all the time. It doesn't seem to make a difference regarding battery life for those specific models.