Fed up with Bluetooth lag on Surface Pro 4

[Greg Edwards]

Since I installed the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, my Bluetooth experience has been miserable. I use Surface Mouse, Surface Keyboard, Surface Dial, Surface Pen, and a couple different Jabra Bluetooth headsets. It doesn't drop the connection, but the Bluetooth is so slow at times, accurately pointing at or selecting anything is a real challenge.

Some people have said it's a problem with the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios sharing bandwidth. Others have hinted that like other Surface drivers, the ones provided by Microsoft may not perform as well as generic manufacturer drivers. I'd like to consider trying generic Bluetooth drivers to see if performance improves. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

[#2]

I have found this to be the case as well. (SP4, Surface Kbd, Surface Pen, Wheel, and Mouse). It's gotten even worse with the addition of the new BT Surface Precision Mouse. FWIW, I'm not using any BT headsets or audio devices. The other behavior I've seen is sometimes when I strike a key on the keyboard it will repeat 10-20 times. I have since installed the Windows Insider update (fast ring) to see if it's been addressed and it has not made a difference.

[#3]

Hi! Did you found any solution? I have the same problem... 

[#4]

No solution. It seems to have something to do with a delay in the BT devices reconnecting after going inactive. If I don't type for a while, the keyboard seems to take a couple keypresses to wake it up/reconnect it. Same with the mouse. It's hard to imagine that anyone at Microsoft ever actually tried using these peripherals in their day to day routines, because the problems are immediately apparent and would drive anyone crazy.

[#5]

I've started to wonder if maybe it has something to do with the way my organization has configured my device. I'm tempted to blow away the image and just do a completely fresh install to see if the issue persists. I previously had trouble using the Wireless Display Adapter with my SP4 and even went to the trouble of swapping out the adapter before I discovered that my org's IT department had applied policies that were blocking the communication.

[#6]

Hi. Read your post. Have a few solutions for you:

First, I've found that when I'm downloading files using Microsoft Edge, my bluetooth mouse is EXTREMELY laggy. But when I download on Chrome browser, that lag completely disappears. Edge has given me more issues than it's worth. I like the browser, but it's extremely resource heavy. 

Second, I've found this link to be helpful:

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/jumpy-bluetooth-mouse-fix.8164/

let me know if this helps. 

[#7]

Interestingly, another (probably unrelated, but who knows?) Bluetooth issue late last week forced me to reset Windows on my Surface Pro 4. I did the "keep my files" type of reset, but it was the first time I'd completely reset Windows since last May. And I will say the issue seems to be much better ever since. My Bluetooth lag is not gone completely, but it's now extremely intermittent and only barely noticeable. As this is my work PC, I can never be sure that it's not due to some goofy configuration or AD policy that my IT department has applied. So, I'll keep an eye on it and update here as possible. Thanks!

[#8]

I can tell you that this isn't from your AD. I have the same problem and that is without my device going to sleep.

[#9]

So, a few weeks ago after trying to troubleshoot this for some time, I decided to just bite the bullet and reset my Surface Pro 4. I was initially a little hesitant, because it's a domain connected PC, and I didn't want to have to get IT involved. However, it turns out that resetting doesn't actually remove the device from the domain. Best decision I ever made. No more Bluetooth lag, plus pretty much every other issue that has plagued my Surface since I got it has been blown away. I now have a fresh and relatively factory standard Surface and the difference is night and day. I wish I had done this 6 months ago. Of course, I had to reinstall all of my apps, but thankfully my IT Department makes most of that available via self-service portals anyway.