Simple Q re Bluetooth and medical devices

[Tom Seeley]

I have an iPhone 12 and home WiFi via ATT using a modem in the bonus room over garage. I’ve paired the phone to an insulin pump connected to me. At the moment I’m outside on the patio and the pump has lost its connection to my phone. Even tho the two devices are less than a foot apart.

But I also have a second medical device connected to me, also paired to the phone via Bluetooth, and it has remained connected.

Any thoughts why? Does the Bluetooth connection btwn any two devices go directly btwn them or does it go THRU the modem?

 

[COLGeek]

Bluetooth devices talk directly to each other, not via your wifi network (different protocols/frequencies). Are you pairing both devices to your phone's BT adapter?

 

[Tom Seeley]

Bluetooth devices talk directly to each other, not via your wifi network (different protocols/frequencies).

thx for explaining that. That makes perfect sense now that I think about it. Otherwise, how could any two pairs devices remain paired as I drove away from my modem?

Are you pairing both devices to your phone's BT adapter?

Yes I am. Moments after I posted, the 2nd device lost connection too. Considering the actual devices involved I’m certain the second device had stopped its normal functioning (it does that often!😡😡😡) and that caused the other one to drop also. The sequence of my being alerted to the two drops still puzzles me a bit, since I now believe the second one to alert me to its drop was the first to drop, but I can overlook that as long as I understand it wasn’t all because I just went out on the patio to enjoy a glass of chillable red!

 

[COLGeek]

What are the makes/models of the devices you are using to pair with the phone?

I wonder if the devices you are using prefer exclusive access to the BT adapter. For some background reading:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3935515

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

https://www.quora.com/How-many-active-Bluetooth-connections-does-the-iPhone-support

 

[Tom Seeley]

Good thought, but in this case I think it’s simpler than that. I’m pairing a Tandem insulin pump, using Tandem’s mobile app, and a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor sensor, using Dexcom’s mobile app, to my iPhone 12. Both those devices have BT built in and both talk properly with my iPhone, as long as both devices work properly as each device itself should work! And both those devices are connected to each other whether my iPhone is in the picture at all, simply because of how both devices are designed to work in tandem (no pun intended).

Given how the two medical devices work, at all, regardless of Bluetooth issues, I’m almost certain that when—not if!—the Dexcom sensor messes itself up, that causes the pump to lose its built-in connection to the Dexcom sensor and without that the pump couldn’t remain connected to my phone. Once I addressed the Dexcom issue all normal communications resumed.

My initial curiosity was if Bluetooth in general needed wifi or it only needed the two devices to be close enough, and you explained that perfectly.

The issue of why the pump needs to ”talk” to the Dexcom sensor to be able to “talk” to me is one I’ll take up with the pump people! Because, as the two devices work at all, that makes no sense to me at all. Each device should talk to me via its own BT pairing whether or not the other one does. But at that point it’s a device issue, not a BT issue.

Thx again.

 

[COLGeek]

BT doesn't need wifi. Separate and distinct.

There is a possibility that the apps and their BT connections conflict with each other, especially if they try to use the same services/resources. The vendors should be able to address these concerns.