Terrible Bluetooth Call Quality

[mbhforum]

2015 Model S 85D.

People are always complaining about how terrible I sound in my car while on my iPhone via Bluetooth. I always chalked it up to horrible AT&T service only phone in certain locations. I even had mobile tech research if and tell me there was no issues found with the Bluetooth mic. Over this past weekend, I was out of town and my wife borrowed my car and we were talking and I can’t believe how bad she sounded. She told me that I always sound terrible too. You hear a ton of wind noise and overall choppy voice quality. We both have iPhone’s (X and XR) and Apple Watches (series 3 and 4). I know there has been some issues reported with that.

Is there anything that can be done at this point or is Tesla’s Bluetooth Implementation flawed? Love the way the car drives but the lack of CarPlay, horrible Bluetooth quality and GPS signal interference preventing Waze from working really frustrates me.

 

[Ken7]

Interestingly I live on LI, also have AT&T and have an Apple Watch series 4 and an IPhone XS (the only differentiator). I had been having issues where I couldn’t be heard upon answering calls, unless I raised or lowered the scroll wheel volume control immediately after answering. That was resolved in a firmware update.

I haven’t gotten any significant complaints about voice quality, but I do recall occasional comments about ‘background wind noise’. I don’t drive with the windows open, so I attribute that to the HVAC. But in general I think the voice quality is fairly good.

 

[SilverGS]

I have a June 2016 build 75D and have no complaints about the BT audio quality when using my phone for calls.

 

[Rockster]

We have a March 2015 P85 build and the call quality from the car's speaker is not good. It sounds like the caller is standing in a waterfall. A good, noise canceling headset helps by completely bypassing the car's microphone, though.

 

[JMG]

'15 85D here too, and yes, it's awful. If it's a quick, "Hey babe I"ll be home in 10 minutes" then I'll answer it on bluetooth, otherwise I have to use the handset.

 

[Brettski]

No issues at all on my 2018. Voice quality is fine. (FWIW I have an XS max and do have an Apple Watch; carrier is Verizon)

 

[CarlK]

I doubt it's the bluetooth. It has more than enough bandwidth to handle the voice signal. There should not be connection issue when the phone is so close to it either. My guess is it's still your phone reception. Try to drive to a location you know there is a good cell reception and place the phone on the dashboard to see if you still have the same issue.

 

[bishoppeak]

Lowering the car phone volume with the scroll wheel helped me.

 

[mbhforum]

'15 85D here too, and yes, it's awful. If it's a quick, "Hey babe I"ll be home in 10 minutes" then I'll answer it on bluetooth, otherwise I have to use the handset.

Isn’t it sad, we have expensive vehicles and have to settle for this? It seems like responses are very mixed which isn’t a good thing.

 

[P100D_Me]

Lowering the car phone volume with the scroll wheel helped me.

Well because of that persistent bluetooth bug this is something I have to do on every phone call or I cannot hear the person talking.
1 - Phone rings
2 - Press answer
3 - Jiggle volume control a bit so the audio comes through
4 - Read that many people complain about this on here
5 - Ask Tesla.......known issue, will be fixed in a software update
6 - Given that answer I come to the realisation that this bug might get fixed by the time El Chapo is released from prison.

 

[glide]

Tesla’s BT calling implementation is trash compared to other luxury vehicles.

People coming over from other vehicles don’t seem to mind it as much.

 

[bob_p]

Over 10 years ago, in the luxury ICE we owned, we had BT audio problems during phone calls.

After researching the issue, discovered there was a service menu that allowed technicians to fine tune the microphone audio - and after adjusting those settings, was able to significantly improve the call quality - at both ends.

With our S and X, the problem appears to be the background noise. When driving on highways with more background noise, in the car, the audio cuts out periodically - and on the other end its difficult to hear the person talking in the car.

Lowering the speaker volume in the car seems to reduce the audio drop outs in the car - but makes it more difficult to hear the person on the other end.

This is a problem Tesla has had since Model S went into production, and hasn't really improved since then.

Another area where Tesla is aware of a long standing problem, and evidently has prioritized adding easter eggs and arcade games over fixing the BT phone call audio problems.

 

[Marcel T]

I just purchased a 2020 Model X, and I have the same problem with Bluetooth. I can hear calls but they can't hear me because of an echo.
I love my car but can't believe this problem has been happening for so long.
I am looking for a solution because using my phone speaker is not safe.

 

[momoz74]

I can’t figure out what the commonality is but I am plagued with this as well. Model 3, iPhone 11pro Max

this whole year each update has not made a significant difference. I can always hear well just echo or bad audio on the other end. Taking to people on many different platforms and carriers.

this has to be something in HW or SW within the Tesla..

 

[Catbiscuits]

I guess it's a problem with the older cars. Everyone asks what happened to make me sound better since I upgraded from my 2011 BMW to a 2017 Tesla Model S. Bluetooth is MUCH better with the Model S.

 

[P100D_Me]

I upgraded from my 2011 BMW to a 2017 Tesla Model S. Bluetooth is MUCH better with the Model S.

A bug that has persisted for a LONG time with Tesla (as mentioned above in this thread) is when a BT call is answered you have to move the steering wheel volume up or down one click so people can hear you.
It is like the microphone is defaulted as mute and changing the scroll wheel unmutes it.
I know not everyone has this issue and it doesn't appear to be phone type related for those that do.

Do you ever experience this issue?

 

[airborne spoon]

I had this issue and a month before my warranty ended i went in and addressed all the little quirks that annoyed me. Took a road test with a svc tech and he called the shop via BT in my can and the person on the other end said the call sounded like the windows were down and there was a lot of wind noise.
They corrected it and on my 3 hr drive home that evening i called my mom and she said the sound quality was greatly improved and i was coming through pretty clearly.
Not sure what they did but apparently it's gone bad again 18 months after they adjusted it, because i was on the phone and the other end said i need to roll up my windows so they can hear me better even though my windows were already up.

 

[buzescu]

For everyone that has patties with noise heard by the B party at speed and not when car is stationary. I pulled to cover above the mirror where the microphones are and I put on top of it a half inch thick sponge layer. Put it back in. Best BT I ever head on any car by far. Too much noise coming in through the glass roof.

 

[airborne spoon]

For everyone that has patties with noise heard by the B party at speed and not when car is stationary. I pulled to cover above the mirror where the microphones are and I put on top of it a half inch thick sponge layer. Put it back in. Best BT I ever head on any car by far. Too much noise coming in through the glass roof.

Can you post a picture of this?

 

[buzescu]

Can you post a picture of this?

No... I have done this a long time ago. It is a 2 min work. Pull the cover down few inches, nothing to disconnect. The sponge is about the size of that cover...3x3 inches... I got it from an Amazon package. Just lay it on top. Po it back in.