Windows 10: What's the real speed of Bluetooth 5.1 file transfer?

Hi, I'm quite disappointed with the current Bluetooth speed I am getting for a zip file (sequential transfer) or any "large" file. My setup is as good as it can get, or pretty close to the best: - MSI MPG Z390 GAMING PRO CARBON AC: almost the latest Intel chipset paired with a built-in Intel Wireless-AC 9560, which supports 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, MU-MIMO Rx, 2.4GHz/ 5GHz (160MHz) up to 1.73Gbps, and Bluetooth 5.1. - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro: Android 11, Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 5G (7 nm+), Bluetooth 5.1, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive... As you can see, Bluetooth 5.1 is the best one right now, except for some phones that are starting to come with 5.2 version. The hardware, CPU and other things are top tier so I don't know why my speeds are so slow. I remember I did a test about 5 years ago with BT 4.2 between a medium-end $700 laptop and a low end smartphone and I got 150KB/s. Pretty slow but that was it. Now, with the hardware up there, I am transferring a 136MB zip file to my Poco F2 Pro in 20 min. Which means I am transferring at 113KB/s... I do understand that Bluetooth transferring is not meant to be used to transfer your whole 4K video 40GB library of the phone to the PC, but I think it's more than fair enough to transfer a bunch of pictures made with the Poco to the PC, let's say 20 pics, which is about 150MB. Pretty basic task, very common, nothing crazy here. There is no way you have to wait 20 minutes to transfer 20 pics in 2021 with the top tech of the market. I've read that the max speed of BT 5.1 is 2Mbps, which is about 250KB/s, still very slow in 2021 to be honest, but more than twice of what I am getting. In case it was something about WiFi interfering or something (my PC has WiFi built in), I disabled the WiFi and transferred a 10MB file, and reached stable 140KB/s during the whole transfer, which was about 74 seconds. Clearly having the WiFi on affects the speed, but still, it is pretty slow. I am getting the exact same performance I had with a low-end smartphone of 2015 and $700 laptop from 2013. We are in 2021. It can't be that this has not evolved. First question is, how am I getting with a much better hardware and newer revisions of bluetooth the same speed than 5 years ago? Second question, can you do the same, with a 10MB file or something, and calculate your speed of transferring? (you should share the devices you used and their BT version)

:)

 

Bluetooth transfer speeds

Years ago when bluetooth was first launched, I remember tranferring a file via a Nokia 6310i to a windows XP PC. Today with a brand new Xperia and blazing fast Dell Latitude the speed of transfer is just as slow

The Xperia has Bluetooth 5, the Dell latitude has Bluetooth 4.2, and it just took about 90 seconds to transfer a 6 meg photo.

Why is bluetooth still so slow??

 

Slow data transfer speed.

Hi,

One of the possible reason that this issue occurs is due to the driver compatibility after Windows upgrade. For us to isolate the issue, we’ll need the following details:

• What type of data transfer speed are you referring to? Is it internet connection speed or file transfer speed?
• If you are referring to file transfer speed, are you using USB drive or Bluetooth to process file transfer? or,
• If you are referring to internet connection speed, are you using Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi?
• Can you tell us any troubleshooting you've done so far?

We'll be waiting for your response.

 

USB Transfer speed very slow on windows 10

Try with this

Method 1

Change Hardware Settings for Better Performance

The hardware settings require the external hard drive to remove from your machine safely, so safely disconnect your drive from the computer after finishing all the steps.

Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer and locate your external hard drive. Right-click the external drive icon and choose "Properties" from the drop-down menu.

Step 2. Choose "Hardware" tab, which will display the list of all disks mounted on the particular computer. Select the desired disk you want to improve its transfer performance and click "Properties" at the bottom of the window.

Step 3. In the device properties window select "Change settings".

Step 4. A disk window will pop up. Click the "Policies" tab and select "Optimize for performance".

Step 5. Be alert. You must disconnect the device safely. Right-click the tray icon and click "Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device".

Method 2

Turn off Auto-Tuning Feature in Windows 10

Don't let the auto-tuning feature retards the file transfer speed in Windows 10. You can only disable the feature by five steps.

Step 1. Press Windows key + X and select Command Prompt(Admin).

Step 2. Type "netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled" and press Enter.

Step 3. Now try to transfer the files and check the data transfer speed.

Step 4. Again go to Command Prompt(Admin) and type "netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal" and press Enter. This will turn on the Auto-tuning again.

Method 3

Check and Repair System Errors

Corrupted Windows 10 file system could disable, interrupt or slow down the file transfer speed, so let's use the System Maintenance Troubleshooter to repair the wrong files.

Step 1. Open Control Panel and click on the Troubleshooting icon.

Step 2. Select View all in the top left corner.

Step 3. Run System Maintenance Troubleshooter.

Method 4

Turn Off RDC

RDC or Remote Differential Compression has a similar goal but it utilizes alternative ways to help you synchronize large chunks of data. It compresses the data during the network sync, but it can also be a drawback. That’s why we suggest disabling it. If the
problem isn’t solved, you can always re-enable it and move onwards through the list.

Here’s how to turn off RDC:

Step 1. In the Windows Search bar, type Turn Windows and open Turn Windows features on or off.

Step 2. Scroll down and uncheck the “Remote Differential Compression API support” box.

Step 3. Confirm changes.

Method 5

Disable Drive Indexing

In order to speed up the access to files stored on the local storage, Windows offers Drive Indexing. When enabled, this feature will index all files and substantially reduce the waiting time when you search for them in File Explorer. This is a great feature
if you have dozens of similar files which and helps you distinguish them and access them quicker than usual.

However, even though it should work when PC is idle, it sometimes doesn’t. And you can imagine how it can slow the data transfer if starts indexing files while the copying is still at hand.

For that reason, we suggest disabling it. At least temporarily. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open This PC or File Explorer.

Step 2. Right-click on the partition you want to relieve of indexing and open Properties.

Step 3. Uncheck the “Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties” box and restart your PC.

Method 6

Disable your antivirus

In a similar manner, as Drive Indexing can slow down copying, an antivirus might, as well. Of course, instead of indexing, it’s real-time engine might scan them for malware presence. Besides slowing down the transfer, it can also affect the whole system and
hog on the resources. Which adds up to an already heavy burden. That’s the reason why you should disable it until all files are transferred. Obviously, you would want to enable it afterward.

Here’s how to disable Windows Defender:

Step 1. Open Windows Defender Action Center from the notification area.

Step 2. Choose Virus & threat protection.

Step 3. Under the Virus & threat protection settings, click Manage settings.

Step 4. Toggle off Real-time protection.